Skírnir - 01.04.2003, Page 73

SKÍRNIR
PURITAS NOSTRÆ LINGVÆ
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and Bibliographical Guide. Ritstj. F.A.C. Mantello og A.G. Rigg, bls.
130-136. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press.
Waswo, Richard. 1999. „The rise of the vernaculars." The Renaissance. The
Cambridge History of Literary Criticism 3. Ritstj. Glyn P. Norton, bls.
409—416. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Wright, Roger. 1982. Late Latin and Early Romance in Spain and Carolignian
France. Liverpool: F. Cairns.
Summary
The doctrine of Icelandic purism was first articulated in Crymogaea (Hamburg
1609), the first history of Iceland written according to Humanist or Greco-Roman
norms of historiography, as opposed to the vernacular medieval saga tradition. The
author, Arngrímur Jónsson, argues in Latin that Icelandic is the ancient tongue of
N-Europe and not a vernacular. Only Icelanders use it unspoiled, he claims, while
neighboring peoples have spoiled it, and so it behooves Icelanders to perserve its
pristine state. This article argues that it is no coincidence that the doctrine of
Icelandic purism originates in a Humanist treatise, that its conception cannot be
fully appreciated without taking into consideration the Latin discourse of the
Humanists. Indeed, Arngrímur can be seen to transfer onto Icelandic the
Humanist demand for a purified classical Latin and a return to the usage of ancient
authors, when he classifies Icelandic as an ancient language on par with Latin (and
Greek) and advocates that its purity be maintained by reading ancient (i.e.
medieval) MSS “full of ancient puritas and elegantia”. The Humanist buzzword
elegantia reveals e.g. how germane the idea is to a textbook in unspoiled Latin,
Elegantiarum Latini sermonis Prœceptiones aliqvot (Hólar 1616), associated with
Jónsson and made for use in the cathedral school at Hólar.