The Database of Nordic Neo-Latin Literature is a result of an inter-nordic
research project, which ran during the years 1987-91. This 'Nordic Neo-Latin
Project' involved latinists from all five Nordic countries: Denmark,
Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The project was funded by the national
humanistic research councils of all five countries, and it was directed by
prof. Minna Skafte Jensen, University of Odense, Denmark. (A list of other
contributors is available).
Apart from the database, the project also resulted in various studies within
the field of Nordic Neo-Latin, and a 'History of Nordic Neo-Latin
Literature' (cf. bibliography).
Current editors of the database are Peter Zeeberg, Society for Danish Language and Literature, Copenhagen, and Johann Ramminger, CDNL.
The first WWW-version was prepared by Hans Morten Kind, University of Bergen (1995), the present one by Johann Ramminger, Copenhagen (2024).
Corrections and additions are welcome. Please contact Peter Zeeberg.
The database contains descriptions of Nordic Neo-Latin printed texts,
defined as follows:
By 'Neo-Latin' is meant texts written in Latin between the reformation
(c. 1530) and 1800.
By 'Neo-Latin printed texts' is meant: books or prints (irrespective of
length) which include texts in Latin - i.e.: a book in Swedish which
includes a laudatory poem in Latin may be included.
By 'Nordic' is meant texts written by or addressed to persons from the
Nordic countries (Denmark (including the duchies Schleswig and Holstein),
Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) plus texts which to a substantial
extent treat of Nordic matters.
By 'persons from the Nordic countries' is meant: persons who were born
in, had their education in, or lived in one of the Nordic countries.
There are no limitations as to genre, topic or the like.
The printed material from this period is extremely large, and the database
covers only selected parts of it - varying from country to country, but
generally the selections are based on existing national bibliographies (cf.
below: 'current state').
This database is meant as a tool for students of the history of literature,
science, ideas etc., and therefore, apart from basic data such as author,
title and year, it aims primarily at describing the contents of the prints
registered.
The scope of the database, therefore, is not bibliographical, in the
technical sense. Detailed transscriptions of titlepages, descriptions of
signatures etc. will not be found here. On the other hand, the descriptions
are normally based on independent examination of the books themselves, and
will often present much information not available elsewhere.
The descriptions of the texts vary greatly as to length and
elaborateness, but certain basic data, such as author, short title, and year
and place of print, will always be given. In addition to this a record
will normally provide a closer description of the contents of the print,
including: full text of the titlepage, a table of contents, a list of
secondary authors, keywords, incipits of poetry etc. The paragraph 'parts of
the text' has a special significance, as the single parts of the text may
here be given numbers to which other paragraphs may refer.
In total a record may cover the following 38 paragraphs, six of
which (marked with *) are always present. Abbreviations used for
crossreferences within the documents are given in brackets.
- * Author (AUTH).
- Name(s) of the author(s). These may be given in Latin, in the vernacular,
or both.
- Dedicatee (DEDI).
-
- * Short title (BRTI).
-
- * Place of publication (PLAC).
-
- * Year of publication (YEAR).
-
- Printer (PRIN).
-
- Work in which the text occurs (WORK).
- In more complex cases, one part of a book may be given a separate
record. In such cases this paragraph will refer to the record of
the book as a whole.
- Editor (EDTR).
-
- Translator (TRAN).
-
- Commentator (COMM).
-
- Persons involved in a disputatio (DISP).
- If the text is a dissertation, the names of the opponent(s) or
respondent(s) may be noted here.
- Life of main author(s) (LIFE).
- Years of birth and death, and nationality of the author(s). In the case
of persons who were born in one country but lived in another, more than one
country may be mentioned. Countries in brackets refer to the present-day
situation.
- Date and/or place of composition (COMP).
- If the known date of composition differs substantially from the year of
print, or if the text was written in a country not mentioned in the
paragraph LIFE, this may be stated here.
- Full text of titlepage (TITL).
- Apart from high and low case lettering, typography will not be indicated.
- Normalized titlepage (NTIT).
- A philological edition of the text of the titlepage with normalized
orthography and punctuation. Presupposes that the previous paragraph has
been filled in.
- Full text of colophon (COLO).
- Apart from high and low case lettering, typography will not be indicated.
- Pages/leaves/volumes (PAGE).
- Indiates the number of volumes, pages or leaves.
- Number of lines or books/songs in poetry (VERS).
-
- Coat(s) of arms (ARMS).
