Lenguaje arcano y lenguaje del cuerpo: la hermenéutica bíblica de Arias Montano

Abstract

Arias Montano is known as the scientific supervisor of the Antwerp Polyglot Bible. But he was also one of the most important biblical intepreters in Renaissance Spain. From his exegetical commentaries, the prefaces to the Polyglot and particularly three treatises of the Apparatus, some of his hermeneutical principles can be gleaned. The author analyses these principles in the context of sixteenth century conception of Hebrew as the primordial and secret language. Special attention is paid to the idioms of biblical Hebrew and the force of the original sounds that can hardly be reproduced in other languages. Montano's insights into the language of the gestures and the body (treatise De Actione) concerning the symbolic actions of the prophets, anticipate modern theories and strategies of communication.