The evidences of the «primitive Castilian»: erudition and collective memory in Diálogos de las cosas notables de Granada (1603)

Abstract

This work offers a preliminary study of the argumentative structure of Diálogos de las cosas notables de Granada de la lengua, y algunas cosas curiosas (1603) by Luis de la Cueva, a work that is part of the textual dispute surrounding the origin of the Spanish language in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and that is rememberd for defending the well-known theory of the «primitive Castilian». Throughout eleven scenes and through the voices of seven interlocutors, Cueva delineates two closely interconnected paths of reasoning. The first one aims to demonstrate that in ancient times, Granada was Ilíberis, the city where the first council of the Christian Church in Hispania Betica took place, and that its foundation dates back to centuries before Christ. The second line of reasoning corresponds to the demonstration that Spanish was spoken in the Andalusian city even before Romanization. To achieve these purposes, the interlocutors make use of monumental, documentary and oral evidences, outlining their profiles as conversational individuals within the framework of the conversational mimesis.