【Move to another page】
Quote
https://ift.tt/2QjzByf
Ioca monachorum
Srnec: start
The '''''ioca '''''(or '''''joca''''')''''' monachorum''''', meaning "monks' pastimes"<ref name=Goffart>[[Walter Goffart]], "The Supposedly 'Frankish' Table of Nations: An Edition and Study", ''Frühmittelalterliche Studien'' '''17''' (1983): 98–130, esp. at 128–130.</ref> or "monks' jokes",<ref name=Wright>Charles D. Wright, "From Monks' Jokes to Sages' Wisdom: The ''Joca Monachorum'' Tradition and the Irish ''Immacallam in dá Thúarad''", in Mary Garrison, Arpad P. Orbán and Marco Mostert (eds.) ''Spoken and Written Language: Relations between Latin and the Vernacular Languages in the Earlier Middle Ages'' (Brepols, 2013), pp. 199–225.</ref> was a genre of short questions and answers for use by [[Christian monk]]s. These were often on biblical subjects, but could also deal with literary, philosophical or historical matters. Although they could be straightforward, they were often riddles or jokes. They were probably used to stimulate thought and aid memory.<ref name=OxRef>[https://ift.tt/2Qmlh7V "Joca (Ioca) monachorum"] in Robert E. Bjork (ed.), ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages'' (Oxford University Press, 2010). Retrieved 17 March 2020.</ref><ref name=Dubois>Jacques Dubois, "Comment lest moines du moyen âge chantaient et goutâient les Sainte Écritures", in [[Pierre Riché]] and Guy Lobrichon (eds.), ''Le Moyen Âge et la Bible'' (Beauchesne, 1984), pp. 264–270.</ref>
The genre originated in the [[Greek East]] but spread throughout Christendom.<ref name=Goffart/><ref name=OxRef/> By the sixth century it had reached [[Gaul]] and the [[British Isles]].<ref name=Dubois/> Examples are known in [[Latin]], [[Middle High German|German]], [[Old Swedish|Swedish]], [[Old Occitan|Occitan]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]] and [[Old Spanish|Castilian]].<ref name=Wahlgren>Erik Wahlgren, "A Swedish-Latin Parallel to the ''Joca Monachorum''", ''Modern Philology'' '''36''' (1939): 239–245.</ref> It survived down to the end of the [[Middle Ages]]. It has modern a parallel in [[trivia game]]s.<ref name=Dubois/> Charles Wright gives as a modern American example of the same sort of riddle "Who first played tennis in the Bible? Moses served in Pharaoh's court".<ref name=Wright/>
A single ''iocus'' may appear in several manuscript collections. Although the answers were usually short, generally a single name,<ref name=Wahlgren/> long answers were not unknown. The [[Frankish Table of Nations]], a brief genealogy of the [[Germanic peoples]], was the incorporated as the answer to a question in one collection of eight ''ioca''.<ref name=Goffart/> The [[Old Testament]] was an especially favoured topic.<ref name=Wahlgren/> Questions about who in the Bible was first to do something were popular.<ref name=Wright/> The questioner and responder may or may not be identified in the text.<ref name=Wahlgren/> The lines are usually prefaced with ''dic mihi'' (tell me), ''dico tibi'' (I tell you), ''interrogatio'' (question) or ''responsio'' (answer) and only in later dialogues ''discipulus'' (student) and ''magister'' (teacher). In one group of ''ioca'', the names of the emperor [[Hadrian]] and the philosopher [[Epictetus]] are used for the interlocutors.<ref name=Wright/>
==Examples==
*"Who died but was not born? [[Adam and Eve|Adam]]. Who was born but did not die? [[Elijah]] and [[Enoch]]".<ref name=OxRef/>
*"Who killed killed Holofernes, leader of the army of King Nebuchadnezzar? [[Judith]]".<ref name=Goffart/>
*"Who robbed his grandmother of her virginity? [[Cain]] the earth".<ref name=Wright/>
==References==
[[Category:Medieval literature]]
[[Category:Christian literary genres]]
[[Category:Christian monasticism]]
The genre originated in the [[Greek East]] but spread throughout Christendom.<ref name=Goffart/><ref name=OxRef/> By the sixth century it had reached [[Gaul]] and the [[British Isles]].<ref name=Dubois/> Examples are known in [[Latin]], [[Middle High German|German]], [[Old Swedish|Swedish]], [[Old Occitan|Occitan]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]] and [[Old Spanish|Castilian]].<ref name=Wahlgren>Erik Wahlgren, "A Swedish-Latin Parallel to the ''Joca Monachorum''", ''Modern Philology'' '''36''' (1939): 239–245.</ref> It survived down to the end of the [[Middle Ages]]. It has modern a parallel in [[trivia game]]s.<ref name=Dubois/> Charles Wright gives as a modern American example of the same sort of riddle "Who first played tennis in the Bible? Moses served in Pharaoh's court".<ref name=Wright/>
A single ''iocus'' may appear in several manuscript collections. Although the answers were usually short, generally a single name,<ref name=Wahlgren/> long answers were not unknown. The [[Frankish Table of Nations]], a brief genealogy of the [[Germanic peoples]], was the incorporated as the answer to a question in one collection of eight ''ioca''.<ref name=Goffart/> The [[Old Testament]] was an especially favoured topic.<ref name=Wahlgren/> Questions about who in the Bible was first to do something were popular.<ref name=Wright/> The questioner and responder may or may not be identified in the text.<ref name=Wahlgren/> The lines are usually prefaced with ''dic mihi'' (tell me), ''dico tibi'' (I tell you), ''interrogatio'' (question) or ''responsio'' (answer) and only in later dialogues ''discipulus'' (student) and ''magister'' (teacher). In one group of ''ioca'', the names of the emperor [[Hadrian]] and the philosopher [[Epictetus]] are used for the interlocutors.<ref name=Wright/>
==Examples==
*"Who died but was not born? [[Adam and Eve|Adam]]. Who was born but did not die? [[Elijah]] and [[Enoch]]".<ref name=OxRef/>
*"Who killed killed Holofernes, leader of the army of King Nebuchadnezzar? [[Judith]]".<ref name=Goffart/>
*"Who robbed his grandmother of her virginity? [[Cain]] the earth".<ref name=Wright/>
==References==
[[Category:Medieval literature]]
[[Category:Christian literary genres]]
[[Category:Christian monasticism]]
March 18, 2020 at 10:04AM
