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| Hiberno-Latin | |
|---|---|
| Region | Ireland |
| Era | 6th-12th centuries[1] |
Indo-European
| |
Early forms | |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
| IETF | la-IE |
Hiberno-Latin was a learned style ofliterary Latin first used and subsequently spread byIrish monks during the period from the sixth century to the twelfth century.[1]
Hiberno-Latin was notable for its curiously learned vocabulary. While neitherHebrew norGreek was widely known in Western Europe during this period, odd words from these sources, as well as from Irish andBritish sources, were added to Latin vocabulary by these authors. It has been suggested that the unusual vocabulary of the poems was the result of the monks learning Latin words fromdictionaries andglossaries which did not distinguish between obscure and common words; unlike many others in Western Europe at the time, the Irish monks did not speak a language descended from Latin. During the sixth and seventh centuries AD, Irish monasticism spread through Christian Europe; Irish monks who founded thesemonasteries often brought Hiberno-Latin literary styles with them.
Notable authors whose works contain something of the Hiberno-Latin spirit include StColumba, StColumbanus, StAdamnan, andVirgilius Maro Grammaticus. StGildas, the Welsh author of theDe Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, is also credited with theLorica, orBreastplate, anapotropaiccharm againstevil that is written in a curiously learned vocabulary; this too probably relates to an education in the Irish styles of Latin.John Scotus Eriugena was probably one of the last Irish authors to write Hiberno-Latin wordplay. StHildegard of Bingen preservesan unusual Latin vocabulary that was in use inher convent, and which appears in a few of her poems; this invention may also be influenced by Hiberno-Latin.[citation needed] According to Charles D. Wright, the Hiberno-Latin language went extinct around the twelfth century as theVisio Tnugdali was also written in the Hiberno-Latin as a final flourish for the language.[1]
The style reaches its peak in theHisperica Famina, which means roughly "Western orations"; theseFamina are rhetorical descriptive poems couched in a kind of free verse.Hisperica is understood as aportmanteau word combiningHibernia, Ireland, andHesperides, the semi-legendary "Western Isles" that may have been inspired by theAzores or theCanary Islands; the coinage is typical of the wordplay used by these authors. A brief excerpt from a poem on the dawn from theHisperica Famina shows the Irish poet decorating his verses with Greek words:
Titaneus olimphium inflamat arotus tabulatum, | The titanian star inflames the dwelling places of Olympus, |
One usage ofHesperia in classical times was as a synonym for Italy, and it is noticeable that some of the vocabulary and stylistic devices of these pieces originated not among the Irish, but with the priestly and rhetorical poets who flourished within the world dominated ecclesiastically by Rome (especially in Italy, Gaul, Spain and Africa) between the fourth and the sixth centuries, such asJuvencus,Avitus of Vienne,Dracontius,Ennodius andVenantius Fortunatus. (Thus the very wordfamen, pluralfamina – a pseudo-archaic coinage from the classical verbfari, 'to speak' – is first recorded in the metrical GospelsEvangeliorum libri ofJuvencus. Similarly, the word-arrangement often follows the sequenceadjective 1 - adjective 2 - verb - noun 1 - noun 2, known as the "golden line", a pattern used to excess in the too-regular prosody of these poets; the first line quoted above is an example.) The underlying idea, then, would be to cast ridicule on these Roman-oriented writers by blending their stylistic tricks with incompetent scansion and applying them to unworthy subjects.[citation needed]
On a much more intelligible level, the sixth-centuryabecedarian hymnAltus prosator shows many of the features of Hiberno-Latin: the wordprosator, the "first sower" meaningcreator, refers to God using an unusualneologism.[2] The text of the poem also contains the wordiduma, meaning "hands;" this is probably from Hebrewידים (yadaim, "two hands"). The poem is also an extendedalphabeticalacrostic, another example of the wordplay typical of Hiberno-Latin. Irish (but not Continental) manuscripts traditionally attributed the poem to the sixth-century Irish mysticSaint Columba, but this attribution is doubtful.[3] Marking with an asterisk (*) words that are learned, neologisms, unusually spelled, or unusual in the context they stand, the poem begins:
Altus *prosator, *vetustus | High creator, Ancient |