Irene Diego Rodríguez | Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (original) (raw)

Book chapters by Irene Diego Rodríguez

Advances in English and American Studies: current developments, future trends, 2020

En los últimos años, Coetzee ha declarado desear alejarse de la visión anglosajona del mundo y ha... more En los últimos años, Coetzee ha declarado desear alejarse de la visión anglosajona del mundo y ha publicado su última obra, Siete Cuentos Morales (2018), en español primero. Además, casi simultáneamente, nos ha permitido visitar una exposición de fotografías que tomó cuando era un adolescente. A pesar de los más de 60 años de diferencia entre la exposición y Siete Cuentos Morales, ambas muestran similitudes temáticas, sobre todo en su interés por la otredad, que en este caso se hace más evidente en su defensa por los derechos de los animales. En esta línea argumentativa, también es importante mencionar que Coetzee no sólo se interesa por la visión que ofrece un mundo que utiliza el español para comunicarse, sino también por algunos de los autores con los que nos ha obsequiado la lengua española.

During the late Middle Ages, the existing connection between Astrology and Medicine strengthened ... more During the late Middle Ages, the existing connection between Astrology and Medicine strengthened and promoted an unprecedented transmission and circulation of medical astrological manuscripts. These treatises established that the planets and the zodiac signs governed the different limbs and organs of the body and thus, they were relevant for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. However, they have traditionally passed unperceived to the eyes of scholarship, and that is why they have remained comparatively unknown even today. This is the case of the Pseudo-Hippocrates´ Treatise on Zodiacal Influence, incorporated into MS Hunter 513 (ff. 98r-104r). This research aims to study its main linguistic features to establish its dialectal provenance following the methodology of eLALME.

Broadening Horizons: A Peak Panorama of English Studies in Spain. , 2018

This paper aims to analyse the gender of several astrological terms in various ME texts in order ... more This paper aims to analyse the gender of several astrological terms in various ME texts in order to study gender variation from a diachronic point of view. I will concentrate on the nouns moon and sun. Determiners and pronouns agree with the nouns they are referring to and they act as distinctive gender markers. Therefore, it is possible to find a variety of masculine anaphoric and cataphoric references for the OE masculine and feminine ones for the OE noun . However, when addressing astrological terms, the assignment of a different gender is also likely, as it depends “on the attitude towards the referent” (Fernández-Domínguez 2017, 54). This fact is studied and illustrated with examples taken from a corpus containing several parallel versions of Þe Booke of Ypocras and three more lunaries from the Middle English Medical Texts Corpus. The results of this study not only reveal that the gender assigned to astrological terms is not invariable, but it also provides an explanation of the different contexts and reasons why one gender or another is used.

During the late Middle Ages, a large number of lunar prognostic texts written in Middle English g... more During the late Middle Ages, a large number of lunar prognostic texts written in Middle English gathered the belief that the planets, the sun and the moon and the zodiac signs governed the different organs of human anatomy. This is the case of the Pseudo-Hippocratic treatise that can be found in GUL, MS Hunter 513 (ff. 98r-104r). Its edition and study reflects the relevance and the diffusion this text reached throughout the Middle Ages. Therefore, my main aim is to identify the different parallel copies of the treatise under consideration in different manuscripts by carrying out a detailed and accurate linguistic analysis which will establish their provenance, diffusion and importance.

