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IMC 2021: Sessions

Session 1322: Beyond Authority?: Virgules, Dotted I's, and Paratext

Wednesday 7 July 2021, 16.30-18.00

Moderator/Chair:Marco Mostert, Onderzoekinstituut voor Geschiedenis en Kunstgeschiedenis, Universiteit Utrecht
Paper 1322-aThe Ancient Origins of the Virgule: The Space between Words and Symbols
(Language: English)
Rachel Tharp, Variorum Chaucer, University of Oklahoma
Index terms: Education, Language and Literature - Latin, Literacy and Orality, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 1322-bAnonymity and Authority in Carolingian Virgil Manuscripts
(Language: English)
Maura K. Lafferty, Department of History, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 1322-cDotting the i in Medieval Manuscripts
(Language: English)
Adrian Papahagi, Department of English Language & Literature, Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca
Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Abstract

Paper -a:
Scholars who study Middle English manuscripts may recognize the oblique line (/), known as the virgule. The word derives from Latin virgula (a diminutive form of virga): a little twig. It also came to signify a critical mark, a sign of spuriousness, or a sign of censure. At some point, punctuation mark is added to the latter, specialized definitions of virgula. The treatises of the grammarians witness the 'twig' transcending its generalized, biological sense to become a syntactically significant symbol. The value of this study is not a complete history for one symbol but an analysis of the climate in which a symbol is imbued with particular functions in specific contexts.

Paper -b:
Unlike their Late Antique predecessors, Carolingian Virgil manuscripts have an abundance of paratextual elements. Among them are lives and periochae which are obsessed with naming the author and proclaiming his authority. They themselves, however, are mostly anonymous. Lacking authorship, do they lack authority? What right to they have to authorize the poems they preface?

Paper -c:
Singling out the i's, especially when they appear in a series of minims, is a well-known aspect of Gothic manuscripts. However, little attention has been paid to the morphology of the 'dots'. The present paper explores an extensive corpus of dated or datable manuscripts (ss. XIII-XV) in an attempt to assess whether such morphological variation is systematic, and chronologically or geographically determined. Can the shapes of "dots" on the i's provide a criterion for dating and localising manuscripts?