Steve--
I seriously doubt the interpretation of #4 that you offer. It
probably refers to the "playing" before the golden calf; see the OT Latin
text.
Further, I'd hesitate to call any of these definitions of the
enactment of scripts.
Larry Clopper
On Wed, 22 Jan 1997, Steven J. Killings wrote:
> 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/
>
