Scribal Identities, Renaissances, and Dead Languages: From Barber Sumerian to Kitchen Latin
Delila Jordan|Sébastian Fink
This article is an investigation of the role knowledge dead languages, namely Latin and Sumerian, for scribal or scholarly identities. While at first glance there no obvious reason why a “dead language” should be part curriculum people who were about to become foremost administrators their time, one more languages seems pillar self-consciousness in many periods. The three groups under study are Mesopotamian scribes general, especially those Old Babylonian schools; galas/kalûs, professional lamentation singers that became over course time; Renaissance scholars, whom perfect grasp was utmost importance. Those did not meet expectations colleagues accused speaking “Barber Sumerian” “Kitchen Latin” thereby excluded from exclusive circles—or, as Sumerian school texts put it, becoming true member humanity.
Studia orientalia electronica