The power of words : studies on charms and charming in Europe

336 Pages·2013·35.451 MB·English

by  Kapaló, James Alexander

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
AbouttheEditors
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JamesKapalóislecturerintheStudyofReli- Theresearchofthefolkloregenreofcharmsbecameextremelydynamic S TT
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gionsatUniversityCollegeCork,Ireland.His aroundtheturnofthemillennium.Anumberofacademicdisciplines d HH
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andMoldovaandOrthodoxyandnewreligious relicsofverbalmagicfromantiquityandthemiddleages.Studyingthis on OO FF WW OO RR DD SS
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movementsincontemporaryEasternEurope. corpushasshedlightonanumberofpreviouslyunexploredaspectsof
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ÉvaPócsisprofessoremeritusattheDepart- anthropology, as well as linguistics, the study of ClassicalAntiquity, d EE Studies on Charms and
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LivingandtheDead:aPerspectiveonWitchesand
SeersintheEarlyModernAge(Budapest,1998);
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ed.: Folk Religion and Folk Belief in Central-
EasternEurope(Budapest,2009). DD
WilliamRyanisemeritusprofessorofRus- SS
sianStudiesattheUniversityofLondonand
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arethehistoryofscienceandmagicinRussia, Budapest–New York RPapte
maritimehistory,andhistoricallexicography. yaócaldb
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Among his publications are The Bathhouse at
Midnight.An Historical Survey of Magic and
ISBN978-615-5225-10-9
DivinationinRussia(Stroud,UK,andUniver- Salesandinformation:[email protected] 90000 >
sityPark,PA,1999)andRussianMagicatthe
Website:http://www.ceupress.com
British Library: Books, Manuscripts, Scholars, Edited by James Kapaló,
Travellers, The Panizzi Lectures 2005, Lon- 9 786155 225109 Éva Pócs and William Ryan
don,2006).
THE POWER OF WORDS
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THE
POWER OF
WORDS
Studies on Charms
and Charming in Europe
Edited by
J K , É p
ames apaló va ócs
and W R
illiam yan
Central European University Press
Budapest–New York
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© 2013 James Kapaló, Éva Pócs and William Ryan
Published in 2013 by
Central European University Press
An imprint of the
Central European University Limited Liability Company
Nádor utca 11, H-1051 Budapest, Hungary
Tel: [phone] or 327-3000
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.ceupress.com
224 West 57th Street, New York NY 10019, USA
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
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, without the permission
of the Publisher.
Index compiled by Emese Ilyefalvy
ISBN 978-615-5225-10-9
libRaRy of congRess cataloging-in-publication Data
Kapaló, James Alexander.
The power of words: studies on charms and charming in Europe / edited by James
Kapaló, Éva Pócs and William Ryan.
pages ; cm
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 978-6155225109 (hardbound)
1. Charms—Europe—History. 2. Incantations—Europe—History. I. Title.
GR600.K36 2013
133.4’4--dc23
2012047935
Printed in Hungary by
Akakprint Kft., Budapest
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Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................. 1
Part I
GENRE, CLASSIFICATION, TERMINOLOGY
Chapter I
A Genre in the Making.
The First Study of Charms in Norway
Arne Bugge Amundsen ......................................... 15
Chapter II
The Making of a Charm Collector.
Alexander Carmichael in Uist, from 1864 to 1882
Domhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart .................................... 27
Chapter III
Charm Indexes: Problems and Perspectives
Tatiana Agapkina and Andrei Toporkov ........................ 71
Chapter IV
Medieval Narrative Charms
Edina Bozóky .................................................. 101
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VI Table of Contents
Chapter V
The Historical Development of “Charm” Terminology
in Hungarian
Vilmos Voigt ................................................... 117
Part II
HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE STUDIES
Chapter VI
The Marginality of Charms in Medieval England
Lea Olsan ..................................................... 135
Chapter VII
Church Benedictions and Popular Charms in Hungary
Éva Pócs ....................................................... 165
Chapter VIII
Benediction and Exorcism in Early Modern Hungary
Dániel Bárth ................................................... 199
Chapter IX
Baltic and East Slavic Charms
Daiva Vaitkevičienė ............................................ 211
Part III
CONTENT AND FUNCTION OF CHARMS
Chapter X
The Năjit Between Prayers and Charms: A Study of the Romanian
Manuscript Tradition
Emanuela Timotin ............................................. 239
Chapter XI
Charming The Moon: Moon Charms for Sick Children
in Portuguese Ethnography
Francisco Vaz Da Silva ........................................ 257
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Table of Contents VII
Chapter XII
“Dear Merciful Mother”: The Virgin Mary in Finnish and Karelian
Birth Incantations
Maarit Viljakainen ............................................ 265
Chapter XIII
The Power of Words in Miracles, Visions, Incantations and
Bewitchments
Gábor Klaniczay ............................................... 281
About the Editors .............................................. 305
About the Contributors ........................................ 307
Index .......................................................... 311
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INTRODUCTION
This book of essays is the third in a series of books published as part
of the on-going international cooperation of members of the Committee
for Charms, Charmers and Charming established six years ago as a part
of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research (ISFNR).1 Joint
research had in fact begun earlier, in 2003, and continued in 2005 in
the form of conferences held at the Warburg Institute of the Univer-
sity of London and organised jointly with the Folklore Society. The
cooperation that developed in this way culminated in 2007 in the con-
ference held in Hungary at the Department of Ethnology and Cul-
tural Anthropology of Pécs University, sponsored also by the Folklore
Society. British, Russian, Estonian and Hungarian participants now
contributed as members of the Committee and discussed necessary
further steps. The scope of the Committee is constantly increasing –
after conventions in Pécs, Tartu, Athens, Bucharest and Moscow now
the eighth international conference is being planned for Vilnius in 2013
by researchers from over 20 countries. The Committee’s periodical,
in both print and online open-access format, has also been launched
under the title Incantatio with its editorial board based in Tartu.
As the present volume reflects, researchers of charms include
representatives of European ethnology and folklore studies, and con-
temporary and historical anthropology, as well as linguistics, the study
of Classical Antiquity, medieval studies, Byzantine studies, Russian
1 See the first two volumes: Roper 2004; Roper 2009.
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