Search results for "Manuscript culture"

Runology and historical sociolinguistics: On runic writing and its social history in the first millennium

2015

AbstractThis paper argues that the rise and the transmission of the runes is largely determined by sociolinguistic factors. First, the olderfuþarkis identified as a unique Germanic design, adapted from Latin or Greek sources by one or more well-born Germani to mark group identity and status. Hence it is rather unlikely that the search for an exact source alphabet of the olderfuþarkwill make a major breakthrough in future research. Second, the present author argues that the extension of thefuþarkin the Anglo-Frisian setting is due to high-scale contact with the Christian Church, including Latin manuscript culture and Classical grammatical schooling, whereas these factors were almost entirely…