A physician in the Middle Ages should not only be acquainted with basic sciences, such as Anatomy... more A physician in the Middle Ages should not only be acquainted with basic sciences, such as Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology, but also needed to have some knowledge in Botany and Astronomy. Medieval Medicine relies heavily on the classical view of the humoral theory and the stars and planets having influence on people's health. The moon and its movement was an important element to be taken into consideration when a medical treatment was required. Hippocrates wrote on medical Astrology and his name was used authoritatively in attributed works which are likely not to have been written by him. Þe Booke of Ypocras is one of these pseudo-Hippocratic treatises on the influence of the moon according to one's Zodiac sign, genre known as zodiacal lunary to differentiate it from other treatises also dealing with the moon, such as electionaries, destinaries and questionaries. The original treatise was written in Greek and translated into Latin in the Middle Ages. The Latin translations circulated widely in three different versions: an anonymous one from Arabic, another one by William Moerbecke and a third one by Peter Abano. We have revised Latin translations corresponding to the three groups and have transcribed the thirteen extant English manuscripts containing Hippocrates' full version of the treatise. Our aim is to find out whether the English versions come from one of the Latin translations, possibly the one by Peter Abano, or from the other two as well. To do so we will concentrate on some specific parts of the tracts: the incipit and a following paragraph about physicians behaving like blind people if they do not know astronomy, Taurus and Pisces signs, and the final part or explicit.

Conference Presentations by Irene Diego Rodríguez

Hunt (1990: 19) has claimed that in medical recipes “mineral and chemical elements are unusual”. ... more Hunt (1990: 19) has claimed that in medical recipes “mineral and chemical elements are unusual”. Even if the number of elements cannot be compared to the estimated 1800 plant names attested in Middle English (Sauer, 2011: 57), our research reveals that there is a good number of mineral and chemical words in Middle English medical manuscripts. Some of the terms are used in alchemical treatises, which is “an area where few people have ventured” (Grund, 2013: 428). The reason for this negligence is the nature of texts and manuscripts and the nature of Alchemy itself, according to Grund (2013: 442). Alchemical lexicon is also found in medical manuscripts, as Alchemy was not only concerned with the transmutation of base metals into gold. There is also a long tradition of Alchemy as a means to make Medicine. Alchemists were actively involved in the search of an elixir of immortality and the creation of panaceas able to cure any disease. This explains why the lexis related to chemica and mineralia is used in medical manuscripts.
A comprehensive linguistic analysis of the entire material containing chemical and mineral items in medieval medical manuscripts has yet to be carried out. In order to study the lexis of chemical and mineral ingredients, a corpus of about 215,500 words has been specially compiled from different libraries, chiefly British Library (Sloane 121), Glasgow University Library (Hunter 185, Hunter 307, Hunter 328, Hunter 497 and Ferguson 147) and Wellcome Library (Wellcome 537). We have tried to cover as many as possible of the different medical genres included within the classification by Pahta and Taavitsainen (2004: 15). Thus, the corpus contains: a) specialised treatises, such as a humoral tract in Sloane 121 and the Middle English translation of the Compendium Medicinae by Gibertus Anglicus in Wellcome 537; b) materia medica including herbaries (Hunter 185, Hunter 307 and Hunter 497), as well as recipe collections (Ferguson 147 and Hunter 328) and other related works, such as the Antidotarium Nicholai in Ferguson 147.
The aim is to carry out a linguistic analysis of the lexicon of chemica and mineralia in Middle English based on the data retrieved from representative authentic sources, most of which has never been published. We will examine the provenance of the nouns according to their etymology to check whether they are borrowings or native words in the case of simplex terms, as well as the structure and the constituents present in nominal compounds according to the usual taxonomies based on Bauer (1983 and 2017), Marchand (1969) and Sauer (1992), but specialised classifications on the topic are also used (Norri, 1991).

