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42-446: In medieval literature , folklore , fairy tales , and modern fantasy fiction, enchantments are charms or spells. This has led to the terms "enchanter" and "enchantress" for those who use enchantments. The English language borrowed the term "incantation" from Old French in the late 14th century; the corresponding Old English term was gealdor or galdor , "song, spell", cognate to ON galdr . The weakened sense "delight" (compare

84-454: A divine , adamic , or other secret or empowered language . Certain comic book heroes use magic words to activate their powers. Examples of traditional magic words include Abracadabra , Alakazam , Hocus Pocus , Open Sesame and Sim Sala Bim . In Babylonian, incantations can be used in rituals to burn images of one's own enemies. An example would be found in the series of Mesopotamian incantations of Šurpu and Maqlû . In

126-517: A cultural "golden age". The use of Hebrew in Judaism is an example. Another potential source of the power of words is their secrecy and exclusivity. Much sacred language is differentiated enough from common language that it is incomprehensible to the majority of the population and it can only be used and interpreted by specialized practitioners ( magicians , priests , shamans , or Imams ). In this respect, Tambiah argues that magical languages violate

168-732: A society that supported sea voyages and trading along coasts and rivers, as well as pilgrimages to such destinations as Jerusalem ; Canterbury and Glastonbury in England; St. David's in Wales; and Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Geoffrey Chaucer 's Canterbury Tales became popular at the end of the 14th century. The most prominent authors of Jewish secular poetry in the Middle Ages were Solomon ibn Gabirol and Yehuda Halevi , both of whom were also renowned religious poets. While it

210-511: A warning to others. The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine reached such popularity that, in its time, it was reportedly read more often than the Bible . Francis of Assisi was a prolific poet, and his Franciscan followers frequently wrote poetry themselves as an expression of their piety. Dies Irae and Stabat Mater are two of the most powerful Latin poems on religious subjects. Goliardic poetry (four-line stanzas of satiric verse)

252-487: A work of its time, much of it relating to gardening spells that the Trobriand Islanders used, and much of it incompletely analysed; it continues to provide a data source for anthropologists of language. Malinowski was also praised for his serious engagement with the realities of Trobriand agriculture, its emphasis on its ceremonial aspects notwithstanding, in favour of a simpler, romanticized view. The work

294-412: Is also regarded as a pioneering text in the interdisciplinary study of pragmatics . Its analysis of the context and contents of Trobriand spells was one of the first to bring ethnography to bear on the subject of language. In a letter written around February 1929, Malinowski wrote that he was basing the monograph partly upon a draft manuscript on gardening he had written during 1916 and 1917. The book

336-403: Is distinct from scientific language because it is emotive and it converts words into symbols for emotions; whereas in scientific language words are tied to specific meanings and refer to an objective external reality. Magical language is therefore particularly adept at constructing metaphors that establish symbols and link magical rituals to the world. Malinowski argues that "the language of magic

378-648: Is not necessarily linked to the need to embody sacred words in an exclusive language." Medieval literature By century Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages (that is, the one thousand years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. AD 500 to the beginning of the Renaissance in

420-403: Is sacred, set and used for an entirely different purpose to that of ordinary life." The two forms of language are differentiated through word choice, grammar, style, or by the use of specific phrases or forms: prayers , spells, songs , blessings , or chants , for example. Sacred modes of language often employ archaic words and forms in an attempt to invoke the purity or "truth" of a religious or

462-511: Is true that women in the medieval period were never accorded full equality with men, some women were able to use their skill with the written word to gain renown. Religious writing was the easiest avenue—women who would later be canonized as saints frequently published their reflections, revelations, and prayers. Much of what is known about women in the Middle Ages is known from the works of nuns such as Clare of Assisi , Bridget of Sweden , and Catherine of Siena . Frequently, however,

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504-511: The Divine Comedy . A recent study has concluded that only about 68 percent of all medieval works have survived to the present day, including fewer than 40 percent of English works, around 50 percent of Dutch and French works, and more than three quarters of German , Icelandic , and Irish works. Coral Gardens and their Magic Coral Gardens and Their Magic , properly Coral Gardens and Their Magic Volume I: A Study of

546-477: The Church Fathers and tended to re-tell and embellish stories they had heard or read rather than invent new stories. And even when they did, they often claimed to be handing down something from an auctor instead. From this point of view, the names of the individual authors seemed much less important, and therefore many important works were never attributed to any specific person. Theological works were

588-500: The Matter of Britain and the Matter of Rome . Political poetry threads throughout the period from the very early Armes Prydein (10th-century Britain) to the goliard rebels of 12th and 13th centuries, who were church trained clerics unable or unwilling to be employed in the church. Travel literature was highly popular in the Middle Ages, as fantastic accounts of far-off lands (frequently embellished or entirely false) entertained

630-618: The Old French Chanson de Roland , are well known to this day. Although the extant versions of these epics are generally considered the works of individual (but anonymous ) poets, there is no doubt that they are based on their peoples' older oral traditions. Celtic traditions have survived in the lais of Marie de France , the Mabinogion and the Arthurian cycles . Another host of vernacular literature has survived in

