Resumen de Libro de Alexandre: tres notas de critica textual
Francisco de Borja Marcos Álvarez
In 2014 Juan Casas Rigall published an excellent edition of the Libro de Alexandre (ca. 1225) in the Biblioteca Clásica collection of the Real Academia Española. This article makes a number of critical remarks on the work of Casas Rigall: 1. The verb sarraçear, which appears in stanza 2556, verse b, is found nowhere else in Spanish literature, and therefore constitutes a hapax legomenon. So far, the editors of the Alexandre have identified it as a variant of the Spanish verb zaracear. After a semantic analysis of the latter word, the present article considers sarraçear as a hybride derivation of a Basque root attached to a Castilian suffix; 2. In verse 2556c the verb desemblar is misinterpreted due to a conflation with a homonymous verb. In reality, however, one of them derives from Lat. similis, whereas the other comes from Lat. simul. Sp. desemblar is a gallicism in Spanish; 3. Stanza 2170 is part of the episode in which Alexander and his army undertake an expedition in India during which they encounter strange beings. In stanza 2170 appear individuals with three pairs of hands which have been considered as monsters by Casas Rigall. By means of a detailed semantic and syntactical analysis, the present article shows that this interpretation is unfounded, and suggests an alternative interpretation.