The aim of this paper is to carry out a detailed study of gender variation from a diachronic pers... more The aim of this paper is to carry out a detailed study of gender variation from a diachronic perspective, analysing the gender of the eight proper nouns used to name the planets and the gender of the common noun planet in several Old English (henceforth OE) and Middle English (hereafter ME) astrological texts. During the period of time under study, there were eight planets: Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the Sun and the Moon, which were also considered planets at that time. Both OE <eorþe> (ModE Earth) and (ModE Sun) are Germanic feminine nouns ending in . Unlike them, the OE term (ModE Moon) is a masculine noun ending in , although the three of them belong to the weak declension. However, the other five planets were incorporated into English from Latin: , , and , which are masculine nouns, and , which is feminine. What is more, the English common noun planet comes from Old French <planète>. During the ME period, the loss of inflections entailed the disappearance of " overt marking within the noun phrase " (Guzmán-González, 1999: 38) and as a result, grammatical gender was replaced by a more semantic criterion. Grammatical gender survived during the ME period to a limited extent in personal pronouns and possessive determiners though (Moore, 1921: 84), because they agree with the nouns they were referring to, acting as distinctive gender markers. Therefore, it is possible to find a variety of anaphoric and cataphoric references for the astrological nouns under consideration. All in all, when addressing astrological terms, the assignment of a different gender is likely to occur, as it depends " on the attitude towards the referent " (Fernández-Domínguez, 2017: 54) as well as on the origin of the word (Mustanoja, 1960: 45). This fact will be illustrated with examples taken from different corpora. First of all, The Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus and the Middle English Medical Texts, a resource which compiles records from medical texts written in English and which also contains astrological treatises. Finally, I will also use my own corpus, which includes five manuscripts from different British libraries that I have transcribed myself: Glasgow University Library, MS Hunter 513; British Library, MS Harley 2378, British Library, MS Additional 12195 and British Library, MS Sloane 73 as well as Royal College of Physicians MS 384. The results of this study will demonstrate that the gender assigned to the astrological terms under consideration is not invariable, and will also explain the different contexts and reasons why one gender or another is preferred. (425 words) References (maximum 150 words) (Chicago style)

Medieval physicians and monks working with patients were instructed in the recognition of the sig... more Medieval physicians and monks working with patients were instructed in the recognition of the signs of death (Arrizabalaga, 1999: 243; Paxton, 1993: 631). Their predictions were mainly based on several works written by Hippocrates or attributed to him. The original treatises were written in Greek and translated into Latin in the Middle Ages either directly or through Arabic (Kibre, 1945 & 1978). The Latin translations circulated widely in different versions: a translation from Greek in the eighth-ninth centuries and a later translation from Arabic in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries by well-known physicians such as Constantinus Africanus and Gerard of Cremona. In the late Middle English period they were translated into English, among other vernacular languages. The present paper aims to reconstruct the circulation and transmission of these texts in Middle English based on the comparison of some prognostic treatises in English and their collation with their possible Latin parallel texts (Sudhoff, 1915). The tradition of the prognostic texts is obscure, including the Prognostics by Hippocrates properly, but also other various related tracts known as the Letter of Ipocras and the Capsula Eburnea, among others. As a sample of the former we have transcribed the excerpt in Glasgow University Library, Ferguson 147, and, for the latter, we have used the texts in Glasgow University Library, Hunter 513 and British Library Additional 34111. The analysis of the texts will shed light on the shadowy landscape of pseudo-Hippocratic prognostic texts in Middle English and will establish the appropriate filiation of the treatises under study.

Sauer (2011: 57) estimates that about 1800 plant names are attested in Middle English, but both H... more Sauer (2011: 57) estimates that about 1800 plant names are attested in Middle English, but both Hunt (1989: ix) and Sauer (1996: 136) admit that “a comprehensive linguistic analysis of the entire material has yet to be carried out”, since a lexical study of plant names will shed light on the development of botanical terminology (Norri, 1996: 159). Recently, Norri´s expectations were that the “study of untapped manuscript material would bring to light a vast number of words and phrases unrecorded in any of the historical dictionaries of English” (2016: 9). Despite the indisputable value of some of these works for the compilation of botanical lexicon, we will concentrate chiefly on unpublished material thus far to check whether the analysis of new data confirms the claims by previous scholars and can contribute to complete their view on the topic. In order to undertake such a task a unique corpus of Middle English therapeutic plant names preserved in several fourteenth and fifteenth century unexplored texts has been compiled. The corpus includes herbaries contained in Glasgow University Library manuscripts (Hunter 185 and Hunter 307), as well as recipe collections (Ferguson 147 and Hunter 328) and other related works, such as the Antidotarium Nicholai in Ferguson 147 and the Middle English translation of the Compendium Medicinae by Gilbertus Anglicus in Wellcome 537. This paper discusses the linguistic sources of the nouns as well as the processes of word formation found in the corpus. Our main interest is in compounding. The morphological analysis of the complex plant names is mainly based on Marchard (1969), Bauer (1983 and 2017) and Scalise and Bisetto (2011), but specific classifications for plant names are also used (Norri, 1988 and Sauer, 1995). We provide a survey of the composition types grouping them into the traditionally accepted categories paying special attention to the structure and the constituents present in nominal compounds. This paper constitutes a first approach to the topic, since our research is part of a bigger project that seeks to enlarge the corpus to include an ample selection of material representing each of the main relevant types of medical writing, which will help to complement the results from this study.

