Ligurian:
# Questioim de Boecio

Do Trexento, o secolo de l’instituçion do duxægo perpetuo co-a tragica figua do Scimon Boccaneigra, o primmo Duxe, ch’o çerca à contegnî e discòrdie tra e classe soçiale, de tegnî à cadello a prepotensa de nòbili e plebei, e o meue assascinou pe vengansa da quarchedun di seu mæximi sostegnitoî, a no ne pâ destrania a presensa de sta traduçion da-o De consolatione philosophiae de Boeçio (tramite o franseise do Jean de Meung), co-e seu exortaçioin a-a concòrdia e a seu condaña de l’aviditæ di òmmi.

E descriçioin do mondo natuâ introduan pe-a primma vòtta inta poexia zeneise o senso lirico do paisaggio, inteiso comme spegio da condiçion umaña, ch’o va avanti tra i nòstri poeti fin a-a giornâ d’ancheu, a-o Firpo e ancon dòppo, de mainea che unn’eco de sti versci a l’é arrivâ fin à niatri.

Unna poexia in sce l’òrdene divin, a-o quæ tutte e cöse tendan à reo, sensa ecceçion, a fa pensâ, comme tutta a traduçion da-o Boeçio, che poeisse ësighe à Zena un pubrico in condiçion de apprexâ a filosofia e a cultua antighe, e fòscia un interesse verso a contemporannia cultua de de là de Arpe, stante a frequensa de impremue da-o franseise. O confronto da poula «gagieta», a-o verso 2, con «gabia» a-o verso 5, o ne fa accapî che o nesso «bi+vocale» o se prononçiava «gi» za à quelli tempi, e donca quelle, che de belle vòtte ne pan italianizzaçioin do zeneise antigo, en solo che dovue a-e particolaritæ de unna grafia etimològica.

Sto viçio, do quæ vëgne de soventi accaxonæ i zeneixi, pe-o ciù mercanti, o doveiva ëse ben presente a-a consciensa di òmmi di quelli tempi; l’intonaçion generale a l’é quella de poexie morale de l’Anònimo.

English translation:
# Questions from Boethius

The 14th century is the time of the institution of the perpetual dogate, with the tragic figure of Simon Boccanegra, the first Doge, who tried to contain the discord between social classes, to curb the arrogance of nobles and plebeians, and died murdered in revenge by some of his own supporters. The presence of this translation from Boethius’ De consolatione philosophiae (via Jean de Meung’s French translation), with its exhortations to concord and its condemnation of the greed of men, does not seem out of place.

The descriptions of the natural world introduce the lyrical sense of the landscape – understood as a mirror of the human condition – into Genoese poetry for the first time. This has continued among our poets to the present day, to Firpo and even later, and in this way an echo of these verses has come down to us.

A poem about the divine order, to which all things tend entirely, without exception, suggests, like the entire translation from Boethius, that there might have been an audience in Genoa in a position to appreciate ancient philosophy and culture, and perhaps an interest in contemporary transalpine culture, given the frequency of borrowings from French. The comparison of the word “gagieta” in verse 2, with “gabia” in verse 5, makes us realise that the “bi+vocal” nexus was already pronounced as “gi” in those days, and therefore what many times seem to be Italianisations of Old Genoese, are only due to the peculiarities of an etymological spelling.

This vice, of which the Genoese, mostly merchants, are often accused, must have been well present in the conscience of the men of those times. The general intonation is that of the moral poems of the Genoese Anonym.