The Appendix Probi: A Scholar's Guide to Text and Context
by Ronald J. Quirk

     The Appendix Probi is a major source of evidence for the study of Vulgar Latin and the emergence of the modern Romance languages. This famous document is a compilation of 227 items that show the sound changes, analogical formations, and lexical substitutions of Latin in transition. The Appendix has been a valued resource for Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese linguists since the early nineteenth century. Quirk’s book is the first complete critical edition and study of the Appendix Probi in English. It incorporates and translates the findings of researchers of the past 170 years.

     This comprehensive edition is arranged in an expository and exploratory format. It explains the perplexing questions surrounding the work’s author, purpose, design, and date and place of composition. It gives the text first in its entirety and then item by item with commentary. For each entry there is an investigation into the accurate reading of the manuscript followed by an analysis of the linguistic significance of the entry.

     The Scholar’s Guide to Text and Context is user friendly as a reference tool. When the same discussion applies to more than one item, the commentary is repeated so that each item may be considered alone. An alphabetical index of all entries, both the recommended and the condemned forms, provides ease of consultation. An inventory of entries classified by part of speech, a directory by semantic topic, a reference guide to the linguistic changes revealed in the document, and an annotated bibliography are all features that enhance the value of this edition for scholars.

Estudios lingüísticos #8
isbn: 978-1-58871-109-0 (PB) 313 pp. $24.95