ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Maria Gaetana Agnesi as a Linguistic Agent: Shifting the Language of Science in Enlightenment Italy

• In Event: The Language of Science

English Abstract

Maria Gaetana Agnesi's "Instituzioni Analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana" (Milan, 1748) offers compelling insights into the linguistic and epistemological negotiation of scientific knowledge during the Enlightenment in Europe. Celebrated as the first woman to publish a calculus treatise and the first mathematician to do so in Italian, Agnesi also played a pivotal role as a linguistic agent, skillfully innovating her native language to convey the precision and abstraction inherent in mathematics in her book.
This proposed paper redirects attention from Agnesi’s mathematical achievements to her linguistic contributions, exploring how her innovative use of vocabulary helped forge a modern scientific vernacular in Italy. By opting for Italian over Latin, despite her exceptional proficiency of both written and spoken Latin, Maria Gaetana Agnesi transformed the accessibility and authority of mathematical discourse, while embedding scientific thought within a national language. Her linguistic impact is further underscored by the fifth edition of the “Vocabolario” of the Accademia della Crusca, where lexicographers extensively cited Agnesi’s work to document and validate the evolving Italian mathematical lexicon.
Moreover, this study highlights the gender and educational dimensions of Agnesi’s efforts: her “Instituzioni” was crafted as a tool for intellectual dissemination and empowerment, with the aim of making the realm of abstract reasoning accessible to “la gioventù italiana,” including women who were traditionally excluded from advanced education.
In this regard, her linguistic agency signifies a cultural and pedagogical transformation, employing language also as a vehicle for inclusion and emancipation in science.

Author

• Maria Laura Pierucci, University of Macerata (Italy)