Spoken and Written Language: Relations between Latin and the Vernacular Languages in the Earlier Middle Ages

376 Pages·2013·49.907 MB·

by  Mary Garrison, Arpad P. Orbán, Marco Mostert

SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE
UTRECHT STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL LITERACY
24
UTRECHT STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL LITERACY
General Editor
Marco Mostert (University of Utrecht)
Editorial Board
Gerd Althoff (Westfälische-Wilhelms-Universität Münster)
Michael Clanchy (University of London)
Peter Gumbert (University of Leiden)
Mayke de Jong (University of Utrecht)
Rosamond McKitterick (University of Cambridge)
Arpád Orbán (University of Utrecht)
Armando Petrucci (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa)
Richard H. Rouse (UCLA)
SPOKEN AND WRITTEN
LANGUAGE
RELATIONS BETWEEN LATIN AND
THE VERNACULAR LANGUAGES IN THE
EARLIER MIDDLE AGES
edited by
Mary Garrison, Arpad P. Orbán and Marco Mostert
with the assistance of Wolfert S. van Egmond
H
F
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Spoken and written langauge : relations between Latin and
the vernacular languages in the earlier Middle Ages. –
(Utrecht studies in medieval literacy ; v. 24)
1. Oral communication – Europe – History – To 1500 –
Congresses. 2. Written communication – Europe – History –
To 1500 – Congresses. 3. Latin language, Medieval and
modern – Social aspects – Europe – History – To 1500 –
Congresses. 4. Languages in contact – Europe – History – To
1500 – Congresses. 5. Multilingualism – Europe – History –
To 1500 – Congresses.
I. Series. II. Garrison, May. III. Orban, A. P.
IV. Mostert, Marco.
306.4'46'094'09021-dc23
ISBN-13: 9782503507705
© 2013 – Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
D/2013/0095/8
ISBN 978-2-503-50770-5
Printed on acid-free paper
Contents
Preface vii
Abbreviations xi
Trace Elements of Obliterated Vernacular Languages in Latin Texts
MICHAEL RICHTER 1
Qu’une femme ne peut être appelée homme: Questions de langue
et d’anthropologie autour du concile de Mâcon (585)
A. DEMYTTENAERE 11
Wie groß war der Einfluß des Griechischen auf die Sprache der (ersten)
lateinischen Christen?
ARPÁD ORBÁN 43
Die Figur des Dolmetschers in der biographischen Literatur des
westlichen Mittelalters (IV.-XII. Jh.)
WALTER BERSCHIN 59
Nordic Digraphia and Diglossia
INGER LARSSON 73
The Non-Classical Vocabulary of Celtic Latin Literature: An Overview
ANTHONY HARVEY 87
The Cena Adamnani or Seventh-Century Table Talk
MICHAEL W. HERREN 101
Latin and Old English in Ninth-Century Canterbury
NICHOLAS BROOKS 113
A Sociophilological Study of the Change to Official Romance
Documentation in Castile
ROGER WRIGHT 133
L’ancien français (archaïque) et le fonctionnement de la communication
verticale latine en Gaule (VIIe-VIIIe siècles)
MARC VAN UYTFANGHE 149
vi Contents
Quelques exemples de compromis morphologiques au VIIIe siècle
en Francia
MICHEL BANNIARD 163
Latin Grammars and the Structure of the Vernacular Old Irish
Auraicept na nÉces
RIJCKLOF HOFMAN 185
From Monks’ Jokes to Sages’ Wisdom: The Joca Monachorum
Tradition and the Irish Immacallam in dáThúarad
CHARLES D. WRIGHT 199
Writing in Latin and the Vernacular: The Case of Old High German
DENNIS GREEN 227
Volkssprachige Glossen für lateinkundige Leser?
ROLF BERGMANN 239
Rustice vel Teodisce appellatur oder: Warum schreibt man Glossen?
AREND QUAK 259
Typen und Funktionen volkssprachiger (althochdeutschen)
Eintragungen im lateinischen Kontext
ELVIRA GLASER 277
Liturgical Latin in Early Medieval Gaul
ELS ROSE 303
Sprach Ludwig der Deutsche deutsch?
