Filologia e zoonomastica: un sonetto animalier di Tullia d’Aragona

Abstract

Tullia d’Aragona’s sonnet, Se materna pietate afflige il core, presents a convoluted syntax that makes interpretation of the text very difficult. The proper names that appear in the 1547 edition of the Rime («Lilla» and «Psichì») reveal a marked, peculiar sensitivity in the gaze Tullia turns on the animal world. The name Lilla makes it possible to identify unambiguously in a dog the object of the author’s attention; the unusual oxytone accent in the name Psichì is proved to be correct, confirming the soundness of the 1547 text.