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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Etymology and Wordplay in Medieval Literature

Etymology and Wordplay in Medieval Literature

Males, Mikael

Hardcover

Series: Disputatio, Book 30

Medieval & Renaissance HistoryLiterary CriticismEtymology

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 2503575757
ISBN13: 9782503575759
Publisher: Brepols Publishers
Published: Feb 14 2019
Pages: 272
Weight: 1.35
Height: 0.90 Width: 6.40 Depth: 9.40
Language: English
In modern scholarship, etymology and wordplay are rarely studied in tandem. In the Middle Ages, however, they were intrinsically related, and both feature prominently in medieval literature. Their functions are often at variance with the expectations of the modern reader, in particular when wordplay is used to arrive at crucial answers or to convey theological insights. The studies in this book therefore carry important implications for our understanding of the reception of medieval texts. The authors show how etymology and wordplay in the Middle Ages often served as an impetus for meditation and as a route to truth, but that they could also be put to more mundane uses, such as the bolstering of national pride. In a narrative context, the functions of etymology and wordplay could range from underlining the sexual bravado of the protagonist to being the key indicator of whether the hero would live or die. This book presents case studies of the uses of etymology and wordplay in a number of medieval literatures (Latin, Old French, Middle High German, Italian, Old Irish, Old English, Old Norse, Slavic). By moving beyond the strictly etymological discourse into different parts of medieval literature, the functions of these devices are highlighted in various contexts. Their significance ranges from the bawdy to the sublime, from the open-ended to the specific. Classical and medieval developments of etymology and wordplay are described in a background chapter.

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