Review article
https://doi.org/10.53745/ccp.49.95.4
On Orthographic Changes and Their Significance in Early Medieval Latin. Examples from Hagiographic Latin Texts of Passional MR 164
Lucija Krešić Nacevski
; Faculty of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
In this paper we have tried not only to determine what kind of orthographic changes (vocal and consonant) and to what extent we find in the hagiographic anthology Pasionale MR 164, but also to answer the question from the title - what do these orthographic changes mean? Pasionale MR 164 is the first complete hagiographic collection in our country and also the oldest codex in the Metropolitan Library. The indication of the orthographic changes, as those that can significantly influence thinking about the codex ubication, led to the following results. Consonantal changes are more frequent and with the Italian area evident in the changes of Tuscan aspiration, gemination and sonorization. However, these changes are not so numerous that we can speak with certainty about the origin of the codex on these grounds. Other consonant changes (degemination, recomposition, desonorization, nasal consonant changes, k spelling, betacism, palatalization, epenthetic p, elision) fully follow the textbook descriptions of the orthography of Vulgar Latin. The vowel changes have a smaller scope, but more frequently used, although only one of them can be significant for ubication. It is the divergence of vowels that determines exactly in which (Mediterranean and other) places vowel substitutions took place, as well as which vowels were affected by such changes. Other vowel changes such as monophthongization, diphthongization, aspiration and deaspiration, replacement of i by y, can be found in every early medieval text. The paper concludes that orthography can be of great use in certain cases in determining the place of origin of a codex, especially when certain changes are constant. In the case of Pasionale, we observe the uncertainty of the scribe in implementing any change. Therefore, the ubication should certainly be sought in other analyses, of which the paleographic one is certainly among the most important, and immediately after the linguistic and hagiological ones analyses.
Keywords
Early Medieval Latin; Early Medieval Orthography; Passional MR 164; Latin Hagiography
Hrčak ID:
333241
URI
Publication date:
8.7.2025.
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