Lingua diplomatica, lingua politica, traduzione: il Vocabolario italiano-latino di Nicodemo Tranchedini da Pontremoli

Written in the 1450s, the Italian-Latin vocabulary composed by Nicodemo Tranchedini da Pontremoli, chancellor and ambassador on behalf of Francesco Sforza, duke of Milan, is an extremely interesting text. It is among the first of such non-literary and non-educational vocabularies from the vernacular to Latin and, being written by an educated professional of politics and diplomacy (not a humanist stricto sensu), it offers to scholars a unique opportunity for analysing the deepness and flexibility of the daily vernacular language used in the chanceries. By investigating the multiplicity of the references to Latin words (both classical and medieval) of the vernacular terms used in the practice of diplomacy (such as negotiation, entretien, practice, reasoning), my essay will explore the richness and creativity of 15th century political vernacular, and its nature as a complex work in progress.