672-474: The Old Norse literature and more specifically in the saga literature of Iceland . A notable amount of medieval literature is anonymous . This is not only due to the lack of documents from a period, but also due to an interpretation of the author 's role that differs considerably from the romantic interpretation of the term in use today. Medieval authors often deeply respected the classical writers and

714-418: The 14th, 15th or 16th century, depending on country). The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works. Just as in modern literature, it is a complex and rich field of study, from the utterly sacred to the exuberantly profane, touching all points in between. Works of literature are often grouped by place of origin, language, and genre. Outside of Europe, medieval literature

756-726: The British Y Gododdin and Preiddeu Annwfn , along with the Germanic Beowulf and Nibelungenlied . They relate to myths or certain 6th-century events, but the surviving manuscripts date from centuries later— Y Gododdin from the late 13th century, Preiddu Annwfn from the early 14th century, Beowulf from c.  1000 , and the Nibelungenlied from the 13th century. The makers and performers were bards (British/Welsh) and scops (Germanic), elite professionals attached to royal or noble courts to praise

798-725: The Methods of Tilling the Soil and of Agricultural Rites in the Trobriand Islands and Coral Gardens and Their Magic Volume II: The Language of Magic and Gardening , is the final two-volume book in anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski 's ethnographic trilogy on the lives of the Trobriand Islanders . It concentrates on the cultivation practices the Trobriand Islanders used to grow yams, taro , bananas and palms which Malinowski's more famous ethnography Argonauts of

840-407: The Middle Ages explores literacy and literature in terms of women in medieval society. The book has been reviewed as "a radical reassessment of women's contribution to medieval literary culture." While medieval literature makes use of many literary devices , allegory is so prominent in this period as to deserve special mention. Much of medieval literature relied on allegory to convey the morals

882-605: The Orient, the charming of snakes have been used in incantations of the past and still used today. A person using an incantation would entice the snake out of its hiding place in order to get rid of them. In Mesopotamian mythology, Udug Hul incantations are used to exorcise demons (evil Udug) who bring misfortune or illnesses, such as mental illness or anxiety. These demons can create horrible events such as divorce, loss of property, or other catastrophes. In traditional fairy tales magical formulas are sometimes attached to an object. When

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924-647: The Western Pacific briefly mentioned in passing. It describes the gardens in which the Trobrianders grew food as more than merely utilitarian spaces, even as works of art . In 1988 Alfred Gell called the book "still the best account of any primitive technological-cum- magical system, and unlikely ever to be superseded in this respect". The book has been described as Malinowski's magnum opus . The book consists of seven parts divided over two volumes. Volume I, The Description of Gardening , contains

966-617: The author had in mind while writing—representations of abstract qualities, events, and institutions are thick in much of the literature of this time. Probably the earliest and most influential allegory is the Psychomachia ( Battle of Souls ) by Aurelius Clemens Prudentius . Other important examples include the Romance of the Rose , Everyman , Piers Plowman , the Roman de Fauvel , and

1008-432: The dominant form of literature typically found in libraries during the Middle Ages. Catholic clerics were the intellectual center of society in the Middle Ages, and it is their literature that was produced in the greatest quantity. Countless hymns survive from this time period (both liturgical and paraliturgical). The liturgy itself was not in fixed form, and numerous competing missals set out individual conceptions of

1050-518: The earliest epic poems, prose tales, and romances, more long poems were crafted—the chansons de geste of the late 11th and early 12th centuries. These extolled conquests, as in The Song of Roland (part of the Matter of France ) and Digenis Acritas (one of the Acritic songs ). The rather different chivalric romance tradition concerns adventures about marvels, love, and chivalry. They tell of

1092-399: The effects of reciting an incantation. To be enchanted is to be under the influence of an enchantment, usually thought to be caused by charms or spells . Magic words or words of power are words which have a specific, and sometimes unintended, effect. They are often nonsense phrases used in fantasy fiction or by stage prestidigitators . Frequently such words are presented as being part of

1134-435: The fifteenth century included Alice Chaucer, Duchess of Suffolk ; Cecily Neville, Duchess of York ; and Lady Margaret Beaufort , Countess of Richmond and Derby. Lady Margaret Beaufort may also have completed translations as a testament to her piety, as Bishop Father John Fisher noted in a sermon dedicated to her after her death. For modern historical reflection, D.H. Green's (2007) historical work entitled, Women Readers of

1176-590: The heroes of legendary history. Prose tales first emerged in Britain: the intricate Four Branches of the Mabinogi about princely families, notably anti-war in theme, and the romantic adventure Culhwch and Olwen . (The Mabinogi is not the same as the Mabinogion , a collection of disconnected prose tales, which does, however, include both the Mabinogi and Culhwch and Olwen .) These works were compiled from earlier oral tradition c.  1100 . At about

