FRANÇOIS RABELAIS AND THE CONCEPT OF LANGUAGE IN THE RENAISSANCE
FRANÇOIS RABELAIS AND THE CONCEPT OF LANGUAGE IN THE RENAISSANCE

Summary/Abstract: The European Renaissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries marks a decisive period of cultural, intellectual, and linguistic transformation characterized by the gradual transition from medieval scholasticism to humanist thought. Technological and historical developments, notably the invention of movable-type printing by Johannes Gutenberg and the transatlantic voyages of Christopher Columbus, accelerated the circulation of knowledge and reshaped European perceptions of the world. Within this context, humanism promoted the rediscovery of classical texts and emphasized philology as a method for restoring their original meaning while integrating classical heritage with Christian intellectual traditions.A central linguistic consequence of the Renaissance was the progressive rise of vernacular languages alongside Latin. In France, this shift encouraged the development of French as a literary and cultural medium, supported by political, religious, and educational transformations. The works of François Rabelais illustrate this dynamic process through an innovative synthesis of scholarly and popular registers, combining Latin, Greek, dialectal forms, and stylistic experimentation.This study examines the linguistic and stylistic influence of Erasmus on Rabelais, focusing on intertextual correspondences involving proverbs, syntagms, rhetorical structures, and thematic parallels. Particular attention is given to the adaptation of Erasmian materials within the narrative framework of Gargantua and other books of the Rabelaisian cycle. The analysis demonstrates that Rabelais does not merely imitate Erasmian models but creatively transforms them through lexical expansion, syntactic restructuring, and satirical amplification.Ultimately, Rabelais’s linguistic practice reflects the broader humanist project in which translation functions as both a scholarly method and a creative instrument, contributing to the formation of French literary expression during the Renaissance.

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