DIETER GEUENICH 315
Latin and Three Vernaculars in East Central Europe from the Point of
View of the History of Social Communication
ANNA ADAMSKA 325
Preface
The linguistic situation of the medieval West has sometimes been charac-
terised as one of ‘diglossia’: one learned language was used for religion,
law and documents – Latin, the father tongue – while the various verna-
culars would have been the mother tongue.1 For Romance-speaking areas, how-
1 The classical text is C.A. FERGUSON, “Diglossia”, Word 15 (1959), pp. 325-340. See also
F. COULMAS, “Schriftlichkeit und Diglossie”, in: Schrift und Schriftlichkeit – Writing and Its Use:
Ein interdisziplinäres Handbuch internationaler Forschung – An Interdisciplinary Handbook of
International Research, ed. H. GÜNTHER and O. LUDWIG, 2 vols. (Berlin, 1994-1995), 1, pp. 739-
745. For the Middle Ages, the following titles, presented in chronological order, are particularly
relevant. J. ZIOLKOWSKI, “Cultural diglossia and the nature of medieval Latin literature”, in: The
Ballad and Oral Literature, ed. J. HARRIS (Cambridge, 1991: Harvard English Studies 17), pp.
193-213. Nordisk medeltidsliteracy i ett diglossiskt och digrafiskt perspektiv, ed. P. ÅSTRÖM
(Stockholm, 1993: Meddelanden från institutionen för nordiska språk 39), pp. 13-26. Medeltida
skrift- och språkkultur: Nordisk medeltidsliteracy i ett diglossiskt och digrafiskt perspektiv 2: Nio
föreläsningar från ett symposium i Stockholm våren 1992, ed. I. LINDELL (Stockholm, 1994:
Runica et Mediaevalia: Opuscula 2). M. PERUGI, “Dal latino alle lingue romanze: Diglossia e
bilinguismo nei testi letterari delle Origini”, in: Lo Spazio letterario del Medioevo, 1, Il Medioevo
latino, ed. G. CAVALLO, C. LEONARDI and E. MENESTÒ, 2, La circolazione del testo (Roma,
1994), pp. 63-111. S. LUSIGNAN, “Traduction, bilinguisme et diglossie: Le français écrit à la cour
de France à la fin du Moyen Âge”, in: Actes du colloque “Méthodologie de la traduction: De
l’Antiquité à la Renaissance” (Luxembourg, 1994: Études classiques 4), pp. 58-85. M. VAN
UYTFANGHE, M., “La diglossie dans les études latino-romanes: Concept opératoire ou source de
malentendu?”, in: Latin vulgaire – Latin tardif V: Actes du Ve Colloque international sur le latin
vulgaire et tardif, Heidelberg, 5-8 septembre 1997, ed. H. PETERSMANN and R. KETTEMANN
(Heidelberg, 1999: Bibliothek der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft: Neue Folge: 2. Reihe 105),
pp. 59-60. B. GRÉVIN, “L’historien face au problème des contacts entre latin et langues vulgaires
au bas Moyen Âge (XIIe-XVe siècle): Espace ouvert à la recherche: L’exemple de l’application de
la notion de diglossie”, in: La résistible ascension des vulgaires: Contacts entre latin et langues
vulgaires au bas Moyen Âge: Problèmes pour l’historien = Mélanges de l’École Française de
Rome: Moyen Âge 117 (2005), pp. 447-718, at pp. 447-469. P. KOCH, “Le latin – langue
diglossique?”, in: Zwischen Babel und Pfingsten – Entre Babel et Pentecôte: Sprachdifferenzen
viii Preface
ever, the relevance of the term ‘diglossia’ has been contested, and the date of
the divergence between written or spoken Latin and Romance is the subject of
debate. In other parts of Europe, too, the linguistic situation was far more com-
plex than the notion of ‘diglossia’ suggests. How can one characterise the
interactions between Latin and the many European vernaculars? And the
interactions between these various vernaculars? To what extent could speakers
from separate linguistic worlds communicate? These questions are fundamental
for anyone concerned with almost any aspect of communication, the transmis-
sion of learning, literary history and cultural interaction in the Middle Ages.
