Hernán Núñez: paremiólogo y paremiógrafo del Siglo de Oro. Refranes o Proverbios en Romance (1555)

This paper proposes an approach to Hernán Núñez’s figure as a paremiographist and paremiologist who lives in a transcendental moment for Spanish culture. An original collector of proverbs, Núñez amasses, buys, modifies and copies these sayings because, in this way, he probably ‘found life’s bittersweet taste’ («tropezaba con el sabor agridulce de la vida»). His work Refranes o Proverbios en Romance (1555) is, at the moment of its publication, the most copious extant digest: it includes the largest number of paremias present in the language of the era, and it would be the main source for later collections. The analysis of proverbs inserted into comedias offers a new focus on how to read these works. The playwrights’ manipulation of these sayings can be understood as textual strategy to not only embellish a character’s discourse but also to lend authoritative argu- ments to plot development.