Fear MS members,

Those of you interested in Medieval settlements on the Mediterranean islands may be interested in a coupe of new papers relating to islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea. 


In 2017 the writing system of a Medieval manuscript was revealed to be proto-Romance: i.e. the origin of the Romance languages. In addition, it is written with a proto-Italic alphabet. It is the only known document of this kind and therefore has considerable linguistic importance.

Two papers have been issued, which explain the writing system and translate a number of excerpts as examples. They can be freely downloaded from the LingBuzz website.

  1. Linguistic Missing Links: http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003737 
  2. Linguistically Dating and Locating MS408: http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003808

The manuscript includes a good deal of information and the social and material cultures of the island populations of Vulcano, Lipari and Ischia during the 15th century. As such, the papers might be very useful for comparative research alongside physical archaeological findings relating to those respective settlements. Much of the manuscript has yet to be translated and transliterated, so there is sure to be more information revealed. 

Regards.
G. E. Cheshire.
University of Bristol.