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Article published In:
Latin Grammars in Transition, 1200 - 1600
Edited by Anneli Luhtala and Mark E. Amsler
[Historiographia Linguistica 44:2/3] 2017
► pp. 278–305
Articles / Aufätze

The Role of Vernacular Proverbs in Latin Language Acquisition, c. 1200–1600

An exploratory study

| University of Leuven
| University of Leuven

This paper examines the continuities and discontinuities in language teaching between the Middle Ages and the early modern era by drawing attention to the role of bilingual Latin-vernacular proverb collections in premodern education, a subject that has hitherto been neglected in the historiography of linguistics. The focus is on bilingual collections that are of Dutch origin. The paper aims to show that there was an active culture of teaching Latin through vernacular proverbs in Western Europe from the 11th century to the 17th century. After presenting some collections and surveying the arguments in favour of classroom use, it investigates the impact of humanism and the reformation on proverb-based teaching.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction and research hypothesis
  • 2.The emergence of bilingual proverb collections and their status in the medieval period
  • 3.The Dutch(-German) tradition: the legacy of the Proverbia communia
  • 4.Arguments in favour of classroom use of proverbs/
  • 5.The use of bilingual proverb collections in Renaissance pedagogy
  • 6.The impact of the Renaissance on proverb-based teaching
  • 7.Conclusion and outlook
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 28 May 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.00005.geu
References

Manuscript sources

London, British Library: Add MS 37075

London, British Library: Add MS 10797

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