Middle Age: chromatic adjectives in the Leonese medieval documentation

Abstract

The vast typology of existing notarial documents is a valuable sample from the point of view of the study of the lexicon. This is particularly relevant in the case of adjectives (a poorly researched area, as most of the studies focus on nouns), since the notary must unequivocally –sometimes thoroughly and meticulously– identify each element of the owner’s property that is included in the document. Farm animals, due to their condition of livestock property, are also widely represented in this type of texts. When characterizing animals, adjectives are often used to refer to their age, the fertility or infertility of males and females, the production of milk, some prominent features of their appearance, their function, etc. However, colour adjectives are the ones that most frequently modify the noun that refers to the animal. This study aims to offer a small sample of the chromatic range characteristic of the Middle Ages, resorting to some of the adjectives belonging to the semantic field of colour that can be found in Leonese medieval documents. The paper attempts to specify the chromatic reference of those adjectives, the tonality or colour to which they refer, mainly relying on lexicographical sources. Special attention has been paid to those dictionaries related to the Astur-Leonese language, such as the Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana published by the Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (Academy of the Asturian Language), the Diccionario General de la Lengua Asturiana by Professor García Arias or Léxico del leonés actual by Jeannick Le Men.