The Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources is an indispensable guide to the study of the Latin Middle Ages in Britain from the sixth century to the sixteenth. It is prepared under the direction of a British Academy committee, initially by R.E. Latham and now by a team headed by D.R. Howlett and will be published in ten fascicules. The Dictionary both records the usage of Classical and Late Latin in this period, and charts the medieval developments of the language as revealed in a rich variety of printed and manuscript sources. Latin was not static and inflexible, but was as receptive as English was to the needs of everyday life (and to the needs of users often barely literate). Each fascicule contains hundreds of new word formations. Some of the borrowings from other languages are recorded in Latin centuries before their appearance in written vernacular. The Dictionary is of immeasurable vallue to all medievalists, as important for cultural history as it is for linguistics. To confirmed dictionary browsers, even those with rusty Latin, it offers many delights.

Revised Medieval Latin Word List from British and Irish Sources (Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, Supplementary)

Reference

Dictionaries & Thesauruses

The British Academy

Parallels between Hittite civilisation and the Old Testament belong largely to the field of religion. In the first of his three Schweich lectures (delivered in 1976) Professor Gurney traces the historical development of the Hittite pantheon, while in his second and third lectures he selectssome aspects of Hittite religion which can be compared with ancient Hebrew and Canaanite institutions. The second lecture describes the cult, both local and official, and the purpose of the open-air temple at Yazilikaya. The third is devoted to Hittite rituals of elimination and substitution andthe mortuary ritual for the King. Parallels are drawn with the biblical masseba as a cult object and with the scapegoat ritual of Leviticus.

Some Aspects of Hittite Religion (Schweich Lectures on Biblical Archaeology 1976)

History

Gurney, O. R.

Ancient Civilizations

Documents relating to politics and internal court affairs.

The Archive of Yogyakarta, Vol. 1: Documents Relating to Politics and Internal Court Affairs (Oriental Documents, 3)

Carey, P. B. R.

Asia

Logica Magna (Classical and Medieval Logic Texts)

Paul of Venice's Logica Magna is an invaluable repository for 14th-century logical theories. In this treatise on necessity and contingency, Paul gathers together a wide range of arguments on the question of whether the future is already determined (specifically, whether the proposition that Antichrist will come into existence is necessarily true). The arguments display great variety, taking in operatoru-shift fallacies, philosophical views on time, Aristotelian science, and theological considerations on foreknowledge and prophecy.

Paul of Venice: Logica Magna, Part I Fascicule 7, 'Tractatus de Scire et Dubitare' (Classical and Medieval Logic Texts, 4)

Clarke, P.

Religion & Spirituality

This primary source offers comprehensive insight into the income and expenditure of the Scottish Church, and a snapshot of the entire ecclesiastical structure, just as the Reformation was taking hold in and after 1560. The late medieval Church was the wealthiest institution in the Scottish kingdom, with an annual income ten times that of the Crown. The "Books of Assumption" were compiled for the Crown c1562 as a survey of all ecclesiastical livings (from archbishoprics to chaplainries and altarages), forming a record akin to England's "Valor Ecclesiasticus". Arranged topographically for the whole country (except Argyll and the Hebrides), this series of rentals is a major source for the study of early modern Scottish history.

The Books of Assumption of the Thirds of Benefices: Scottish Ecclesiastical Rentals at the Reformation (Records of Social and Economic History, 21)

Business & Money

Kirk, J.

Real Estate

Many of the greatest philosophers have used the form of the dialogue to expound their arguments, yet the vehicle itself has been inadequately studied. The three essays in this volume examine the reasons why particular philosophers have chosen to use the dialogue as a tool to interact between the philosophical content and the literary form.

Philosophical Dialogues: Plato, Hume, Wittgenstein (Proceedings of the British Academy: Themed volumes of essays in the humanities and social sciences, 85)

Literature & Fiction

Smiley, Timothy

History & Criticism

This second Scottish fascicule of the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum makes accessible to researchers the interesting and undeservedly neglected collections of vases in the Hunterian Museum, the Burrell collection, and Kellingrove Museum. The collections include Bronze-Age, Etruscan, Archaic and Classical Greek, and South Italian material, little of which has been published before.

The Glasgow Collections: The Hunterian Museum. The Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery, Kelvingrove. The Burrell Collection (Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, GB17)

Arts & Photography

Moignard, Elizabeth

This is the first systematic study of the social and political development of the two Irelands since partition. Scholars from various disciplines here consider economic development, political history, demography and migration, religion, family, industrial relations, education and many other factors.

Ireland North and South: Perspectives from Social Science (Proceedings of the British Academy: Themed volumes of essays in the humanities and social sciences, 98)

Heath, Anthony F.

Breen, Richard

Whelan, Christopher T.

Europe

The Sibe are an immigrant group, Qing dynasty bannermen who made a three-year "long march" from Manchuria in the 18th century to serve as a border garrison in the newly conquered Western Regions of the Qing Chinese empire. They preserved their military structure and a discrete identity in the multi-ethnic region of Xinjiang and are now officially recognized as an ethnic minority nationality under the People's Republic. They are known in China today as the last speakers of the Manchu language, and as preservers of their ancient traditions. This study of their music culture reveals not fossilized tradition but a shifting web of borrowings, assimilation, and retention. Singing the Village is a readable, anthropologically interesting and musically informed account of culture and performance in the Chinese region of Xinjiang. The book approaches musical and ritual life in this ethnically diverse region through an understanding of society in terms of negotiation, practice, and performance. It explores the relations between shamanism, song, and notions of externality and danger, bringing recent theories on shamanism to bear on questions of the structural and affective powers of ritual music. It focuses on the historical demands of identity, boundary maintenance and creation among the Sibe, and on the role of musical performance in maintaining popular memory, and it discusses the impact of state policies of the Chinese Communist Party on village musical and ritual life. Singing the Village draws on a wide range of Chinese, Sibe-Manchu language sources, and oral sources including musical recordings and interviews gathered in the course of fieldwork in Xinjiang. It includes musical transcriptions, glossaries of Sibe-Manchu and Chinese terms, and is accompanied by a free CD which includes 30 original field recordings.

Singing the Village: Music, Memory and Ritual among the Sibe of Xinjiang (British Academy Monographs)

Harris, Rachel

Music

This is a critical look at the now pervasive idea of achieving better governance through greater openness to outside scrutiny. It shows that that transparency can conflict with other 'good governance' values, and that measures to promote it often lead to a tighter control of information.

Transparency: The Key to Better Governance? (Proceedings of the British Academy: Themed volumes of essays in the humanities and social sciences, 135)

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

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