Maxime Maleux

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

heu! quis finis erit malorum? ἔσται καλῶς: Multilingualism in the diary of Girolamo Aleandro

A unique egodocument of its time, the personal diary of the Italian humanist Girolamo Aleandro (Hieronymus Aleander, 1480–1542) exemplifies learned multilingualism and codeswitching. Intended solely for personal use, the diary of Aleandro was filled with numerous observations primarily in Latin, the lingua franca of Renaissance scholars, yet significant portions are also written in Greek and even include occasional instances of Hebrew. Previous research has shown that Aleandro used Greek for emotionally charged or even embarrassing content, no doubt to keep it hidden from prying eyes. The Hebrew passages have yet to receive thorough analysis, likely due to Omont’s (1895) flawed transcription.

After discussing the place of Aleandro’s diary in the context of Renaissance multilingualism, this paper analyzes its Greek passages, their discursive functions, form, and style. In the same vein, we examine the role of Hebrew in the diary and contextualize its usage. Finally, we compare Aleandro’s code-switching with that of his contemporaries and his own work meant for publication to shed light on how the absence of an audience – and therefore freedom in both style and content – influenced his multilingualism. Thus, we study how the humanist ideal of the trilingual scholar is reflected in a private document.