1218-409: The incantation is uttered, it helps transform the object. In such stories, incantations are attached to a magic wand used by wizards, witches and fairy godmothers . One example is the spell that Cinderella 's Fairy Godmother used to turn a pumpkin into a coach, " Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo ", a nonsense rhyme which echoes more serious historical incantations. The performance of magic almost always involves

1260-874: The influence of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Church made Greek and Old Church Slavonic the dominant written languages. In Europe the common people used their respective vernaculars . A few examples, such as the Old English Beowulf , the Middle High German Nibelungenlied , the Medieval Greek Digenis Acritas , the Old East Slavic Tale of Igor's Campaign , and

1302-478: The introduction and parts one to three, and volume II, The Language of Magic and Gardening , parts four to seven. The work continues to receive attention from contemporary anthropologists. Its assessment of the Trobriand chief's role as that of a "glorified brother-in-law" to the whole community is one with which later anthropologists have taken issue. It records unusually extensive ethnolinguistic data for of

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1344-577: The night. During the Middle Ages, the Jewish population of Europe also produced a number of outstanding writers. Maimonides , born in Cordoba, Spain , and Rashi , born in Troyes , France , are two of the best-known and most influential of these Jewish authors . Secular literature in this period was not produced in equal quantity as religious literature. The earliest tales are based on oral traditions:

1386-506: The order of the mass . Religious scholars such as Anselm of Canterbury , Thomas Aquinas , and Pierre Abélard wrote lengthy theological and philosophical treatises, often attempting to reconcile the teachings of the Greek and Roman pagan authors with the doctrines of the Church. Hagiographies , or "lives of the saints", were also frequently written, as an encouragement to the devout and

1428-402: The primary function of language: communication. Yet adherents of magic are still able to use and to value the magical function of words by believing in the inherent power of the words themselves and in the meaning that they must provide for those who do understand them. This leads Tambiah to conclude that "the remarkable disjunction between sacred and profane language which exists as a general fact

1470-642: The religious perspectives of women were held to be unorthodox by those in power, and the mystical visions of such authors as Julian of Norwich , Mechthild of Magdeburg , and Hildegard of Bingen provide insight into a part of the medieval experience less comfortable for the institutions that ruled Europe at the time. Women wrote influential texts in the secular realm as well—reflections on courtly love and society by Marie de France and Christine de Pizan continue to be studied for their glimpses of medieval society. Some women were patrons of books and owners of significant book collections. Female book collectors in

1512-537: The right words, appropriate phrases and the more highly developed forms of speech, gives man a power over and above his own limited field of personal action." Magical speech is therefore a ritual act and is of equal or even greater importance to the performance of magic than non-verbal acts. Not all speech is considered magical. Only certain words and phrases or words spoken in a specific context are considered to have magical power. Magical language, according to C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards 's (1923) categories of speech,

1554-430: The same development of "charm") is modern, first attested in 1593 ( OED ). Words of incantation are often spoken with inflection and emphasis on the words being said. The tone and rhyme of how the words are spoken and the placement of words used in the formula may differ depending on the desired outcome of the magical effect. Surviving written records of historical magic spells were largely obliterated in many cultures by

1596-569: The same time a new poetry of " courtly love " became fashionable in Europe. Traveling singers— troubadours and trouvères —made a living from their love songs in French , Spanish , Galician-Portuguese , Catalan , Provençal , and Greek . Germanic culture had its Minnesänger tradition. The songs of courtly love often express unrequited longing for an ideal woman, but there are also aubades (dawn farewells by lovers) and humorous ditties. Following

1638-645: The success of the major monotheistic religions ( Islam , Judaism , and Christianity ), which label some magical activity as immoral or associated with evil. The Latin incantare , which means "to consecrate with spells, to charm, to bewitch, to ensorcel", forms the basis of the word " enchant ", with deep linguistic roots going back to the Proto-Indo-European kan- prefix . So it can be said that an enchanter or enchantress casts magic spells , or utters incantations. The words that are similar to incantations such as enchantment, charms and spells are

1680-562: The use of language. Whether spoken out loud or unspoken, words are frequently used to access or guide magical power. In The Magical Power of Words (1968), S. J. Tambiah argues that the connection between language and magic is due to a belief in the inherent ability of words to influence the universe. Bronisław Malinowski, in Coral Gardens and their Magic (1935), suggests that this belief is an extension of man's basic use of language to describe his surroundings, in which "the knowledge of

1722-480: Was an art form used by some clerics to express dissent. The only widespread religious writing that was not produced by clerics were the mystery plays : growing out of simple tableaux re-enactments of a single Biblical scene, each mystery play became its village's expression of the key events in the Bible . The text of these plays was often controlled by local guilds , and mystery plays would be performed regularly on set feast-days, often lasting all day long and into

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1764-584: Was written in Ethiopic , Syriac , Coptic , Japanese , Chinese , and Arabic , among many other languages. In Western Europe, Latin was the common language for medieval writing, since Latin was the language of the Roman Catholic Church , which dominated Western and Central Europe , and since the Church was virtually the only source of education. This was the case even in some parts of Europe that were never Romanized. In Eastern Europe ,

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