Considering that “the English language ceased to be the sole possession of the English some time ... more Considering that “the English language ceased to be the sole possession of the English some time ago” (Rushdie, 1991, p. 70) , English as a Foreign Language teaching needs to include non-mainstream cultures in order to strengthen its geographical extent. Therefore, English teaching should “develop learners’ intercultural sensitivity” (Wandel, 2003, p. 72) , and not only focus on the traditional British and American cultures. That is why, a large number of countries and cultures, which for decades have been neglected, need to play a key role in the teaching of EFL. The former colonies of the British Empire represent a great variety of countries and cultures where English is spoken as a first language or as a second language with official status. It cannot be forgotten that studying a language automatically implies studying a culture, and that is why it is important to encourage students to become familiar with English cultures. The use of Postcolonial Literature as “one source of input to language learning” (Maley, 2001, p. 185) represents the main tool to make learners aware of the current diversity of English, and it encourages an innovative teaching philosophy. Designing specific materials and activities to introduce students to all these countries is essential, and my proposal consists on creating different units of works, each one based on one of the English cultures in order to deal with all of them during one academic year.

The great majority of lunar prognostic texts have ‘largely escaped the attentions of scholarship’... more The great majority of lunar prognostic texts have ‘largely escaped the attentions of scholarship’ (Voigts, 1994: 123). This is the case of the Pseudo-Hippocrates´ Treatise on Zodiacal Influence, a text incorporated into medical codices which contain more extensive and relevant works. It has therefore hitherto remained comparatively unknown and the only way to identify parallel copies is by consulting different catalogues and medical manuscripts (Taavitsainen, 1987: 20). Nonetheless, even specialised catalogues are rarely comprehensive and do not include cross-references to other catalogues (Kibre, 1984 & 1985; Voigts and Kurtz, 2000), which makes the identification of parallel texts an arduous task and, consequently, their edition and study. In this paper we deal with this lunary, and concentrate on five copies of it — GUL Hunter MS 513, BL Additional MS 12195, BL Harley MS 2378, BL Sloane MS 73 and Royal Physicians College MS 384 — since they present a very similar layout, structure and content. They also contain a tract relating to abscesses at the end, which is absent in other related versions. This pseudo-Hippocratic treatise was translated from Latin into English in the late Middle English period (Taavitsainen, 2012: 93), and our hypothesis is that the five texts may be copies of the same exemplar. Our aim is to study their language according to the methodology of eLALME which will show the circulation and textual transmission of the treatise. The only transcription that has been published so far is the one produced by Means of BL Harley MS 2378, so we have firstly transcribed the other versions, and secondly examined the language of the five of them. Finally, by collating and comparing them, we intend to identify the original text which may have given rise to these translations. This research is part of a project that aims to identify the parallel texts of this pseudo-Hippocrates’ treatise and to group the Middle English manuscripts genetically in relation to the original versions. Future research will pursue the study of other Middle English translations in order to complete and enlarge the genetic affiliation of the English versions.

