Article published in:
Understanding Historical (Im)PolitenessEdited by Marcel Bax and Dániel Z. Kádár
[Journal of Historical Pragmatics 12:1/2] 2011
► pp. 198–229
Insults, violence, and the meaning of lytegian in the Old English Battle of Maldon
Valentine A. Pakis | University of Minnesota — Minneapolis
The history of impoliteness — of which insults are a part — and violence are intertwined. In medieval Germanic cultural history, this link manifests itself in historical-pragmatic contexts such as sennur, whettings, and flyting-to-fighting scenarios, which are surveyed in this paper. The ethological origins of such interactions are called into question with reference to the Freudian death drive. Based on the connection between insults and violence, a novel definition of Old English lytegian in the Battle of Maldon is offered, namely ‘jeer, insult’, with comparative support from Icelandic.
Keywords: honor, insults, medieval Germanic literature, etymology, Battle of Maldon
Published online: 07 June 2011
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.12.1-2.09pak
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.12.1-2.09pak
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Bryan, Eric Shane
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