Commentary Par XXI 84

Muresu (Mure.1996.2), p. 30, reports discomfort at the Dantean coinage inventrarsi on the part of several commentators.  Among those he mentions are Tommaseo (DDP Tommaseo.Par.XXI.84) 'non bello' (not beautiful) is his laconic reaction.  Andreoli (DDP Andreoli.Par.XXI.84) has this to say: The term is 'unfit to describe a heavenly spirit speaking of his divine light.'  But see Mattalia (DDP Mattalia.Par.XXI.84) for an understanding of Dante's sense of the Scriptural relevance of the word, reflecting the Gospels' references to Mary's womb (e.g., Luke 11:27, cited by Virgil, as character, at [Inf VIII 45]).  As usual, Scartazzini (DDP Scartazzini.Par.XXI.84) has a lengthy discussion of the variant readings.  See also the two appearances of the noun ventre (womb, belly) in this cantica ([Par XXIII 104] and [Par XXXIII 7] and C.Par.XXIII.104 and C.Par.XXXIII.7).