Passing Memory: Borrowed Mnemonics in the Medieval Nordic Laws

Description

The provincial laws of the medieval North are generally understood to be Christian codifications with traces of older, pagan law stemming from the Viking Age. Among the most important evidence for pre-literary oral law are the numerous mnemonic devices found in the texts, especially alliterative pairs, meant to ease memorization of the law by the lawspeaker.

Over time, linguistic change resulted in loss of alliteration or other forms of rhyme originally present in these mnemonic devices. Within traditional scholarship these once-rhyming pairs are used as evidence for a pre-literary origin, as they must have been composed prior to the linguistic changes which made them no longer rhyme. As the Nordic languages began to diverge, these mnemonic devices would have been made phonetically irrelevant in some areas of the medieval North, though not everywhere.

The present paper explores another possibility for these phonetically defunct mnemonic devices, namely borrowing and adaptation of entire phrases or formulae from other Nordic laws or elsewhere in the Nordic oral tradition. This borrowing across linguistic borders speaks for a continuous cultural exchange in an ever diverging North.

Period	5 Jul 2018
Event title	Leeds International Medieval Congress 02-05 July 2018
Event type	Conference
Location	Leeds, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International