Affiliation:
1. University of Gothenburg , Gothenburg , Sweden
2. University of Manchester , Manchester , UK
Abstract
AbstractThis paper explores the potential of using a historical sociolinguistic approach to interrogate the extensive lists of personal names found in medievallibri vitæ. So far, these lists have mainly been exploited in historical and a few onomastic studies, with a focus on name etymology and personal naming practices. Both the linguistics of the names and sociolinguistic perspectives remain to date underexamined. In this contribution, we explore possible sociolinguistic research questions, and present methodological challenges and preliminary results on the basis of four case studies from two examples, thelibri vitæof Thorney Abbey and Reichenau. The case studies examine autographs, choice of script and language, and dialect adaptation. Our main interest lies in the modelling and explanation of graphic and linguistic variation in the names. Our particular focus is on the status of the respective vernacular languages involved (Old English and Old High German) and in the conclusions we can draw from these documents about their underlying writing traditions in general, and scribal training and practices in particular.
Subject
Linguistics and Language,Language and Linguistics
Reference64 articles.
1. Ainiala, Terhi. 2016. Names in society. In Carole Hough (ed.), The Oxford handbook of names and naming, 371–381. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2. Akselberg, Gunnstein. 2012. Socioonomastics – a critical approach. Namn og nemne 29. 107–118.
3. Autenrieth, Johanne, Dieter Geuenich & Karl Schmid. 1979. Das Verbrüderungsbuch der Abtei Reichenau (MGH. Libri memoriales et Necrologia. N. S.). Hannover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung.
4. Baesecke, Georg. 1928. Das Althochdeutsche von Reichenau nach den Namen seiner Mönchslisten. Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 52. 92–148. https://doi.org/10.1515/bgsl.1928.1928.52.92.
5. Benskin, Michael & Margaret Laing. 1981. Translation and Mischsprachen in Middle English manuscripts. In Michael Benskin & Michael L. Samuels (eds.), So meny people longages and tonges: Philological essays in Scots and medieval English presented to Angus McIntosh, 55–106. Edinburgh: Benskin and Samuels.