Roman and Runic in the Anglo-Saxon Inscriptions at Monte Sant’Angelo: A Sociolinguistic Approach

• This paper addresses the Anglo-Saxon personal name inscriptions at Monte Sant’Angelo in Southern Italy from a sociolinguistic angle. The main interest lies in the mix between Roman and runic writing and its interpretation in the light of individual literacy and the cultural context of medieval pilgrimage. Four from a total of five inscriptions were written in runes; two of these show significant influence from Anglo-Saxon scribal practices and Roman epigraphic writing. The fifth Anglo-Saxon name is written entirely in Roman letters. Drawing on theoretical approaches from modern sociolinguistic studies of multilingualism in writing, this study suggests that the use of mixed Roman-runic practices reflects the biscriptal background of the respective carvers and was applied in situ to individualize the inscriptions. However, not all the inscriptions show such a mix; hence either skill or personal preference varied among the pilgrims. The practice of mixing evident in the runic inscriptions does not fully correspond to previously described features of multilingual and multiscriptal writing, which is why a new term, “heterographia”, has been coined in this study to include mixing not only in a language and a writing system, but also on a graphetic and orthographic level. Finally, the use of runes or Roman script for one’s personal name is interpreted as an expression of social identity dependent on the person’s social embedding.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Studier av enskilda språk (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- Specific Languages (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Jämförande språkvetenskap och allmän lingvistik (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- General Language Studies and Linguistics (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions

medieval graffiti

sociolinguistics of writing

multilingual writing

language contact

personal names

identity

medieval pilgrimage

Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)