Dr Alessandra Petrocchi

Dr Alessandra Petrocchi is a Sanskritist and currently a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow in the Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics at the University of Oxford. Dr Petrocchi is working on a comparative project which investigates the linguistic history of the transmission of the Indo-Arabic numerals from India to medieval Europe via Arabic sources; this project aims to trace language contact and circulation of texts and knowledge by examining Sanskrit, medieval Latin, Greek, Arabic, and early Italo-Romance sources. Alessandra ‘s methodological approach combines traditional philological analysis with insights from linguistic theory. She is the author of ‘The GaNitatilaka and Its Commentary: Two Medieval Sanskrit Mathematical Texts’ (Routledge 2019, see www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781351022262), which provides the first critically revised Sanskrit edition, English translation, and philological analysis of two Sanskrit mathematical texts from medieval India. Dr Petrocchi’s most recent interest concerns the morpho-syntax of numerals. Alessandra is preparing a corpus-based monograph on the syntax of numerals in Sanskrit. Dr Petrocchi studied Classics, Sanskrit, and completed a PhD in Sanskrit and South Asian Studies at the University of Cambridge.


Research:


Dr Petrocchi has published extensively on a variety of subjects. Her research areas include Sanskrit Linguistics and Literature, Latin and Greek Philology and Linguistics, Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics, and Romance Philology. Alessandra is also a literary translator. Dr Petrocchi is interested in the language-literature-culture interface, and often works on textual traditions of different languages. Her methodological interests include manuscript studies and textual criticism.