Primiclerusestudio de un neogolismo hispánico
ISSN: 1130-3336
Year of publication: 2003
Issue Title: LITERATURA ÁULICA Y LÉXICO
Issue: 14
Pages: 77-101
Type: Article
More publications in: Voces
Abstract
This paper studies the word primiclerus from its origins to its disappearance. The author has first searched and examined all the texts �literary works as well as documents� which contain that word, then she has analyzed its morphology and meaning. Moreover, she has intended to determine what grade of the ecclesiastical hierarchy the word referred to and which were its main duties. It has been concluded that primiclerus was a new creation of Visigothic Spain as a calque oíprimicerius. It was used in the final period of the Visigothic kingdom and, afterwards, in its inheritor, the kingdom of León. Its use carne to an end in the 12th century after a brief period of coexistence with its synonyms primicerius, and, most of all, praecentor and cantor. The word ñames an important cathedral rank, whose functions were readjusted throughout time, and finally reduced to the chorus and liturgical readings direction.