About this episode

Dr Anthony Harvey discusses the unique Latin writings of St Patrick and the evolution of the Latin language in medieval Ireland.

Happy St Patrick's Festival one and all! Did you know that St Patrick's writings are unique as the only surviving Latin narrative texts of his age to have been composed anywhere outside of Roman imperial territory? This month we bring you a glimpse into the fascinating world of Royal Irish Academy lexicographer Dr Anthony Harvey. It is often thought that linguistics has to be very technical and complicated (it doesn’t), as well as boring (it needn’t be). Dr Harvey explains how linguistics can help the historian and reveals how the Latin language evolved in medieval Ireland. We discuss Flann O'Brien, 'disunderstanding', playing with words, Virgilius Maro Grammaticus, West Brit syndrome and much more. Please check out out the Royal Irish Academy's confessio.ie website — your one stop shop for all things St Patrick! Suggested resources: Anthony Harvey, How Linguistics can help the historian (Dublin, 2021): https://shop.ria.ie/products/how-linguistics-can-help-the-historian Anthony Harvey, "Frankenstein in the Scriptorium: Bringing Latin to Life in Early Medieval Ireland”, in Code-Switching in Medieval Ireland and England , ed. M. Ó Flaithearta (Bremen, 2018), 105–19 The…

People in this episode

Guest: Dr Anthony Harvey

Topics covered

• St Patrick
• Hiberno-Latin
• linguistics
• medieval Ireland
• Latin language evolution
• historical linguistics

Keywords

• St Patrick
• Hiberno-Latin
• linguistics
• medieval Ireland
• Latin language
• Flann O'Brien
• Virgilius Maro Grammaticus

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Royal Irish Academy

Books & works: How Linguistics can help the historian, Frankenstein in the Scriptorium: Bringing Latin to Life in Early Medieval Ireland, The Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources

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