Bosinada

The () or ''bosinata'' (pl. ''bosinade'', ''bosinad'', or ''bosinate'') was a traditional, popular poetic genre in Lombard language that began in the 18th century or earlier and reached its apex in the late 19th century. ''Bosinate'' were usually written or printed on sheets of paper and recited by a sort of ''cantastorie'' or minstrel called a ''bosin'' (; pl. ''bosits'' ); they were usually satirical in content, sometimes explicitly designed to hold someone up to ridicule, or to debunk certain social habits or circumstances; in any case, they were the expression of the naive but sound good sense of the common people.

Etymology

Most scholars agree that the word "bosin" comes from ''Ambrœx'' (Lombard for Ambrose), as Ambrose was a prominent symbol of Milan. Other explanations of the term nevertheless exist. In Milanese dialect, a ''bosin'' is also someone who comes from Brianza, and G. Crespi reports that the terms is also used more specifically to refer to that part of the Milanese countryside that lies between the Ticino river, the Lambro river, and the mountains of Varese, and that it directly derives from the name of the Bozzente creek, which was known as ''Bosintio'' in the past. These etymologies would thus establish a connection between the bosinata and the rural areas surrounding of Milan, which might make sense as the bosinate were conceived as a coarse, uneducated form of poetry that the Milanese might associate with the vulgar people of the ''contado''. More specifically, scholar Bernardino Biondelli suggests that the first ''bosin'' were actually from Milan, but that they deliberately adopted a language inspired by that spoken in the rural areas outside Milan, to emphasize the naive character of their compositions.

History

The oldest known ''bosinade'' date back to the early 18th century, but scholars (for example C. RepossiSee Repossi (1985), p. 168)) tend to believe that the tradition might have begun much earlier, possibly in the 16th century. Only from the 18th century, in fact, ''bosinate'' were printed, which makes it possible to determine their age through an analysis of their typographical characteristics. Some of the earliest printed ''bosinate'' were composed by Gaspare Fumagalli around 1723. Collections of early ''bosinate'' were edited, among others, by Francesco Cherubini and Ferdinando Fontana.

In the 19th century the ''bosinada'' was so popular that even major Milanese dialectal poets such as Carlo Porta would occasionally refer to themselves as ''bosits'', possibly as a statement of modesty. ''Bosinade'' also make occasional appearances in the plots of the stories and poems from these authors; in ''La Ninetta del Verzee'' ("Ninetta of the Verziere") by Porta, for example, the main character Ninetta hires a ''bosin'' to write a composition on her lover, who mistreats and exploits her, to hold him up to ridicule as a form of revenge.See Porta (1815), verses 317-320

''Bosinate'' continued until the early 20th century. Some of the last known ''bosinade'' include ''La Balonada'' by Gaetano Crespi (1907), about a hot air balloon race, or ''Delagrange volerà!'' ("Delagrange will fly") on the flight experiments by Léon Delagrange.

Structure

The ''bosinata'' did not have a fixed or codified structure. The meter itself was not fixed, and sometimes different meters were used in the same poem; in fact, irregular verses were quite common, as this reflects the popular and coarse nature of ''bosinade''. ''Ottonari'' (octameters) and ''endecasillabi'' (hendecasyllables) were the most recurring meters. Verses usually came in rhyming couplets.

Notes

References

Sources

*Bernardino Biondelli (1853), ''Saggio sui dialetti gallo-ítalici''.
*Francesco Cherubini (1816), ''Collezione delle migliori opere scritte in dialetto milanese'', Pirotta, Milan
*Gaetano Crespi (1907), ''La balonada. Satira giornalistica in sestine milanesi di G.C.'', Libreria Renato Baggio, Milan
*Ferdinando Fontana (1901), ''Antologia Meneghina'', E. Colombi, Bellizona
*Cesare Repossi (1985), "Bibliografia delle Bosinate in dialetto milanese (1650-1848)", in: F. Della Peruta, R. Leydi, A. Stella, eds., ''Milano e il suo territorio'', Silvana ed., Milan

External links

Text of some bosinate
from the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense

See also

* Western Lombard literature

{{Authority control
Western Lombard language
Culture in Milan
Poetic forms