Rileggere il frammento di Sodoma nella Genesi Vaticana (vv. 151-337): un’analisi in chiave stilistica e specialmente collocativa

The Codex Palatinus latinus 1447, located in the Vatican Apostolic Library, preserves three fragments of Old Saxon poetry, vestiges of a lost poem that engaged with stories from Genesis. These fragments deal with Adam’s sorrow after the Fall, the catastrophic obliteration of Sodom, and the fratricide of Abel by his own brother, Cain. This study aims to analyse the stylistic and lexical techniques employed by the anonymous Saxon poet to convey the cataclysmic event encircling Sodom and its residents to an audience freshly converted, through the medium of the vernacular language. At the core of our analysis lies the pivotal role of lexical co-occurrences, referred to as collocations, within this fragment. These collocations serve a twofold purpose: they forge a robust structural foundation for this specific segment of verses and also illuminate the message the poet meant to convey to their audience. Running parallel to established lexical pairings, also evident in other works like Heliand and the Old English Genesis (A and B), the poet introduces variations of familiar couplings while simultaneously forging inventive collocations. These patterns and their arrangement bear witness to a meticulous artistry and unveil a creative process characterized by the extensive use of figura etymologica and paronomasia – rhetorical devices deeply ingrained in the tapestry of both ancient and medieval poetic traditions. Their application within the fragment distinctly signifies a shift, wherein components and attributes of oral composition progressively relinquish their prominence to the rhetorical prowess of the written tradition.