Documented neologisms in "Discursos sobre el arte del dançado" (1642): the technical lexicon of courtly dance in the Golden Age

Abstract

This article examines the technical vocabulary documented in Discursos sobre el arte del dançado y sus excelencias y primer origen, reprobando las acciones deshonestas (1642) by Juan de Esquivel Navarro, the first systematic treatise on courtly dance in Spanish. Thirty-eight lexical units are identified –internally formed neologisms, specialized patrimonial terms and Italian borrowings– that represent the earliest technical designations of Spanish Golden Age dance. The study, developed within the framework of the Diccionario Azcárete de terminología artística (DAZCARTE), analyses morphological processes (suffixation, prefixation, syntagmatic compounding, participial substantivization), along with semantic special-ization and terminological standardization. Their transmission in later treatises and their uneven incorporation into lexicography are also consid-ered. The findings allow the antedating of many terms, confirming the role of vernacular technical texts as key instruments for terminological fixation and the transmission of specialized knowledge.