INTRODUCTION TO MEDIEVAL LATIN

The INTRODUCTION TO MEDIEVAL LATIN course falls within the "Core educational activities" of the study plan of the Master's Degree Programme in Italian Philology, Linguistics and Literature (Medieval and Renaissance program). The aim of the course is to provide students with an adequate knowledge of the specificities of early medieval Latin based on a selected group of texts, as well as of the most relevant research, digital tools and literature.

The outcome of the training activity is the acquisition by students of a detailed knowledge of early medieval Latin, which, when applied to the analysis of a specific text corpus, can help to improve the understanding and linguistic research of the early medieval version of Latin. In this way, students will acquire both the necessary user skills in the use of literature and digital tools for the study and research of Early Medieval Latin and the necessary linguistic-analytical experience in the interpretation of texts representing the Early Medieval variety of Latin. This will significantly strengthen students' awareness of Latin linguistics and their knowledge of texts representing the Early Medieval Latin variety.

At least a basic knowledge of Latin.

Throughout the course, in addition to learning about the basic characteristics of medieval Latin, students will interactively explore the 8th century private law documents that make up the course text material, published in the first series of the Chartae Latinae Antiquiores (ChLA) (volumes 1-49). In the course of the lectures, 15 charters will be presented and analysed, mainly from Italy (e.g. Tuscany) and the Frankish Empire (e.g. Alemannia), supplemented where appropriate by material from other areas (e.g. Britain). In this way, students can gain an idea of the linguistic-ethnic aspects of Latin in different areas, such as the distinctively different features of Latin in native Latin-speaking Italy, Germanic-Latin bilingual Alemannia or Anglo-Saxon-Celtic-speaking Britain. The ChLA module of the LLDB database (https://lldb.elte.hu/ ), where (in addition to the critical edition and facsimile) the digital version and the normative Latin transcription of the relevant texts are available, as well as the data sheets recording the differences between the two versions (original and normalised), will be of fundamental help.

Readings in original language (Latin):

1) List of texts translated and commented during the course: 15 private law documents from the ChLA corpus (Italy: ChLA-20-701, ChLA-23-735, ChLA-24-752, ChLA-34-985, ChLA-34-995, ChLA-34-1009, ChLA-38-1102, ChLA-39-1144, ChLA-20-701, Switzerland: ChLA-1-44, ChLA-1-73, Germany: ChLA-12-541, Belgium: ChLA-12-537, France: ChLA-12-533, Britain: ChLA-3-195)

2) Bibliography:

ChLA = Chartae Latinae Antiquiores. Facsimile Edition of the Latin Charters Prior to the Ninth Century (Parts 1-49). Ed. by A. Bruckner et al., Olten – Lausanne – Zürich 1954-1998.

LLDB = Computerized Historical Linguistic Database of the Latin Inscriptions of the Imperial Age (https://lldb.elte.hu/ )

Gallagher, R. – Roberts, E. – Tinti, F. (eds.) 2021. The Languages of Early Medieval Charters: Latin, Germanic Vernaculars and the Written Word. Leiden.

Stotz, P. (1996-2004). Handbuch zur lateinischen Sprache des Mittelalters. 1-5. München.

Medieval Latin, second edition, edited by K.P. Harrington ; revised by Joseph Pucci ; with a grammatical introduction by Alison Goddard Elliott. Chicago & London 1997.

Norberg, Dag (1999). Manuale di latino medievale (a cura di Massimo Oldoni ; bibliografia aggiornata a cura di Paolo Garbini). Avagliano, Cava dei Tirreni.

Learning is assessed on the basis of a written exam, in which students must demonstrate their knowledge of the basic features of medieval Latin, as well as their knowledge of the use of traditional and digital tools used for the study and research of early medieval Latin.

written

In the written test, 30 points are awarded for 15 questions. The minimum score (18/30) is obtained by answering at least 9 questions correctly. A good score (24/30) is obtained by answering at least 12 questions correctly. The maximum score (30/30) is obtained by correctly answering each questions correctly.

A traditional class based mainly on the presentation of the basic characteristics of medieval Latin and linguistic-philological analysis of selected early medieval Latin texts, together with the presentation of related traditional and digital research tools and methods.

Teaching language
English

Type of exam
written