Medical and Scientific Writing in Late Medieval English

The late Middle Ages in England saw a flowering of scientific writing in the vernacular that moved English discourse in new directions and established new textual genres. This book examines the sociolinguistic causes and effects of that process, based on the empirical evidence from manuscripts and computerized files. Topics covered include scriptorial "house-styles," code-switching, translation strategies, and transmission processes. The book offers important new insights into vernacularization phenomena, and will be welcomed by historical linguists and medievalists alike.

Medical and scientific writing in English has evolved over more than a millennium, from its genesis in the Anglo-Saxon era to its present-day position as the 'lingua franca' of science. This 2004 volume focuses on its development as a genre in late medieval English. During this period it emerged in the vernacular, as its Graeco-Roman conventions were modified in a new socio-historical context. Seven experts discuss the various linguistic and textual processes involved in vernacularising science, and how they related to communicative practices and to the writers and readers of medical and scientific texts. Referring to authentic medieval texts, they show how discourse communities adopted scriptorial 'house-styles', how vocabulary and code-switching patterns reflect the multilingual context of the period, and how intertextuality featured between shared materials. Bringing together several perspectives on this research area, this book will be welcomed by linguists and historians of science alike.

1. Vernacularisation of scientific and medical writing in its sociohistorical context Päivi Pahta and Irma Taavitsainen; 2. Discourse communities and medical texts Claire Jones; 3. Transferring classical discourse forms into the vernacular Irma Taavitsainen; 4. Code-switching in medieval medical writing Päivi Pahta; 5. Entrances and exits in English medical vocabulary, 1400–1550 Juhani Norri; 6. Herbal recipes and recipes in herbals - intertextuality in early English medical writing Martti Mäkinen; 7. Middle English recipes: vernacularisation of a text-type Ruth Carroll; 8. The 'Declaracions' of Richard of Wallingford: A case study of a Middle English astrological treatise Linda Ehrsam Voigts; 9. Scriptorial 'house-styles' and discourse communities Irma Taavitsainen.

The late Middle Ages in England saw a flowering of scientific writing in the vernacular, taking English discourse in new directions and establishing new textual genres. This 2004 book examines the sociolinguistic causes and effects of that process, and offers insights into vernacularisation for linguists and historians of science alike.

Irma Taavitsainen is Professor of English Philology at the University of Helsinki, and deputy director of the Research Unit of Variation and Change, University of Helsinki.
Päivi Pahta is Research Fellow in the multidisciplinary Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies and a member of the Research Unit for Variation and Change in English, both at the University of Helsinki.