During the late Middle Ages, as well as during the earliest periods of human civilization, there ... more During the late Middle Ages, as well as during the earliest periods of human civilization, there was a strong connection between Astronomy and Medicine (Kibre, 1984:134). It was believed that the planets, together with the Sun and the Moon and the Signs of the Zodiac, exerted thorough power and ruled the different organs and parts of the human body. This belief accounts for the great variety of medical astrological writings that circulated in England in the late Middle English period, both in Latin and in vernacular translations, until the end of the fifteenth century (Means, 1993:24). One of those texts can be found in Glasgow University Library MS Hunter 513. This manuscript, among other medical and scientific treatises, contains a Pseudo-Hippocrates' Treatise on Zodiacal Influence (ff. 98r-104v), that has been edited and studied in depth as part of my research for my Masters Dissertation in Glasgow University. First of all, in order to produce a critical edition, a general overview of medieval astrological medicine was required It is essential to understand how the physician needed to recognise the signs of a planet's influence on human body in order to make a diagnosis and establish a treatment. Once the historical background was explained, it was necessary focus on the William Hunter, an anatomist, physician and medical teacher who donated an enormous collection of medical manuscripts and early printed books to Glasgow University for the use of the public and students' improvement (Brock, 1990:3). Afterwards, MS 513 has been physically described, firstly as a whole, and then focusing on the treatise under consideration. After that, a palaeographical transcription has been done with a detailed explanation of the conventions and specific features for the edition. Then, the focus has switched to the elements that contain inherent textual significance. The script, the decoration and some nonverbal elements have been analysed. Moreover, a study of the language has been carried out in order to examine the characteristics of the Middle English Language, drawing special attention to syntax, spellings and morphology. These linguistic features and the script have been the key tools to date the treatise. Furthermore, the methodology used to establish its dialectal provenance has been based on ALinguistic Atlas of Late Mediaeval English. Finally, the text has been translated into Present-Day English, and as a result, a glossary has been created in order to explain specialised vocabulary.

Historical Linguistics & Palaeography, two inseparable tools to date English medieval manuscripts... more Historical Linguistics & Palaeography, two inseparable tools to date English medieval manuscripts Irene Diego Rodríguez-Universidad de Alcalá (i.diego@edu.uah.es) Palaeography is the study of ancient and medieval handwriting, and it focuses on the establishment of 'patterns in the development of characteristic letter forms and abbreviations' (Lowe, 2006: 134). Historical Linguistics studies the diachronic evolution that languages endure. Hence, these two disciplines complement each other and provide the required tools and means to establish the date of different manuscripts. However, it is possible to state that Palaeography has been traditionally associated to History, whereas Historical Linguistics is related to Linguistics and unfortunately, these two academic disciplines have not frequently been intertwined. Linguists tend to lack the skills that historians possess to transcribe and analyse ancient scripts, whereas historians usually do not have the knowledge required to study the graphemes and spellings that are relevant to date a manuscript. That is why it is necessary to carry out a research that demonstrates whether both disciplines provide valuable evidence and reinforce each other as far as dating manuscripts is concerned. Therefore, this paper aims to narrow down the date of the Pseudo-Hippocrates' Treatise on Zodiacal Influence (ff. 98r-104r) contained in GUL, MS Hunter 513. A detailed analysis of the main features of the handwriting of the text will be carried out and followed by a thorough inquiry of the chief characteristics of the Middle English language. Therefore, I will bring to light and emphasise the importance of the connection between these two disciplines for the study of Middle English manuscripts.

