Buonamico’s French poem

Abstract

The Gozitan scholar Gian Francesco Agius de Soldanis (1712-1770) is credited with preserving for posterity Giovanni Francesco Buonamico’s poem entitled Sonetto, which he transcribed in his Nuova Scuola dell’Antica Lingua Punica Scoperta nel Moderno Parlare Maltese Gozitano. The two Maltese versions, Buonamico’s original and a second version rewritten by the copier col mio nuovo alfabeto, are accompanied by the following note: Questa stessa Poesia dall’autore in vita così tradotta in Lingua Francese in un Sonetto, which introduces the Sonet in French. Yet, Buonamico’s Sonet is not exactly a translation into French of his poem in Maltese, Sonetto, perhaps better known by its first line, Mejju ġie bil-ward u ż-żahar. There are of course elements common to both, chief among them the climactic eulogy, the entire purpose of the poem in praise of Grand Master Cotoner. A first reading reveals similarities in the subject matter, but also differences which, in my opinion, are more evident. Let us consider the difference that strikes the reader at first glance: the form of the poems. The Maltese version, according to de Soldanis, carries the title Sonetto.