On the technical-juridical lexicon of the chartae in medieval Sardinian

Patrizia Serra

2026-01-01

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Abstract

This paper examines the technical-juridical lexicon attested in the medieval chartae handed down to us by the Condaghes, monastic cartularies written in Sardinian between the 11th and 13th centuries, and by the Registrum Petri Diaconi, a monumental cartulary from the Abbey of San Benedetto of Montecassino. The sharing of a common repertoire of technical terms by the monastic scribes, within the community of production and reception of the texts, characterizes above all the formulaic sections of the documents examined which, although modelled on repertoires specific to the legal tradition in Latin, present lexical innovations and peculiar syntactic structures. The legal efficacy of each document is based on the presence of recurring textual patterns and a specific lexicon shared within the social context of reference (monastic writers). The aim of this contribution is the examination of some terms used in vernacular formulaic language in these monastic writings to focuse on ‘change’ introduced by document writers within shared formulaic repertoires of the previous legal tradition of the chartae in Latin.