Abstract

The linguistic analysis addressed in the article focuses on the divergences between the forms transmitted by the witnesses of the Cinque Canti (the printed editions M and G and the nonautograph manuscript T) and the main expressions of Ariosto’s adaptation to the language model of Pietro Bembo. The investigation supports the hypothesis of a provisional version of the octaves, irreconcilable with the theory of a systematic revision of the fragment and with the conclusion that the two branches of the tradition (MG and T) testify to different editorial phases