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 Programmes in Ancient Civilisations: Literature, History and Archaeology and in Italian Philology, Linguistics and Literature (Medieval and Renaissance program) and within the “Additional educational activities” of the Master’s Degree in Italian Philology, Linguistics and Literature (European and Contemporary program). The aim of the course is to provide Master's 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.

The exam of INTRODUCTION TO MEDIEVAL LATIN requires a general knowledge of the history of Latin language and literature and a linguistic competence of Latin at least intermediate level.

Throughout the course, 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. In the context of home reading, students will be asked to study a further 15 private law documents. The ChLA module of the LLDB database (https://lldb.elte.hu/ ), where 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 (exact details to be determined later)
2) home readings: 15 additional private law documents from the ChLA corpus (exact details to be determined later)

3) Bibliography (exact details to be determined later)

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.

Learning is assessed by a written test in which students must demonstrate their knowledge and use of traditional and digital tools for the study and research of early medieval Latin and their ability to use them to analyse specific Latin texts. In addition, they will have to demonstrate their ability to translate (into English or Italian) and linguistically annotate Early Medieval Latin texts in one or more selected texts.

written

In the written test, 10 points are awarded for the test part (5 questions) and a total of 20 points for the translation (10 points) and linguistic commentary (10 points) of the selected passages, giving a total of 30 points. The minimum score (18/30) is obtained by answering at least half of the questions correctly and obtaining a total of 6 points, while at the same time obtaining at least 6 points for at least two thirds of the passages translated correctly and at least 6 points for at least two thirds of the passages commented on linguistically. A good score (24/30) is obtained by answering at least three quarters of the questions correctly for a total of 8 points, by translating at least three quarters of the passages correctly for a total of 8 points, and by commenting at least three quarters of the passages linguistically correctly for a total of 8 points. The maximum score (30/30) is obtained by correctly answering each of the test questions and scoring a total of 10 points, while at the same time translating the passages completely correctly and commenting on the passages linguistically completely correctly, also scoring 10 points.

A traditional class based mainly on the presentation and linguistic-philological analysis of selected early medieval Latin texts, together with the presentation of related traditional and digital research tools and methods. During the lessons, students will interactively engage in the linguistic analysis of specific Latin texts and the use of related traditional and digital research tools.

Teaching language
English

Type of exam
written