To approach the question in its broadest context, one must consider many
categories of evidence, and the methods developed by many disciplines to
make sense of this evidence. The background to the relationship between Latin
and the vernaculars in the early medieval West – and also in later historical
periods – is the choice of Latin as the language of the Western Roman Empire
and the Roman Church. This choice entailed the possibility of a shared literary
culture and heritage across Europe, but it also had consequences for the access
to that heritage.
On these matters a conference was organised at Utrecht on 24-26 June
1999. Since then, much has been published on the relationships between Latin
and the vernaculars, also by the participants in that conference. Had the confer-
ence been organised today, rather than ‘diglossia’ the notion of ‘multi-
lingualism’ might have suggested itself as its organising principle.2 More dif-
und Gesprächsverständigung in der Vormoderne (8.-16. Jahrhundert) – Différences linguistiques
et communication orale avant la modernité (VIIIe-XVIe siècle), ed. P. VON MOOS (Münster, 2008:
Gesellschaft und individuelle Kommunikation in der Vormoderne – Société et communication
individuelle avant la modernité 1), pp. 287-316. M. VAN ACKER, M., “La transition latin / langues
romanes et la notion de ‘diglossie’”, Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 126 (2010), pp. 1-38.
2 The term ‘multilingualism’ can be found as early as 1980 in: M. RICHTER, “Mono-
lingualism and multilingualism in the 14th century”, Historiographia Linguistica 7 (1980), pp.
211-220. For the earlier Middle Ages, see: E. HELLGARDT, “Zur Mehrsprachigkeit im
Karolingerreich”, Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 118 (1996),
pp. 1-48; A. FALILEYEV, “Beyond historical linguistics: A case for multilingualism in early
Wales”, in: Ireland and Europe in the Early Middle Ages: Texts and Transmission – Irland und
Europa im früheren Mittelalter: Texte und Überlieferung ed. P. NÍ CHATHÁIN and M. RICHTER
(Dublin, 2002), pp. 6-13. For some of the ‘neighbours’ of early medieval Europe, see: R.
BRÄNDLE, “Mehrsprachigkeit im spätantiken Antiochien”, Theologische Zeitschrift 65 (2009),
pp. 47-61; The Multilingual Experience in Egypt, from the Ptolemies to the Abbasids, ed. A.
PAPACONSTANTINOU (Farnham, 2010). For later medieval Europe, see e.g.: Multilingualism in
Later Medieval Britain, ed. D.A. TROTTER (Woodbridge, 1999); Medieval Multilingualism: The
Francophone World and its Neighbours, ed. C. KLEINHENZ and K. BUSBY (Turnhout, 2010:
Medieval Texts and Cultures of Northern Europe 20); Mehrsprachigkeit im Mittelalter:
Preface ix
fuse than ‘diglossia’, in retrospect ‘multilingualism’ seems more appropriate to
the complex linguistic relationships that could be observed in medieval Europe.
The editors felt nevertheless that publication of a large selection of the papers
presented more than a decade ago might be of interest to the many scholars
doing research today on the linguistic history of the medieval West.3 The con-
tributions reflect the state of the art of 1999; in some cases the authors have
updated their bibliography to take into account recent developments in their
field. In other cases this proved unnecessary. More important than bibliogra-
phy, however, is the question whether the assumptions and conclusions of the
contributions printed here have stood the test of time. Only rigorous examina-
tion will be able to come up with an answer to that question.
Kulturelle, literarische, sprachliche und didaktische Konstellationen in europäischer Perspektive:
Mit Fallstudien zu den “Disticha Catonis”, ed. M. BALDZUHN and C. PUTZO (Berlin and New
York, 2011); M. AMSLER, Affective Literacies: Writing and Multilingualism in the Later Middle
Ages (Turnhout, 2012: Late Medieval and Early Modern Studies 19). For further bibliography,
see the index of MOSTERT, A Bibliography of Works on Medieval Communication (Turnhout,
2012: Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy 2), under ‘multilingualism’.
3 For recent scholarship on medieval languages and their use, see MOSTERT, A Biblio-
graphy, Nos. 2197-2985.