Greetings REED-Lers,
I'd like to share with the list a small find which some might find
interesting. While working on a 14thc manuscript I came across a Latin
glossary which contains a definition for the verb "ludo". This is perhaps
not as surprising as it sounds but 3 of the 4 definitions are essentially
dramatic in character and being of a fairly early date I thought it well to
post it here. The MS. this was taken from is in the Bibliotheka
Uniwersytecka, Poland (IQ 158) but it's provenance is certainly German,
perhaps Austrian.
Ludo
Principio id est narrare; secundo id est decipere; tertio sit voluntatem
propriam habere seu operare in opere; quarto sit adorare ydola.
The third definition brings to mind perhaps the meaning that is most used
today: to play at something, not to take it seriously, to toy with something
(literally to have one's own will with it) etc... The second recalls the
essential mimetic aspect of drama--- to deceive, to symbolize etc.. The
first and fourth are interesting in that they seem to indicate miming and
the use of religious images as part of a dramatic entertainment.
The definition is also interesting for what it doesn't offer. Missing is the
classical "saltare" to dance, or even to sing.
-Steve Killings
Steven James Killings
Centre for Medieval Studies
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http://www.chass.utoronto.ca:8080/~killings/
