# Bosinada > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bosinada > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bosinada.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosinada > Source revision: 1270011720 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) The ***bosinada*** (buziˈnaːda) or ***bosinata*** (pl. *bosinade*, *bosinad*, or *bosinate*) was a traditional, popular poetic genre in [Lombard language](/source/Lombard_language) that began in the 18th century or earlier and reached its apex in the late 19th century. *Bosinate* were usually written or printed on sheets of paper and recited by a sort of *[cantastorie](/source/Cantastorie)* or minstrel called a ***bosin*** (buˈzĩː; pl. *bosits* buˈzit);[a] they were usually satirical in content, sometimes explicitly designed to hold someone up to ridicule, or to debunk certain social habits or circumstances; in any case, they were the expression of the naive but sound good sense of the common people.[1] ## Etymology Most scholars agree that the word "bosin" comes from *Ambrœx* (Lombard for [Ambrose](/source/Ambrose)), as Ambrose was a prominent symbol of Milan. Other explanations of the term nevertheless exist. In Milanese dialect, a *bosin* is also someone who comes from [Brianza](/source/Brianza), and G. Crespi[2] reports that the terms is also used more specifically to refer to that part of the Milanese countryside that lies between the [Ticino](/source/Ticino) river, the [Lambro](/source/Lambro) river, and the mountains of [Varese](/source/Varese), and that it directly derives from the name of the [Bozzente](/source/Bozzente) creek, which was known as *Bosintio* in the past. These etymologies would thus establish a connection between the bosinata and the rural areas surrounding of Milan, which might make sense as the bosinate were conceived as a coarse, uneducated form of poetry that the Milanese might associate with the vulgar people of the *[contado](/source/Contado)*. More specifically, scholar Bernardino Biondelli suggests that the first *bosin* were actually from Milan, but that they deliberately adopted a language inspired by that spoken in the rural areas outside Milan, to emphasize the naive character of their compositions.[3] ## History The oldest known *bosinade* date back to the early 18th century, but scholars (for example C. Repossi[4]) tend to believe that the tradition might have begun much earlier, possibly in the 16th century. Only from the 18th century, in fact, *bosinate* were printed, which makes it possible to determine their age through an analysis of their [typographical](/source/Typography) characteristics.[4] Some of the earliest printed *bosinate* were composed by Gaspare Fumagalli around 1723. Collections of early *bosinate* were edited, among others, by Francesco Cherubini[5] and Ferdinando Fontana.[6] In the 19th century the *bosinada* was so popular that even major Milanese dialectal poets such as [Carlo Porta](/source/Carlo_Porta) would occasionally refer to themselves as *bosits*, possibly as a statement of modesty. *Bosinade* also make occasional appearances in the plots of the stories and poems from these authors; in *La Ninetta del Verzee* ("Ninetta of the [Verziere](/source/Verziere)") by Porta, for example, the main character Ninetta hires a *bosin* to write a composition on her lover, who mistreats and exploits her, to hold him up to ridicule as a form of revenge.[7] *Bosinate* continued until the early 20th century. Some of the last known *bosinade* include *La Balonada* by [Gaetano Crespi](/source/Gaetano_Crespi) (1907), about a [hot air balloon](/source/Hot_air_balloon) race, or *Delagrange volerà!* ("Delagrange will fly") on the flight experiments by [Léon Delagrange](/source/L%C3%A9on_Delagrange). ## Structure The *bosinata* did not have a fixed or codified structure. The [meter](/source/Meter_(poetry)) itself was not fixed, and sometimes different meters were used in the same poem; in fact, irregular verses were quite common, as this reflects the popular and coarse nature of *bosinade*. *Ottonari* ([octameters](/source/Octameter)) and *endecasillabi* ([hendecasyllables](/source/Hendecasyllable)) were the most recurring meters. Verses usually came in rhyming [couplets](/source/Couplet). ## Notes 1. The Italian suffix *-ata*, or *-ada* in Lombard, refers to something typical of the person the suffix is attached to; e.g., a *bambinata* (from *bambino*, "child") is "a childish act". Likewise, *bosinada* would mean "a *bosin*'s thing". ## References 1. [G. Fichera, *Definizione della Bosinada*](http://www.canzon.milan.it/saggi%5Cfichera.htm) 1. See Crespi (1907) 1. See Biondelli (1853), p. 89 1. See Repossi (1985), p. 168) 1. See Cherubini (1816) 1. See Fontana (1901) 1. See Porta (1815), verses 317-320 ## Sources - Bernardino Biondelli (1853), *Saggio sui dialetti gallo-ítalici*. - Francesco Cherubini (1816), *Collezione delle migliori opere scritte in dialetto milanese*, Pirotta, Milan - Gaetano Crespi (1907), *La balonada. Satira giornalistica in sestine milanesi di G.C.*, Libreria Renato Baggio, Milan - Ferdinando Fontana (1901), *Antologia Meneghina*, E. Colombi, Bellizona - Cesare Repossi (1985), "Bibliografia delle Bosinate in dialetto milanese (1650-1848)", in: F. Della Peruta, R. Leydi, A. Stella, eds., *Milano e il suo territorio*, Silvana ed., Milan ## External links - [Text of some bosinate](http://www.braidense.it/risorse/testi.php) from the [Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense](/source/Biblioteca_Nazionale_Braidense) ## See also - [Western Lombard literature](/source/Western_Lombard_literature) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bosinada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosinada) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosinada?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.