Flerspråkighet i Nådendals klosterbok (Cod. Holm. A 49)

Abstract

<p>In this article, I analyze the use of Latin in <i>Cod. Holm. A 49</i> – a mid-15^th century Bridgettine manuscript from Naantali, Finland. Most of the texts in the manuscript are written in Swedish, but some shorter ones are in Latin. The Latin passages have another function from the Swedish texts, because Latin is mainly used as a meta-language. Lexical, syntactical, and stylistic Latinisms are frequently found in the Swedish texts. Short phrases and citations in Latin can also be found. Thus, the vernacular texts can also be seen as a part of the international Latin text culture. I also investigate influences from other languages on the texts in the manuscript. The Swedish texts were translated from Latin, but some of the source texts were translations from the Greek language. Thus, some examples of indirect Greek influence via Latin are found in the texts. The Low German influence on Swedish was strong in the 15^th century and one of the texts, Barlaam and Josaphat, was partly translated from Old Norse. No Finnish influences can be found in the manuscript although parts of it were written in Finland.</p>