Using the text concordance

The text concordance is a searchable database of all word forms found in the Cantigas de Santa Maria. Whilst it is perhaps likely to be of mainly academic interest, those performers who already have a good basic understanding of the medieval Galician-Portuguese language might find it to be a useful tool for exploring common themes across the CSM corpus. The following notes should help you get the most out of it.

Entering words

  • Don't bother typing written accents on vowels (tilde, acute, grave) or the cedilla in ç. Just use the plain letters and the concordance search will match any accented ones automatically. Note however that plain n will not match ñ / nn / nh so you will need to type one of the latter three spellings for the sound [ɲ].
  • The wildcard ? matches any one single letter, e.g. f?or retrieves entries for FLOR and FROR, and bẽeit? retrieves BẼEIT', BẼEITA and BẼEITO (but not BẼEITAS or BẼEITOS).
  • The wildcard * matches zero or more letters. For example, fezer* retrieves entries for FEZER, FEZER', FEZERA, FEZERDES and so on, and *ssedes matches all 2nd person plural imperfect subjunctive verb forms.
  • Multiple words may be entered if they are separated by commas, but the words will be searched for individually, not as a phrase. This usage may not be combined with wildcards, however. (See also “Practical tips” below.)
  • Searches are not case-sensitive. (On this page I'm using lower case for search terms, e.g. f?or, and upper case for the resulting concordance entries, e.g. FROR).
  • Variable spelling options are supported, so you can enter moller or molher, tiinnan or tiiñan or tiinham, and so on. Don't mix systems, however: tiiñam, for example, won't produce any results.
  • Etymological h can be entered or omitted, with the same results, e.g. typing aver will find HAVER.

General considerations

Keep the following points in mind when using the text concordance:

  • Results are displayed using whatever spelling preferences you have selected, regardless of the system you have used to enter the word.
  • The concordance is an index of word forms, not word roots. So singulars and plurals of the same noun have separate entries, as do all of the different grammatical parts of a verb. Elided words (e.g. QUAND') are distinct from their full forms (e.g. QUANDO). On the other hand, my modified spelling means that a lot of scribal variants are collapsed into a single entry here. For example, entering tiinna (or tiinha / tiiña) will find words spelled tĩia, tĩya, tiinna and tiynna in Mettmann's edition. However, MONJE and MONGE, for example, are still listed separately, as my spelling changes do not stretch quite that far.
  • Where enclitic forms are separated in the text by hyphens, these are indexed and counted separately. For example, any occurrence of leva-lo in the text is indexed under both LEVA and LO, and increases the count for each part.
  • In the rare cases of a root word being hyphenated for division across a line or hemistich boundary, the word is joined up again in the concordance. For example, the word servo, which is split at the end of CSM 56:35, is indexed properly under SERVO, not SER and VO. (There are just 41 cases of this in the text, of which 30 involve the somewhat detachable adverbial suffix -mente.)
  • The nine repeated cantigas are only included only once, and cross-references always use the lower index number (e.g. CSM 165, not 395).
  • Reprises of refrains are disregarded, meaning that words in the refrain are only indexed once. This applies not only to normal reprises at the end of each stanza, but also to the extra restatements of the first line in the five cantigas with rondeau form (CSM 41, 120, 143, 279 and 308).

Practical tips

  • To see more context for a referenced line, click on the line number in the References column to go to that point in the main text.
  • If you want to look for multi-word phrases amongst the listed references, you can use your browser's own search facility, which is usually available by typing Ctrl-F.
  • If you're just trying to find the number of a Cantiga from the first few words of the lyrics, don't use the Concordance. Use the alphabetical Index by Incipit instead.

And finally: if you do find a serious academic use for this CSM text concordance, a citation would be much appreciated. Thank you!