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Hi, Nick! Alas, no. I spent years digging around in the scholarly journals, back in the 1970s, to put together the list of references I have found on the subject while working on my own PhD. Looking back on those long-ago pages, I find a reference to Wilhelm Gossmann, _Sakrale Sprache_ (1965), but I no longer remember whether his work was very deep. Walter J. Ong had a few stimulating pages on what he called "chirographic languages" in a pair of fascinating articles: "Latin Language Study as a Renaissance Puberty Rite," _Studies in Philology_ 56(1959), 103-124, and "Latin and the Social Fabric," _The Yale Review_, new series, 50(1961/2), 18-31. [The first was reprinted with revisions in his collection, _Rhetoric, Romance and Technology_ (1971), the second, in his other collection, _The Barbarian Within_ (1962).] Some anthropologists and anthropologically oriented linguists provided very useful comparative material from non-literate cultures: Bronislaw Malinowski from the Trobriand Islands, first of all, but also Leonard Bloomfield, "Literate and Illiterate Speech" [a very misleading title], _American Speech_ 2(1927), 432-439, and Edward Sapir, _Abnormal Types of Speech in Nootka_ (1915). And occasionally something useful turned up in journals on Crhistian liturgics and on the sociology of religion, e.g., Jean Séguy, "Suggestions sur une sociologie des liturgies chrétiennes," _Archives de sociologie des religions_ 22(1966), 145-151. And anyone seriously interested in langauge and magic has to come to terms, one way or another, with Benjamin Lee Whorf's brilliant and seminal papers, "The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language," _Language, Culture and Personality: Essays in Memory of Edward Sapir_ (1941), 75-93, and "Language, Mind and Reality," _The Theosophist_ (Madras), 63/1(1942), 281-291, and 63/2(1942), 25-37. [Whorf's papers may also be found in his posthumous collection, _Language, Thought and Reality: Selected Writings_ (1956), but his paper from _The Theosophist_ has been edited without the editor's mentioning that fact. IIRC, the editing removes one of Whorf's favorable comments on Theosophy -- but the collection was published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, so perhaps the cut was necessary.] Robert On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 9:34 AM, Katherine Hindley < [log in to unmask]> wrote: > Dear all, > Thank you so much for these extremely helpful responses - I'm very > grateful for the number and thoroughness of your replies, and excited to > have so many new leads! > Best, > Katherine > On Mar 7, 2014 5:03 AM, "Nicholas Campion" <[log in to unmask]> > wrote: > >> Hi Robert, >> >> >> >> When you write 'There is also a very wide-ranging literature (in >> anthropology, linguistics and philology) on what are sometimes called >> "sacral" languages, that is, languages or dialects of languages that are >> reserved for the numinous sphere (religion, magic, etc.).', can you >> recommend a good general or starter text? >> >> >> >> Best......... >> >> >> >> Nick >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> *From:* Society for The Academic Study of Magic [mailto: >> [log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Robert Mathiesen >> *Sent:* 07 March 2014 04:27 >> *To:* [log in to unmask] >> *Subject:* Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Literacy and Magic >> >> >> >> There is also a very wide-ranging literature (in anthropology, >> linguistics and philology) on what are sometimes called "sacral" languages, >> that is, languages or dialects of languages that are reserved for the >> numinous sphere (religion, magic, etc.). Some of these are purely written, >> and I even know of one such that was never anyone's vernacular language at >> any point in its history. This intersects greatly with the use of writing. >> >> I know of one Medieval manuscript that contains a French translation of >> the Latin Canon of the Mass. A later hand has carefully erased (by >> scraping them off) the few lines that offer the words of institution. If >> memory serves me correctly, the later hand added a note that only priests >> are allowed to read these words. Presumably the French translation was >> made for laity. TCh. hurot in his huge 19th-century collection on Medieval >> manuscripts about grammar and language prints an interesting passage from a >> grammarian that remarks (again, IIRC) that the world consists of many >> nations, each with its own proper spoken language, and that priests >> constitute such a nation with its own language, namely, Latin. >> >> If any of this is useful to your work, let me know and I'll try to find >> time to send precise references your way. >> >> Robert >> >> >> >> On Thu, Mar 6, 2014 at 10:03 PM, Michael Moynihan < >> [log in to unmask]> wrote: >> >> Claude Lecouteux, _The High Magic of Talismans and Amulets: Tradition and >> Craft_ (the English edition of Le livre des talismans et des amulettes, >> 2005), which is forthcoming in May, could certainly be of use. This surveys >> a vast amount of material from Antiquity through the Middle Ages. >> >> Regards, >> Michael >> >> >> >