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Article published In:
Historiographia Linguistica
Vol. 45:1/2 (2018) ► pp.71–98

Two Short Essays by Árni Magnússon on the Origins of the Icelandic Language

| University of Iceland
| University of Iceland

This article presents two essays by the renowned Icelandic manuscript collector Árni Magnússon (1663‒1730): De gothicæ lingvæ nomine [On the expression ‘the Gothic language’] and Annotationes aliqvot de lingvis et migrationibus gentium septentrionalium [Some notes on the languages and migrations of the northern peoples]. The two essays are here edited and published in their original language, Latin. Moreover, an English translation is also presented for ease of access. After a short introduction (§ 1), a historical overview of the academic strife between Denmark and Sweden is given (§ 2). Subsequently (§ 3), Árni Magnússon’s life and work are presented. In the following Section (§ 4), the manuscript containing the two essays, AM 436 4to, is described. The two essays are then edited and translated in Section 5. In the last Section (§ 6), the two works are commented and Árni Magnússon’s scholarly thought evaluated.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The academic strife between Denmark and Sweden
    • 2.1Humanism in Scandinavia and the rediscovery of Old Norse/Icelandic antiquities
    • 2.2The use and appropriation of the Old Norse/Icelandic cultural heritage
  • 3.Árni Magnússon
    • 3.1Life
    • 3.2Academic work
  • 4.A brief overview of MS AM 436 4to
  • 5.The texts
    • 5.1De gothicæ lingvæ nomine
    • 5.2On the expression ‘the Gothic language’, with which the Swedes customarily label Icelandic books. A short dissertation by the learned antiquarian Árni Magnússon
    • 5.3Annotationes aliqvot de lingvis et migrationibus gentium septentrionalium
    • 5.4Some notes on the languages and migrations of the northern peoples by Árni Magnússon
  • 6.Commentary and conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 20 June 2018
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.00016.tar
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