medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
mata kimasitayo <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>scapulae = shoulder-blades is unrelated to
speculum = a mirror (from specere = to look at, to behold, to catch a sight
of;
quite right and, again, it looks like i've done a good job of botching a
summary of linguist Guy Villette's idea about how the "Epaule de Gallardon"
might have originally been related to the _de specula_ clan from the same
town.
let me try again.
a few (apparently related) fellows appear in the charters from around 1100
with the cognomen _de specula_. they seem to be in the entourage of the Lords
of Gallardon and Villette speculated (sorry) that they were associated with
the domainal tower there (whether the present ruined one or its predecessor,
we cannot know, but probably the latter), perhaps being charged with using a
signal mirror --or perhaps just as "lookouts," speculators, as it were....
in the 16th c. the town was sacked, the tower ruined and took on a peculiar
shape, only partially to be seen in this late 16th c. print:
http://www.ariadne.org/centrechartraine/images/gallardx.jpg
or in this air view, which shows the proximity of the tower (left) with the
church (a c.1100 priory of Bonneval with a rather spectacular c.1220 choir)
and lower town:
http://www.ariadne.org/centrechartraine/gallardon/gallardair.jpg
but a view of the regnum-sacerdotum skyline does show off this very peculiar
shape of the ruin:
http://www.ariadne.org/centrechartraine/gallardon/gallardtower.jpg
"Shoulder," right?
"Maybe not," says Villette.
Perhaps there was some kind of garbled permutation whereby the proud Latin
_speculum_ (or its O.F./M.F. counterpart, used in the town) became the modest
vernacular "espaule," particularly under the influence of the peculiar shape
of the thing, on its hill there, dominating the town.
the only thing that i am sure of is that Villette did *not* say that
_speculum_ was the root of _epaule_.
the work in question,
Guy Villette, _Recherches concernant les noms de lieux d’Eure–et–Loir:
Gallardon_,
has not (to my knowledge) been published, save in the form of a eye-gouging
memeographed typescript, copies of which (along with 30 or so other chapters
of this larger work) are deposited at the Archives diocèseanes and
départmentales and the Bibliothéque municipale in Chartres and, i believe, at
the Archives Nationales and Ecole Catholique (where Villette had taught) in
Paris.
folks interested in the early history of Gallardon --a beautiful little town--
might check out:
http://ariadne.org/centrechartaine/lords/introgal.html
>non ridere, non lugere,
neque detestari, sed intelligere.
"Don't laugh; nor try and carry stuff off,
Nor [express] dislike; but [rather] try and understand."
good advice, whatever it means.
thanks, mata.
see you in Bloomington.in.us in a few weeks.
best from here,
christopher
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