Pre-Modern Seminar No 3: Jürgen Beyer

On December 14th Jürgen Beyer will give a talk called:

"Seventeenth-century inscriptions on the island of Gotland: a discussion of spelling errors and local legends".

The seminar will take place in the library of Skandinavistika (Ülikooli 17) at 18.15.
 

A short presentation of Jürgen Beyer's lecture:

"Many inscriptions can be found in the churches and churchyards of Gotland, written in either Swedish, Danish, Latin or German. They are not always easy to read partly because of obsolete language use and spelling, partly because of the shape of the letters and finally because of wear and tear. There is yet one more reason: the many spelling errors, even taking the period's generous spelling rules into consideration. What can these spelling errors tell us about the language skills of craftsmen and of those paying them? I should also like to discuss another issue connected to inscriptions. The content in some inscriptions is unusual in one way or another. In the same way that salient features in the landscape fuelled narrators' imaginations, the unusual inscriptions gave rise to local legends. Some examples for this will be discussed."

Welcome!