The ''Hermeneumata'' ( el, Ἑρμηνεύματα; also known as the ''Hermeneumata Pseudodositheana'' or ''Hermeneumata pseudo-Dositheana'') are anonymous instructional manuals written in the third century CE to teach the

Greek language Greek ( el, label=Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy (Calabria and Salento), southern Al ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

-speaking people in the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

, and to teach Latin to Greek-speakers. The word ''Hermeneumata'' means "translation" or "interpretation".

History

The ''Hermeneumata'' were composed as a Greek-Latin schoolbook in late antiquity, probably around the third century CE. The work was originally composed to help Greeks learn Latin, but in the medieval West, it came to be widely used as a source for Latin-literate authors to learn about Greek. In the twentieth century, the name of the ''Hermeneumata'' inspired scholars to give the name ''

Hermeneutic style The hermeneutic style is a style of Latin in the later Roman and early Medieval periods characterised by the extensive use of unusual and arcane words, especially derived from Greek. The style is first found in the work of Apuleius in the secon ...

'' to a style of Latin writing found in late Antiquity and the early Medieval West which was characterised by extensive use of Greek loan-words. The ''Hermeneumata'' survive in nine manuscripts, mostly from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, one of which attributes the work to

Dositheus Magister Dositheus Magister ( grc, Δωσίθεος) was a Greek grammarian who flourished in Rome in the 4th century AD. Life He was the author of a Greek translation of a Latin grammar, intended to assist the Greek-speaking inhabitants of the empire in le ...

. For this reason, they are often known as the ''Hermeneumata Pseudodositheana'', although there is not sufficient evidence to attribute them to Dositheus. One of the manuscripts is the Anglo-Saxon Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale MS 1828-30.

Contents vary dramatically from one manuscript to another, but at its fullest extent the text comprises: # An alphabetic glossary including, at its fullest, over 3000 entries. # A subject glossary. This thematic glossary contains about 30,000 words, including the names of gods,

constellations A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the earliest constellation ...

, temples, holidays, clothing, colors, birds, and trees, as well as military, judicial and financial terms. It does not include vocabulary relating to death or illness. Words are sometimes presented alongside two or three different translated equivalents. # Conversation guides. These dialogues (known as the "colloquia") follow the dictionary, and use juvenile language to tell the story of a day in the life of a pupil and his master. There are eight sections: Waking up, school, work, social life, lunch, homework, bathing, dinner, and going to bed. # Texts for reading The ''Hermeneumata'' was later adapted, and further Greek vocabulary being added from the ''

Liber glossarum The ''Liber glossarum'' (also called the ''Glossarium Ansileubi'') is an enormous compendium of knowledge used for later compilations during the Middle Ages, and a general reference work used by contemporary scholars. It is the first Latin encyclo ...

''. hristine Franzen 'Introduction', in ''Ashgate Critical Essays on Early English Lexicographers Volume 1: Old English'', ed. by Christine Franzen (Farnham: Ashgate, 2012), xv-lxxiii (p. xx). The

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

of the dialogues is based on the immediate comprehension of extremely simple phrases, most often limited to a

subject Subject ( la, subiectus "lying beneath") may refer to: Philosophy *''Hypokeimenon'', or ''subiectum'', in metaphysics, the "internal", non-objective being of a thing **Subject (philosophy), a being that has subjective experiences, subjective cons ...

verb A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...

and

complement A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class ...

. There are no grammatical explanations: Conjugations are simply enumerated by way of disconnected sentences which present a variation on a grammatical theme (e.g. pronoun substitution, verb tense).

References

Bibliography

* * * {{cite journal , last = Cammisuli , first = Salvatore , url = https://www.academia.edu/49860123/La_sezione_sui_colori_nel_glossario_degli_Hermeneumata_Celtis_Edizione_critica_e_commento_Wiener_Studien_134_2021_199_221 , title = La sezione sui colori nel glossario degli Hermeneumata Celtis. Edizione critica e commento , journal = Wiener Studien , volume = 134 , pages = 199-221 , year = 2021 , doi = 10.1553/wst134s199

External links

The text of the Hermeneumata
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