- Indication of the number of arms which are depicted, and/or list of the
persons whose arms are depicted.
- Illustrations (ILLU).
- Indicate of the number of illustrations, and/or descriptions of them.
- Parts (PART).
- Numbered list of contents. If possible, it will be indicated which is the
main part.
- Other authors (OAUT).
- If the print contains texts (e.g. laudatory poems) written by others that
the main author(s) these may be listed here, normally with reference to the
relevant number in the previous paragraph.
- Keywords (KEYW).
- Keywords describing the contents and form of the text(s). A list of
possible keywords is available.
- Language (LANG).
-
- Form (FORM).
- 'Prose' or 'poetry'.
- Metre (METR).
- The following four groups are used: 'Hexameters', 'elegiac couplets',
'lyrics' (i.e. any other metre based on quantity), and 'rythmics'.
- Incipit (first verse) of poems (INCI).
-
- Contemporary persons (CPER).
- Names of contemporary persons mentioned in the text. By 'contemporary' is
meant 'after 1500'.
- Previous persons (PPER).
- Names of persons from previous periods mentioned in the text. By
'previous' is meant 'before 1500'.
- Contemporary works (CWOR).
- Names of contemporary texts mentioned in the text. By 'contemporary' is
meant 'after 1500'.
- Previous works (PWOR).
- Names of texts from previous periods mentioned in the text. By 'previous'
is meant 'before 1500'.
- Full text (TEXT).
- The entire text or parts of it may be given here.
- Bibliographical references (BIBL).
- References to secondary literature about the text.
- Miscellaneous notes (NOTE).
- Open for comments on the text (e.g. a summary of the contents or
observations on its literary models), or on the copy used (e.g. owner's signatures or binding).
- * Date of registration (DATE).
- Date of registration and revisions, if any, plus the initials of the
responsible scholar.
- * Copy registered (COPY).
- Indication of the library and the shelf-mark of the copy or copies used for the
registration.
- Other libraries (LIBR).
- Libraries in which the book is to be found. This information usually
relies on existing bibliographies, and will therefore often reflect a
situation from the beginning of the twentieth century.
- Books of reference (REFE).
- Bibliographies and other books of reference which have been used for the
registration.
The base includes descriptions of c. 2400 Nordic
Neo-Latin prints.
The contributions of each country may be described as follows:
Denmark: All Latin texts from the period 1536-1600 (both years included)
which are registered in Lauritz Nielsen: Dansk Bibliografi I-II (Koebenhavn
1919, 1931-33). All Latin texts from the period 1601 - c. 1610 which are
included in Bibliotheca Danica I-V (Koebenhavn 1961-63), with the exception
of texts concerned with personal history (= Vol. III, 2). To this has been
added a series of Holsatian texts from the period 1536-1600 (Holstein not
being included in Nielsen's bibliography), a series of texts written by
foreigners and dedicated to Danes within the same period, and a few later
texts.
c. 950 documents.
Finland: Occasional literature from the period 1562-1713 (both years
included) which is registered in Toini Melander: Personskrifter hänförande
sig till Finland 1562-1713 (Helsingfors 1951): Orations, poetry and the like
published at the event of births,
weddings, deaths, funerals, namesdays, anniversaries, travels, academic
degrees etc.
c. 800 documents.
Iceland: Mainly texts from the 16th and the last half of the 18th century. A
large part of the material consists of Latin translations of Icelandic
medieval texts with explanations and commentaries.
c. 150 documents.
Norway: All Latin texts from the period 1519-1650 (both years included)
which are registered in Lauritz Nielsen: Dansk Bibliografi I-II (Koebenhavn
1919, 1931-33), Hjalmar Pettersen: Bibliotheca Norwegica I (1. ed.: Oslo
1889), and H. Ehrencron-Müller: Forfatterlexicon omfattende Danmark, Norge
og Island indtil 1814. I-XII (Koebenhavn 1924-35).
c. 170 documents.
Sweden: All Latin texts from the period 1523-1600 (both years included)
which are registered in Isak Collijn: Sveriges Bibliografi intill år 1600
I-III (Uppsala 1927-38). To this are added some texts of varied contents from
the 17th century and a series of political texts from the beginning of the 18th century.
c. 330 documents.
The database is under continued revision and open for new material. Registrations of single books as well
as of whole groups of books may, and will, be added from time to time.
To supply data for the database, please contact the editor: Peter Zeeberg.