De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine… Le specificità linguistiche delle giaculatorie e la loro presenza storica nel repertorio delle preghiere italiane
De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine… The linguistic specificities of the aspiration prayers and their historical presence in the repertoire of Italian prayers

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the paper is to demonstrate the formulas of the aspiration prayers from a historical, theological and linguistic perspective, in order to outline a complete picture of these religious texts. The discussed phenomenon, whose origins date back to the first centuries of Christianity, is widely represented in the Italian tradition, both in past centuries and today. The aspiration prayers from the prayer manuals of the 17th–19th centuries, as well as the texts of the prayers printed on sacred images, were subjected to a multidimensional analysis, focused on linguistic, functional and textual specificities. The research made it possible to contextualize the aspiration prayer in the frame of the model prayer text, first of all exposing its rich expressive values. The analysis of the linguistic material has proved a stability of the form of the aspiration prayer over the centuries. All the prayers analyzed have a strictly personal character, which results among other things from the strong expressiveness of the formulas, achieved with the adoption of terms usually associated with amorous confessions.

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