Aus Buchwerkstatt und Bibliothek. Manuskriptkulturen des Mittelalters in Orient und Okzident

Handschriften, seien sie Produkte des europäischen Mittelalters oder des vormodernen islamischen Orients, bergen eine Fülle von Informationen über grundlegende kulturelle Praktiken der Alten Welt, die aber auch entschlüsselt sein wollen. In den Fächern, die sich am Zentrum für Mittelalterstudien der Universität Bamberg beteiligen, hat die Beschäftigung mit Manuskripten ihren festen Platz. Unter dem Titel „Manuskriptkulturen des Mittelalters“ wurden im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung des Zentrums für Mittelalterstudien an der Universität Bamberg im Sommersemester 2011 zehn Vorträge gehalten, die sich ganz verschiedenen Aspekten des Themas widmeten. Chronologisch umspannten die Beiträge etwa ein Jahrtausend, geographisch sind sie zwischen dem Atlantik und dem Indischen Ozean angesiedelt. Die in den Vorträgen behandelten Handschriften repräsentieren die verschiedensten Inhalte und literarischen Formen – vom Epos bis zur juristisch-religiösen Traditionssammlung. Dennoch zeigen sich übergreifende Aspekte von Manuskriptkulturen, die sich im spezifischen Umgang mit den Texten und ihren Illustrationen, in den Anforderungen eines Layouts und grafischer Gestaltung niederschlagen. Diese wirkten sich bis weit in die Geschichte des gedruckten Buches aus. Der vorliegende Band enthält sieben Vorträge der Ringvorlesung, die zum Teil wesentlich überarbeitet wurden, sowie einen weiteren Beitrag, der aus einer Abschlussarbeit im Fach Iranistik hervorging

"Thou" and "ye": a collocational-phraseological approach to pronoun change in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales"

Chaucer’s use of the singular or plural form of the second person pronoun to address a single person in his Canterbury Tales usually follows the established standards of his time. However, some ninety instances of pronoun switching do occur, and explanations drawing on pragmatic parameters, rhyme and textual corruption have not been able to explain all of these deviations. Complementary to these approaches, this paper offers a novel explanatory hypothesis. The “collocational- phraseological hypothesis” suggested here takes into account the force of the syntagmatic relationship of words. On the basis of an original electronic compilation of all instances of pronoun switches in the Canterbury Tales and a classification according to three main types, we argue that frequently and/or habitually used lexical combinations (collocations, formulae, quotations) can account for a significant number of the cases in question

Phrasal and Phraseological Synonymy in the "Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary"

This paper explores how phraseological units compete with monolexical units in the monumental Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary (HTOED), primarily in its online version. By means of several case studies, the status and coverage of phraseological units is analysed both in the synonym lists (monolexical and phraseological synonymy) and in the lower-level category headings (lexicographic synonymy), where paraphrases and definitions are considered as further multi-word expressions

Manuscript Evidence of the Teaching of the Language Arts in Late Anglo-Saxon and Early Norman England, with Particular Regard to the Role of the Classics

This article highlights indications of the role of the classics in the teaching of grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic as evidenced by the existing manuscripts from the period c. 950 to 1130 in England, that is, the roughly 180 years from the time when the changes brought about by the Benedictine Reform were felt in England until the full impact of Peter Abelard's writings set in. In an Appendix the article provides a full list of the manuscript evidence. The article itself discusses observations concerning the language arts which conform to the three criteria recently suggested as indicative of the classroom use of a given (instructional) text or manuscript: Firstly, the presence of modified, alongside full versions of teaching texts is evident in the tenth-century Excerptiones de Prisciano and Ælfric's further adaptation and translation of this text in his Old English Grammar. The modification of the end of Isidore’s book on rhetoric in Etymologiae, ii in the light of 'grammatical rhetoric' belongs here, as does a dialogue excerpt of Isidore's Etymologiae and Differentiae, which might well have served as an aid in teaching Isidore's De fide catholica. Secondly, didactic glosses and commentaries abound in educational manuscripts of the school authors, mainly for grammatical instruction with the aim of teaching how to read and interpret the Latin authors correctly; thus they represent the most obvious educational use of the classics. Furthermore, the commentary tradition on Ciceronian rhetoric is witnessed for the first time in early Anglo-Norman England. Thirdly and finally, the layout and disposition of the texts for educational purposes joins the instructional use of compilations of handbooks in the case of dialectical compilations and grammatical compilations which serve as information resources for the teacher. Schematic diagrams to visualize the structure of a complex exposition were clearly devised for didactic benefit. Included in the discussions is fresh evidence from the manuscripts Oxford, Bodl. Libr., MS Bodley 239 (2244) and BL, MS Royal 5. E. xvi