Hippocratic medical treatises represent one of the earliest examples of scientific writing (Sirai... more Hippocratic medical treatises represent one of the earliest examples of scientific writing (Siraisi, 1990: 1). The Hippocratic Corpus was first transmitted from Greek to the Arabic world, subsequently to Latin and finally to European vernaculars in the Middle Ages. The different linguistic borders that these texts have crossed, and the different translation processes that they have experienced both explain why ‘not only the identification of texts and authors but scientific theories themselves often became blurred’ (Taavitsainen and Pahta, 2004: 12). This is the case of the Middle English Pseudo- Hippocrates’ Treatise on Zodiacal Influence, a tract on astrological Medicine which was attributed to the famous physician of Cos although it is not part of the Hippocratic Corpus. Pearl Kibre initiated the arduous task of identifying this text in different Latin manuscripts in European archives (Kibre, 1985: 1). Moreover, she classified them into three different categories: anonymous Arabic-Latin translations, Greek-Latin translations by William of Moerbeke and Greek-Latin versions of Peter of Abano (Kibre, 1984). However, the Middle English version of this lunar prognostic text has ‘largely escaped the attentions of scholarship’ (Voigts, 1994: 123), and as Taavitsainen points out ‘no editions are available yet and few texts have been studied in detail’ (2004: 64) to examine how it was translated from Latin into English in the Medieval period. That is why this paper aims to study different Latin and Middle English manuscripts containing the treatise under consideration in order to carry out a detailed analysis of its translation and vernacularisation process.

Understanding and being able to interpret the ‘many thousands of different abbreviations’ (Lowe, ... more Understanding and being able to interpret the ‘many thousands of different abbreviations’ (Lowe, 2006: 135) that exist is one of the essential skills required by any knowledgeable palaeographer. English medieval manuscripts contain a great variety of abbreviations which were transferred from Latin and applied to the vernacular. As a result, their reasonably standard Latin meaning lost consistency during this process and it often became an arduous task to approach them (Honkapohja, 2013). It has been suggested by several scholars that when transcribing a manuscript and producing a critical edition, there should be no ‘intervention that replaces scribal language with editorial language’ (Honkapohja, 2013). Such editorial practice, they argue, may detract from the originality of the text and its distinct and stylistic features. However, it is crucial to expand abbreviations coherently in order to carry out further analysis from a historical linguistic perspective (see De la Cruz Cabanillas, forthcoming). Thus, this paper aims to demonstrate how the way in which a palaeographer transcribes specific abbreviations has an impact on the establishment of the dialectal provenance of a Middle English manuscript. I will analyse the abbreviations that appear in a corpus of medical manuscripts and bring to light their relevance as far as English historical dialectology is concerned.

The aim of this paper is to carry out an analysis of the gender of different astrological terms i... more The aim of this paper is to carry out an analysis of the gender of different astrological terms in various texts from the Old English (hereafter OE) and Middle English (henceforth ME) periods in order to study gender variation from a diachronic point of view. The OE period was characterised by grammatical gender, an “overt concordance category, with word shape as the basic criteria for the grouping of nouns under three labels: masculine, femenine and neuter” (Guzmán-González, 1999: 37). Subsequently, the OE noun (ModE ), is a masculine noun ending in <-a>, whereas OE (ModE ), which also belongs to the weak declension, is a feminine noun ending in . Nevertheless, during the ME period, the loss of inflection entailed the disappearance of “overt marking within the noun phrase” (Guzmán-González, 1999: 38). However, this breakdown was not sudden, and grammatical gender survived during the ME period “to a limited extent supported by gender distinctions in demonstratives and personal pronouns” (Fernández-Domínguez, 2007: 52). Determiners and pronouns agree with the nouns they are referring to and they act as distinctive gender markers. Therefore, it is possible to find a variety of masculine anaphoric and cataphoric references for the OE masculine and feminine ones for OE noun . However, when addressing astrological terms, the assignment of a different gender is also likely, as it depends “on the attitude towards the referent” (Fernández-Domínguez, 2017: 54). This fact will be studied and illustrated with examples taken from different corpora. First of all, The Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus and the Middle English Medical Texts, a resource which compiles records from medical texts written in English and which also contains information on medical astrological tracts. Finally, I will also use my own corpus, which includes five manuscripts from different British libraries that I have transcribed myself: Glasgow University Library, MS Hunter 513; British Library, MS Harley 2378, British Library, MS Additional 12195 and British Library, MS Sloane 73 as well as Royal College of Physicians MS 384. The results of this study will not only reveal that the gender assigned to astrological terms is not invariable, as the same noun can be used as masculine or feminine, but will also provide an explanation of the different contexts and reasons why one gender or another is used.

