Linguistic Fragmentation and Cultural Inclusion in the Middle Ages

Linguistic fragmentation contains the risk of cultural separation, while the concept of inclusion implies the recognition of the difference of the Other, who must be recognised in its specificity to develop a process of inclusion. One of the main means of overcoming the dangers hidden in linguistic fragmentation is unquestionably plurilingualism and, relatedly, translation. Translation enables the transmission of content from one linguistic-cultural system to another. Multilingualism is not just a peculiarity of the contemporary age; it is a fundamental phenomenon of the Middle Ages. The conceptual relationship between linguistic fragmentation and cultural inclusion, and the inter-relationships of these two apparently opposing poles with the communicative tool of translation, requires some reflection within the broader framework of translation studies in the Middle Ages. This collection of essays examines the seemingly paradoxical concept of linguistic fragmentation as an instrument of cultural inclusion thanks to the practice of translation.

The essays explain the relationship through translations between many medieval languages and texts, from Icelandic to Italian, from English to French, and more. They examine vernacular circulation of religious texts (translation of the Bible, of hagiographic or homiletic texts, etc.); circulation, thanks to translation, of literary texts (e.g., the translation of epic-chivalric cycles); translation from a koine language to another language and vice versa; and the relationship between the choice of the target language and the socio-cultural context.

Challenging Fragmentation, Striving for Inclusion
ALESSANDRO ZIRONI

Part One: Adapting to Include

Dal latino al volgare: un’orazione "renana" nel XV e XVI secolo
PAOLA SPAZZALI

La traduzione italiana della Vita di santa Brigida di Svezia
SILVIA NOCENTINI

Among Languages and Writing Systems: Prayers in Latin and in the Vernacular in Medieval Scandinavia
MARUSCA FRANCINI

Sketching Guthlac as a Model of Monastic Virtues: Vercelli XXIII, Guthlac A and the Vita Sancti Guthlaci
RAFFAELE CIOFFI

Textual Alterations as Re-translations: John Lydgate’s Aureate Lyrics in Manuscript and Early Print
TATSUYA NII

The Translator in the Text: The Narrative Voice of the Middle Welsh Otuel
LUCIANA CORDO RUSSO

Part Two: Creation and Transformation

La traduction vieux-slave du Poenitentiale Merseburgense: modèle exemplaire d’entre-deux-langues au Moyen âge
MARIYANA TSIBRANSKA-KOSTOVA and IRENA KRISTEVA

Creating a Literary Koine: How Gavin Douglas Translates Repetition in the Eneados
MEGAN BUSHNELL

Fragmentation, Translation and Dido’s Diversity
MARIAN ROTHSTEIN

Translation, Function, Semantics: from the Romance of Horn to King Horn
PIERANDREA GOTTARDI

Inter-Codicality: The Case of Two Manuscripts Belonging to Jeanne d’Evreux, Queen of France
ANNE MOURON

Part Three: Language Inclusions

Tristan in Munich, BSB, MS Cgm 51. Observations on an Intermodal Romance
ADELE CIPOLLA

Illumination and Text in the Pearl-Manuscript (London, British Library, MS Cotton Nero A.x.)
SIBILLA SIANO