Customer Reviews

Reading Medieval Latin

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sidwell's anthology provides the Latin student with thorough notes, historical background to the authors, and medieval shifts in pronunciation and spelling. Occasionally Sidwell misses possible interpretations of passages or provides word-meanings that don't necessarily work well in a passage's context. These shorfalls, however, are hardly significant. Sidwell's book is an enjoyable and worthwhile text.

I might as well start by saying that this book is by no means an introduction to Latin. Sidwell himself starts out by saying that, by and large, Medieval Latin is just Latin. It's best to start with a solid background in classical Latin (Wheelock's) and then move to this book when you want to start reading Medieval authors.

As another review noted, Sidwell gives good backgrounds on the changes that occurred in medieval Latin - again, medieval Latin is not some other language, it's simply Latin with some changes in orthography, grammar, and usage. In fact, without a solid background in classical Latin, this book would be almost worthless (except for its dictionary in the back - and even there, most words are defined in terms of their classical Latin equivalents).

Best of all is the appendix with the changes between classical and medieval Latin categorized. I refer to this appendix often when I come to an odd construct in the Vulgate, and it very often answers my questions.

I unfortunately have limited experience with the texts in the book themselves. What little I've looked through seem good, and the introductions are useful; but I've heard several negative comments about some of Sidwell's text choices (one person whom I respect said his choice of texts was "ghoulish".)

But, from my own personal experience, it's a good book as long as you don't try to use it for more than it's designed to do.

Sidwell's anthology provides the Latin student with thorough notes, historical background to the authors, and medieval shifts in pronunciation and spelling. Occasionally Sidwell misses possible interpretations of passages or provides word-meanings that don't necessarily work well in a passage's context. These shorfalls, however, are hardly significant. Sidwell's book is an enjoyable and worthwhile text.

At times you, as someone using this book to start your journey into medieval latin, might wish for more footnotes or vocabulary, or find some choices strange (at least on first inspection), but this is a very good intro reader. Of course this is only a reader and you must already have read Wheelock's or reading latin or some such thing, also you may find Harkness or Schmitz handy, and likely Woodcock. This book is not as in depth as Betts and Franklin's poetry reader (which is good for in class instruction) but it is a very good value. It has a lot of passages to read in it and is well organized. There are also english intros that give background details on the poems or passages. So over all, it could be a little better but is worth buying, and if you take a medieval latin course in university, this is the book the passages will likely be from. The more you read this book the more you will like it (and it has the loch ness monster).

This is an excellent resource for students of medieval Latin. A particularly useful aspect of this reader is that Sidwell provides texts with thematic coherence in mind; thus in each section arranged according to period, texts are arranged according to particular topics (e.g. the Norman conquest; scholastic philosophy; courtly literature). His introductory notes are good, and provide not just an introduction to the period, but to the individual topics he's selected; and his texts are chosen to provide a coherent representative introduction to the primary sources for each topic. Thus, for example, those wishing to deal with the eleventh and twelfth century will find a selection from the most important texts on the crusades, the investiture conflict, the Norman conquest, and new developments in theology and philosophy (among other topics), along with concise but useful overviews of the issues involved; in each case, the texts and excerpts are put together to make some sort of sense in terms of content and relation to the larger issues, not just as examples of Latin. Sidwell also provides a brief glossary of specifically medieval vocabulary at the end of the book, along with with useful linguistic and historical notes, and extensive vocabulary and grammar aids for each of the texts.

Very good! Liked it! As described! Using it for a textbook, not sure how that's going to work out. Seems a bit stuffy and wordy, but what else do you expect from medieval Latin?

Do yourself or your students a favor and FORGET SIDWELL.
This cancer on the body of Latin education has impaired and imperiled students for too long. Choose Wheelock, choose Scanlon, choose to sit down and memorize Lewis and Short, but please, please, don't keep buying this putrid and detestable mockery of a language course. If you need evidence of this man's utter madness, look to the notes in this volume, or to the glossary: of what possible assistance are notes that tell the student what she is already certain to know while remaining silent when she most needs guidance? Sidwell: the sun has set on your empire of tears; you have had your day.