Virgilius Maro Grammaticus

Virgilius Maro Grammaticus was a writer of grammatical treatises in Latin. His lifetime is dated to the 7th century.

Life

Information about the origin and lifetime of Virgilius Maro have not survived. Both a Spanish, southern French and Irish homeland were assumed. The time of his work is set between 650 and 750 AD. According to the research by Michael Herren, research today assumes Irish origin and a lifetime around the year 650. The assumption of Jewish origin - which was used to explain some of the peculiarities of Virgilius Maro's views - was still defended by Bernhard Bischoff .

plant

Two tracts by Virgilius Maro have survived, the Epitomae XV (according to the title comprising 15 chapters, of which only 12 have survived) and the eight Epistolae . Both writings deal with grammatical questions, in part traditional teaching material is reproduced, but in part fantastically bizarre theses are represented. The Epitomae follow the model of the Ars maior of Aelius Donatus and first deal with the smallest linguistic units (letters, syllables, verse feet), then the eight parts of the speech ( partes orationis ), and finally with questions of language use ( barbarism , solocism and figures of speech ) to end. The Epistolae follow the model of the Donatian Ars minor and only deal with the eight parts of speech and language usage. If the disposition of the two writings and some of the statements are traditional, the further explanations of Virgilius Maro deviate strongly from the school tradition. Virgilius reports from his life, tells of his teachers and other grammar anecdotes. In the "Catalog of the Grammarians" (Epit. XV) he lists numerous venerable representatives of this discipline, who are nowhere mentioned except for him and whose names are often reminiscent of the figures of Greek and Latin antiquity and the Bible; Virgilius Maro's teacher was called Aeneas. The grammatical explanations of Virgilius include statements about the "stirring of the letters" (scinderatio fonorum) and the "twelve kinds of Latinity" (Epit. I, 64-84). It also covers grammatical problems such as the vocative form of the personal pronoun of the first person singular ( ego ); Virglílius Maro takes this opportunity to describe the fourteen days of intense debate that took place between the grammarians Galbungus and Terrentius during the discussion of this important topic (Epist. II). Virgilius Maro writes difficult, deliberately incomprehensible and dark Latin full of words that only occur in his work, and full of puns and imaginative word inventions. He shows no insecurities in the use of the Latin language, which are not atypical for other authors of the time. He is classified among the authors of Hisperic Latin, a Latin enriched with loan and artificial words that was widespread among Irish monks in the early Middle Ages (for example Hisperica Famina ).

effect

The works of Virgilius Maro were received intensively by subsequent authors in the 8th century and then, after a reception gap in the 9th century, discussed again as serious treatises in the 10th and up to the end of the 11th century. His style, in particular, was influential at times. Some of his word coining and bizarre etymologies found their way into the broader grammatical tradition. Then it was forgotten and only rediscovered in 1794. The handwritten tradition is relatively extensive compared to other grammarians of the early Middle Ages.

Interpretation problems

The meaning of Virgilius Maro's writings has always remained controversial since its rediscovery. In the past he was mainly considered to be a bad or even crazy grammarian who wanted to practice serious grammar, but since Paul Lehmann ( Die Parodie im Mittelalter , 1924) it has been assumed that his treatises are parodic writings. Vivian Law placed Virgilius Maro in the cultural context of Ireland in the 7th century and tried to show that Virgilius Maro's writings should be understood as a defense of the freedom of thought (the "filosophia" and the "sapientia") in a time of increasing theological hardening . As a bizarre author, Virgilius Maro has always had followers, and because of his ingenuity, he is often compared to authors such as François Rabelais , Jorge Luis Borges or James Joyce .

output

• Virgilius Maro Grammaticus: Opera omnia. Edidit Bengt Löfstedt. Saur, Munich and Leipzig 2003.

literature

• Bernhard Bischoff: The "second Latinity" of Virgilius Maro Grammaticus and his Jewish origin . In: Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 23 (1988), pp. 11-16.
• Michael Herren: Some new light on the life of Virgilius Maro Grammaticus . In: Proceedings of the Irish Academy 79 C (1987), pp. 27-71.
• Colette Jeudy: Virgilius Maro . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages , Volume 8, Col. 1712.
• Vivien Law: Wisdom, Authority and Grammar in the Seventh Century. Decoding Virgilius Maro Grammaticus . CUP, Cambridge 1995. see also Vivien Law, Wisdom, Authority and Grammar in the Seventh Century: Decoding Virgilius Maro Grammaticus .
• B. Löfstedt, To the sources of Virgilius Maro Grammaticus , Eranos 79 (1981), 117-19
• B. Löfstedt, Late and Vulgar Latin in the language of Virgilius Maro Grammaticus , Latomus 40 (1981), 121-6
• B. Löfstedt, Text-critical notes on Virgilius Maro Grammaticus , Latomus 40 (1981), 828-9
• B. Löfstedt, Zum Wortschatz des Virgilius Maro Grammaticus , Philologus 126 (1982), 99-110
• D. Ó Cróinín, The date, provenance, and earliest use of the writings of Virgilius Maro Grammaticus , in Tradition und Wertung. Festschrift for Franz Brunhölzl, ed. G. Bernt et al. (Sigmaringen, 1989), pp. 13-22
• K. Smolak, The Third Virgil: a Jewish Satirist of the Early Middle Ages? , Wiener Humanistische Blätter 30 (1988), 16-27