Talks by Irene Diego Rodríguez

Articles by Irene Diego Rodríguez

Token: A Journal of English Linguistics, 2021

Medieval treatises containing predictions to recognise the signs of death were based on works wri... more Medieval treatises containing predictions to recognise the signs of death were based on works written by Hippocrates or attributed to him. In the case of the Capsula eburnea, the original text was written in Greek and translated into Latin in the Middle Ages. The Latin translations circulated widely in different versions: a translation from Greek between the fifth and the seventh centuries and a later translation from Arabic in the late twelfth century. During the late Middle English period, they were translated into English, among other vernacular languages. The present article aims to compare and collate four fifteenth-century prognostic treatises in Middle English with their possible Latin exemplars. The analysis of the witnesses will shed light on the shadowy landscape of pseudo-Hippocratic prognostic texts in Middle English and will contribute to trace the Latin sources of these Middle English witnesses.

Kwartalnik Neofilologiczny, 2021

The vernacularisation of fifteenth-century medical Middle English texts deserves further study re... more The vernacularisation of fifteenth-century medical Middle English texts deserves further study regarding those treatises that have remained unidentified in manuscripts (Voigts 1995: 185). Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ashmole MS 210 (hereafter Ash210) contains a zodiacal lunary in ff. 36v-42r attributed to Hippocrates. Catalogues have traditionally associated this treatise with Þe boke of ypocras. De la Cruz-Cabanillas and Diego-Rodríguez (2018) collated and compared several Latin manuscripts entitled Astrologia Ypocratis to see if it was the Latin exemplar of the Middle English translations of Þe boke of ypocras. Their study proved that the Latin tract does not stand for the exemplar of this vernacular treatise. Therefore, this paper aims to collate the lunary contained in Ash210 (ff. 36v-42r) to demonstrate that Ash210 contains a lunary which is not a parallel copy of Þe boke of ypocras, but which may be the Middle English translation of the Latin tract entitled Astrologia Ypocratis.

Advances in English and American Studies: current developments, future trends, 2020

Broadening Horizons: A Peak Panorama of English Studies in Spain. , 2018

Token: A Journal of English Linguistics, 2021

Kwartalnik Neofilologiczny, 2021

Revista de Lenguas para Fines Específicos (RLFE), 2021

Hunt (1990: 19) has claimed that "mineral and chemical elements are unusual" in medical recipes. ... more Hunt (1990: 19) has claimed that "mineral and chemical elements are unusual" in medical recipes. Although the number of elements cannot be compared to the estimated 1,800 plant names attested in Middle English (Sauer 2011: 57), our research reveals that Middle English medical manuscripts include references to a good number of chemical items including substances such as metals and their corresponding compounds, plant extracts, and natural and man-made medical ingredients. A comprehensive linguistic analysis of the entire material containing these substances in medieval medical manuscripts has yet to be carried out. In order to study the lexis of chemical ingredients, a corpus of about 215,000 words has been specially compiled from different British libraries. The aim is to undertake a linguistic analysis of the nominal lexicon of this field in Middle English based on the data retrieved from representative authentic sources, several of which have not been published to date. We examine the provenance of the nouns according to their etymology to check whether they are borrowings or native words in the case of simplex terms. We also analyse the structure and the constituents present in nominal combinations according to the usual taxonomies based on Bauer (1983 and 2017), Kastovsky (1992) and Marchand (1969), together with specialised classifications on the topic (Norri 1991).

