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This article investigates the lexicon pertinent to the associative field of magic in the Galician-Portuguese medieval cantigas. Affiliated to a philological perspective, we access the episteme of Galician-Portuguese culture through its lexical repertoire. The corpus consists of the edition of the Galician-Portuguese medieval cantigas. We analyzed the cantigas categorized by the subtheme omen/ astrology/ superstitions , from which it was possible to list the lexicon that names or updates a series of elements that relate to the universe of magic. A glossary, in alphabetical order, was also made, comprising all the occurrences identified in the corpus . From this work derive some directions towards the understanding of the construction of the concept of magic in the Middle Ages. We concluded that there was a tendency to demonize the woman and that there was yet no implication of magic as a synonym of bad, but a strong tendency of associating what is magical with failure and decay.
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The Language of Magic
This book contains a selection of fourteen papers presented at The Language of Magic conference (2019), organized by the Committee on Charms, Charmers and Charming, part of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research (ISFNR). The idea of focusing on the languages of magic is connected to the genuine value of verbal charms. They can be considered as parole acts that refer to the actual instances of the use of a langue, that is, magic. Those speech acts may be oral or written, spoken, whispered, sung, carved on objects, carried on or swallowed. However, they must be expressed in a specific fashion and language to gain the necessary power. Many scholars in the last decades have studied charms in many fields according to different research approaches: anthropology, folklore, history, religious studies, history of science and medicine, literature, philology, and linguistics. In this book, subjects range from the study of magic formulas in the Middle Ages to the modern rituals still practised in northeastern Europe. Studying the power of words in magic reveals its unexpressed potential and unlocks new research paths.
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Ancient Magic Then and Now
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. Lemmata Linguistica Latina, vol. II: Clause and Discourse
The present chapter is devoted to the analysis of syntactic peculiarities found in the corpus of Latin tabellae defixionum, especially the use of the names of cursed persons in the nominative or accusative. In this kind of epi-graphic material related to magical practices, we find Vulgar Latin spelling and morphosyntactic features as well as deviations in the syntactic structures, which are variously combined and interfere with one another. These peculiarities are often caused by specific rules that are based on the magical character of the texts and their use during cursing rituals. The education of the practitioners may also have played a role. The main goal of this chapter is to provide some possible explanations for the deviations in Latin syntax and the strong tendency to use the proper names of the cursed persons in the nominative, apparently without any regard to the syntactic requirements of the predicate. In the first part of the chapter (Section 1), a basic description, a taxonomy, and cursing "rules" are provided; in the second part (Sections 2-2.3), the syntax of the curse texts is discussed-the occurrence of the nominative and the accusative in name lists as well as irregularities caused by Vulgar Latin development. Finally, I discuss the tendency to isolate proper names, sometimes also in the layout of the tablets, likely occasioned by "magical" requirements (Sections 2.4-2.7).
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