Bilingual betrayal

Rodrigo Fernández de Santaella, Vocabulario eclesiástico (1499) says that a bilingual person is one who sings a different song depending on his location or conversational partner, a two-tongued [serpent]:

Bilinguis y hoc bilingüe. quien dize vno aqui otro alli o vno a este y otro a aquel. E por esso se dize que tiene dos lenguas. prouerbiorum .viij. y .j. thimoteum .iij

Whispering is also a bilingual activity, sowing discord among brothers:

Susurro. onis. masculino genero pe. pro. in obliquis con dos .rr. el murmurador de oreja en oreja secreto que tanbien se dize bilingue y sembrador de discordia entre hermanos. Prouerbiorum .xxvj. et Romanos .j.

I don’t know if this reflects a fear or distrust of people who spoke two languages fluently along the lines of the Italian traduttore, traditore, translator, traitor.

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