Palaeography is the study of ancient and medieval handwriting, and it focuses on the establishmen... more Palaeography is the study of ancient and medieval handwriting, and it focuses on the establishment of “patterns in the development of characteristic letter forms and abbreviations” (Lowe, 2006: 134). Historical Linguistics studies the diachronic evolution that languages endure. Hence, these two disciplines complement each other and provide the required tools and means to establish the date of different manuscripts. However, it is possible to state that Palaeography has been traditionally associated to History, whereas Historical Linguistics is related to Linguistics. Linguists tend to lack the skills that historians possess to transcribe and analyse ancient scripts, whereas historians usually do not have the knowledge required to study the graphemes and spellings that are relevant to date a manuscript. Therefore, this paper aims to narrow down the date of production of the Pseudo-Hippocrates’ Treatise on Zodiacal Influence (ff. 98r-104r) contained in GUL, MS Hunter 513. A transcription and detailed analysis of the main features of the handwriting of the text will be carried out and followed by a thorough inquiry of the chief characteristics of the Middle English language

Selim, 2018

Understanding the large number of abbreviations present in any medieval manuscript is one of the ... more Understanding the large number of abbreviations present in any medieval manuscript is one of the essential skills required by any knowledgeable palaeographer. English medieval manuscripts contain a great variety of abbreviations which were transferred from Latin and applied to the vernacular. As a result, their reasonably standard Latin system lost consistency. Editorial practice should avoid intervention, as it may detract from the originality and the text distinct and stylistic features. However, it is crucial to expand abbreviations coherently to carry out further analysis from a historical linguistic perspective. Thus, this article aims to demonstrate how the way in which a palaeographer transcribes specific abbreviations has an impact on the establishment of the dialectal provenance of a Middle English manuscript. In order to do so, we shall analyse the abbreviations extracted from a corpus of medical manuscripts and bring to light their relevance as far as English historical dialectology is concerned.

Research in Corpus Linguistics, 2024

Studies on medical discourse seem to be on the rise. In Genre in English Medical Writing, 1500-18... more Studies on medical discourse seem to be on the rise. In Genre in English Medical Writing, 1500-1820: Sociocultural Contexts of Production and Use, Irma Taavitsainen, Turo Hiltunen, Jeremy J. Smith and Carla Suhr benefit from their experience and profound knowledge of English historical linguistics and medical texts to gather diverse interdisciplinary contributions, which revolve around forms and functions of medical discourse conveyed through different genres across various centuries, from the Late Middle Ages to the long eighteenth century (1500-1820). Therefore, this insightful book stands for an outstanding contribution to the field of medieval scientific writing style, as it deals with key research questions such as 1) how authors created and utilised medical discourse, 2) the purposes and readers of medical texts and 3) the transmission of medical ideas through space and time. In addition to the lists of Figures, the Image Gallery, the list of Tables, the Notes on Contributors, the Preface, the Acknowledgements and the Index, the book contains 17 contributions by different scholars dealing with a wide variety of topics, structured around medical discourse in social and cultural contexts of production and use. As the editors posit in Chapter 1, genres play a key role in the understanding of the history of medical discourse. That is why from the very beginning the complexity of this term, which is used in the context of historical genre analysis, is clarified. This is why the edited volume excels in the field of medical genre and medical discourse analysis, as it places texts in social and cultural contexts of production and use. The volume also gives variation in medical

Studies in English Language and Literature (SELAL), 2023

During the Middle Ages, many lunar prognostic treatises written in Middle English proliferated du... more During the Middle Ages, many lunar prognostic treatises written in Middle English proliferated due to the strong bond established between medicine and astrology. This belief is responsible for the great number of medieval manuscripts which contain these tracts in Middle English, most of them attributed to Hippocrates, whose authority had no rival in medieval medicine. This is the case of Þe boke of ypocras, a zodiacal lunary incorporated in medieval medical manuscripts which has gone unnoticed thus far. This book studies the Middle English language of different witnesses containing Þe boke of ypocras from a dialectal perspective, carrying out a detailed and accurate linguistic analysis using the electronic version of A Linguistic Atlas of Late Mediaeval English to provide this text with the attention and importance it deserves.