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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture If an artifact will do as well as a text, see the linked image described as: "Enns ( Upper Austria ). Museum Lauriacum: Votive hand ( 3rd century AD ) with crossed fingers." https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ML_-_Votivhand.jpg On Sun, Jul 22, 2018 at 12:03 PM, Stephen Barker < [log in to unmask]> wrote: > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > Thank you very much, Paul. > > My apologies if what follows is too rambling for the list, but I'm trying > to work out the origin and semiotics of crossed fingers for a section of an > essay I'm writing. > > I was actually skimming through the Anglo-Saxon *Monasteriales Indicia* > yesterday in the hopes of finding something useful, but all I found were a > couple signs for requesting a cross: laying one's index fingers across each > other and putting up a thumb or a pinky depending on the size of cross > wanted. > > In that vein, I was hoping, faintly, for something more like the charms > and recipes in the *Lacnunga* and *Bald's Leechbook, *something that puts > holy signs and objects to uses closer to what we think of as magic or > popular religion--though anything surviving in MS form passed through some > form of learned vetting. It seems likely to crop up in guides to monastic > communication only as a warning against perverting the signs to vulgar use, > or in a rule or penitential handbook. It would be nice if it popped up in > Aelfric Bata's *Colloquies* with some of the other bad behavior, but alas. > > Thank you for the Bruce article. It's a lovely introduction, and he does > mention warnings against using the signs at certain times, but doesn't say > anything about specific sign restrictions. I'll have to look in his > monograph again. It may be that such things would have constituted such an > egregious breach that rule writers didn't think they need not be mentioned. > Or they didn't want to give people ideas. > > Gerald of Wales' description of the Canterbury refectory riotous with > signs is delightful, but he's satirizing excess and hypocrisy, not the > misuse of any particular sign. (*Giraldi Cambrensis* *Opera Omnia* > 4.39-40) > > -- > > More generally, I would expect the sign to be older: it would have made an > easy, private Christian cross, though there may not be any traces of it, > and might have appeared in other cultures as well since it's such an easy > gesture to make, one that does seem to lend itself to notions of warding or > union of opposites or even, as Panati suggests, a trapping or keeping > close, as well as any other meanings common to pre-Christian crosses. > > It makes natural sense as a wishing gesture since it can be private or > selectively shared (as can the lying mode), much like a wink. One often > doesn't want to wish in a grandiose way, so its nice to have a small > gesture. Also, you can vary the pressure, squeezing more tightly to impart > extra power to the wish without causing any disturbance. I suppose this > also works for lying: the greater the lie, the more you squeeze, perhaps > adding your other hand as well. > > Are there other instances, early or late, of crossed fingers? The OED (I > sometimes forget they have phrases) is still my best source: > 1723 A. de la Mottraye *Trav.* I. xii. 256 The Patriarch of > Constantinople..having bless'd the People, bowing and crossing his Fingers, > so as to form the Characters IC XP. > 1773 D. Henry *Hist. Acct. Voy. Eng. Navigators* IV. 18 These they > concluded were what the Portuguese sailor had imagined to be crosses, from > the Indian having crossed his fingers when he was describing the town. > 1889 *Lawrence (Kansas) Evening Trib.* 18 July If you can ‘cross the > hump’ of a hunchback with fingers crossed you will have good luck. > 1895 *N. Y. Times* 13 Sept. ‘Tag, your [*sic*] it,’ said Tommy. ‘No I > ain't,’ said Mamie, ‘'Cause I had my fingers crossed before you came > around’. > > I can't figure out how to make IC XP with my hands with my fingers > crossed, so I can't tell if it's the usual middle finger over index cross, > and the 1773 quotation sounds more like a descriptive use of crossing the > figures and so not much use to me. Otherwise, 1889 is the earliest citation > for a lucky use, and 1895 for a lying use. > > Thanks again to anyone who can help! > > Steve > > > On 7/22/2018 1:55 AM, Paul Chandler wrote: > > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > Steve, there is a fairly large literature on monastic sign language, where > you may, or may not, find something of help. There is a good starting > bibliography in the wikipedia article (I know, I know -- I used to forbid > students to use it, too): > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monastic_sign_languages > > This work on Cistercian sign language (the last to survive as an living > form of communication, I think), is well-regarded: > Robert Barakat,*The Cistercian sign language : a study in non-verbal > communication,* (Cistercian Studies Series; 11), Kalamazoo, Mich. : > Cistercian Publications, 1975. > > Also: Scott G. Bruce, "The Origins of Cistercian Sign Language", *Cîteaux: > Commentarii cistercienses *52 (2001), which is online here: > http://www.medievalists.net/2015/08/the-origins-of- > cistercian-sign-language/ > > There is no doubt much more, and more specific to your question, but I > hope this may be a start. -- Paul > > > > On 22 July 2018 at 14:56, Stephen Barker <[log in to unmask]> > wrote: > >> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture >> >> Hello all, >> >> I’ve been lurking on this list for a number of years. I’m a doctoral >> candidate at Ohio State, studying shamelessness in Anglo-Saxon England, but >> this is a non-dissertation query. I’m trying to find early primary sources >> that refer to crossed fingers, particularly as used to avert the >> consequences of lying, though instances of more general warding, wishing, >> and blessing would also be welcome. Not the sign of the cross, unless it >> seems relevant, just crossed fingers. >> >> I haven’t been able to find any scholarly articles in the usual places >> (university library, WorldCat, IMB, L’Année Philologique). All I’ve been >> able to find are poorly sourced claims in Wikipedia and various internet >> articles that seem to trace back to a couple paragraphs in *Extraordinary >> Origins of Everyday Things *by Charles Panati (infamously credulous of >> the spoon-bending psychic Uri Geller), which is also seemingly unsourced >> and quite fanciful. I include it here to establish the state of the field, >> at least in the popular presses. >> >> He claims the gesture was originally a two-person operation: >> >> The popular gesture grew out of the pagan belief that a cross was a >> symbol of perfect unity; and that its point of intersection marked the >> dwelling place of beneficent spirits. A wish made on a cross was supposed >> to be anchored steadfastly at the cross’s intersection until that desire >> was realized. The superstition was popular among many early European >> cultures. […] >> >> Originally, in crossing fingers for good luck, the index finger of a >> well-wisher was placed over the index finger of the person expressing the >> wish, the two fingers forming a cross. While one person wished, the other >> offered mental support to expedite the desire. As time elapsed, the rigors >> of the custom eased, so that a person could wish without the assistance of >> an associate. It sufficed merely to cross the index and the middle fingers >> to form an X, the Scottish cross of St. Andrew. >> >> Is there anything solid in this confection? I could imagine an icthys >> finger gesture like he’s describing, but I’ve never heard of one. >> >> Thanks for any leads! >> >> All best, >> >> Steve Barker >> ********************************************************************** >> To join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME >> to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it >> to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the >> message: unsubscribe medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In >> order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: >> [log in to unmask] For further information, visit >> our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religion > > > > > -- > Paul Chandler, O.Carm. > Holy Spirit Seminary | PO Box 18 (487 Earnshaw Road) | Banyo Qld 4014 > | Australia > office: (07) 3267 4804 | mobile: 044 882 4996 > [log in to unmask] > ********************************************************************** To > join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: > [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: > [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: > unsubscribe medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to > report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: > [log in to unmask] For further information, visit > our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religion > > > ********************************************************************** To > join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: > [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: > [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: > unsubscribe medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to > report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: > [log in to unmask] For further information, visit > our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religion ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: unsubscribe medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religion