The return of the zoophytes

Abstract

Abstract This chapter traces the diffusion of the term zoophyta into Europe following its appearance in Italy, first in Greek (1439) and later in Latin (1489). The printing-press was introduced to Italy in 1465, and extant classical texts mentioning zoophytes were printed in the decades after 1480. Dictionaries and grammars soon appeared, some in the developing European vernacular languages; zoophyta appears in the Dictionarium of Antonio de Nebrija (1516), followed by the Lexicon Graecolatinvm of Gerard Morrhius (1530). Ten case studies illustrate the diffusion of zoophyta into different languages, countries, and fields of enquiry in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries.