IMC 2022: Sessions
Session 820: The Sacred and the Obscure: Intersections between Language and Identity in Early Insular Intellectual Culture
Tuesday 5 July 2022, 16.30-18.00
| Organiser: | Ciaran Arthur, School of Arts, English & Languages, Queen's University Belfast |
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| Moderator/Chair: | Bernhard Bauer, Department of Early Irish, Maynooth University, Maynooth |
| Paper 820-a | Language and Eschatology at the Edges of the Known World (Language: English) Index terms: Biblical Studies, Historiography - Medieval, Language and Literature - Comparative, Philosophy |
| Paper 820-b | Frithegod, Greek, and 10th-Century Anglo-Latin (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Language and Literature - Greek, Language and Literature - Latin, Learning (The Classical Inheritance) |
| Paper 820-c | Hiberno-Latin Textual Obscurity and Christian Symbolism (Language: English) Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Language and Literature - Celtic, Language and Literature - Latin, Learning (The Classical Inheritance) |
| Abstract | Early medieval intellectuals were fascinated with the origins, limitations, and capabilities of language. 'In the beginning was the Word', but could any human language adequately express divine concepts and truths? In this sense, human language was seen by some to be a 'border', so to speak, between the divine and human worlds, while others saw it as more of a gateway between the two realms, particularly through exegetical skill with Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Intellectuals from early Insular centres were particularly interested in ideas of language and they were keen to acquire such linguistic skills to prove their ability to further understand the divine scriptures and to also solidify their eschatological mission on the edges of the known world in what was believed to be the end of Time. |