Aureation
Encyclopedia
Aureation is a device in arts of rhetoric
that involves the "gilding
" (or supposed heightening) of diction
in one language by the introduction of terms from another, typically a classical language
considered to be more prestigious. It can be seen as analogous to gothic
schools of ornamentation in carving, painting or ceremonial armoury. In terms of prosody
it stands in direct contrast to plain language
and its use is sometimes regarded, by current standards of literary taste, as overblown and exaggerated. But aureated expression does not necessarily mean loss of precision or authenticity in poetry when handled by good practitioners. In the British Isles
, aureation has often been most associated with Scottish
renaissance makar
s, especially William Dunbar
or Gavin Douglas
, who commonly drew on the rhetoric and diction of classical antiquity
in their work.
In the context of language development, aureation can be seen as an extension of processes in which vernacular languages historically are expanded through loan words. In Europe this usually meant borrowings from Latin and Greek
. The medieval and renaissance periods were a fertile time for such borrowings and in Germanic languages, such as English
and Scots
, Greek and Latinate coinages were particularly highlighted (see classical compound
s especially), though this has sometimes been decried as pretentious, these coinages being criticized as inkhorn term
s. After Europe's colonial era widened the orbits of cultural contact, aureation could in theory draw on other ancient languages such as Sanskrit
.
While many classically derived loan words become useful new terms in the host language, some more mannered or polysyllabic aureations may tend to remain experimental and decorative curiosities. Words such as conservartix, pawsacioun, or vinarye envermaildy are examples in Scots.
Aureation commonly involves other mannered rhetorical features in diction; for example circumlocution
, which bears a relation to more native literary devices such as the kenning
.
(William Dunbar
, The Goldyn Targe, lines 4-5)
Matutyne, depurit and cristallyne are aureate words. Aureate diction occurs in the noun phrase
golden candle matutine, a circumlocution
which stands for sun
. The couplet can thus be translated as: up rose the sun with clear pure crystal light.
Dunbar himself uses the term later in the same poem in a passage that employs the limits to expression topos
. It occurs as part of a dream vision
in which the makar is describing the army of goddess
es he has witnessed alighting upon the earth:
(The Goldyn Targe
, lines 64-72)
I would (attempt to) describe (the scene), but who could satisfactorily frame in verse the way in which all the fields were radiantly adorned by those white lilies (the landing army) that shone upwards into the sky? Not you, Homer, sublime as you were in writing, for all your faultlessly ornate diction; nor you, Cicero, whose sweet lips were so consistently lucid in rhetoric: your aureate tongues both (the Greek and the Roman) were not adequate to describe that vision in full.
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
that involves the "gilding
Gilding
The term gilding covers a number of decorative techniques for applying fine gold leaf or powder to solid surfaces such as wood, stone, or metal to give a thin coating of gold. A gilded object is described as "gilt"...
" (or supposed heightening) of diction
Diction
Diction , in its original, primary meaning, refers to the writer's or the speaker's distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression in a poem or story...
in one language by the introduction of terms from another, typically a classical language
Classical language
A classical language is a language with a literature that is classical. According to UC Berkeley linguist George L. Hart, it should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own, not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich...
considered to be more prestigious. It can be seen as analogous to gothic
Gothic art
Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...
schools of ornamentation in carving, painting or ceremonial armoury. In terms of prosody
Prosody (linguistics)
In linguistics, prosody is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance ; the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of...
it stands in direct contrast to plain language
Plain language
Plain language is clear, succinct writing designed to ensure the reader understands as quickly and completely as possible.Plain language strives to be easy to read, understand, and use. It avoids verbose, convoluted language and jargon...
and its use is sometimes regarded, by current standards of literary taste, as overblown and exaggerated. But aureated expression does not necessarily mean loss of precision or authenticity in poetry when handled by good practitioners. In the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
, aureation has often been most associated with Scottish
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...
renaissance makar
Makar
A makar is a term from Scottish literature for a poet or bard, often thought of as royal court poet, although the term can be more generally applied. The word functions in a manner similar to the Greek term which means both maker and poet...
s, especially William Dunbar
William Dunbar
William Dunbar was a Scottish poet. He was probably a native of East Lothian, as assumed from a satirical reference in the Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie , where, too, it is hinted that he was a member of the noble house of Dunbar....
or Gavin Douglas
Gavin Douglas
Gavin Douglas was a Scottish bishop, makar and translator. Although he had an important political career, it is for his poetry that he is now chiefly remembered. His principal pioneering achievement was the Eneados, a full and faithful vernacular translation of the Aeneid of Virgil and the first...
, who commonly drew on the rhetoric and diction of classical antiquity
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
in their work.
In the context of language development, aureation can be seen as an extension of processes in which vernacular languages historically are expanded through loan words. In Europe this usually meant borrowings from Latin and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
. The medieval and renaissance periods were a fertile time for such borrowings and in Germanic languages, such as English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Scots
Scots language
Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
, Greek and Latinate coinages were particularly highlighted (see classical compound
Classical compound
Classical compounds are compound words composed from Latin or Ancient Greek root words. A large portion of the technical and scientific lexicon of English and other Western European languages consists of classical compounds. For example, bio- combines with -graphy to form biography...
s especially), though this has sometimes been decried as pretentious, these coinages being criticized as inkhorn term
Inkhorn term
An inkhorn term is any foreign borrowing into English deemed to be unnecessary or overly pretentious.- Etymology :...
s. After Europe's colonial era widened the orbits of cultural contact, aureation could in theory draw on other ancient languages such as Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
.
While many classically derived loan words become useful new terms in the host language, some more mannered or polysyllabic aureations may tend to remain experimental and decorative curiosities. Words such as conservartix, pawsacioun, or vinarye envermaildy are examples in Scots.
Aureation commonly involves other mannered rhetorical features in diction; for example circumlocution
Circumlocution
Circumlocution is an ambiguous or roundabout figure of speech...
, which bears a relation to more native literary devices such as the kenning
Kenning
A kenning is a type of literary trope, specifically circumlocution, in the form of a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse and later Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon poetry...
.
Example
An example of considered diction with an aureate inflection occurs in the Scots couplet- Up sprang the goldyn candill matutyne,
- With clere depurit bemes cristallyne
(William Dunbar
William Dunbar
William Dunbar was a Scottish poet. He was probably a native of East Lothian, as assumed from a satirical reference in the Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie , where, too, it is hinted that he was a member of the noble house of Dunbar....
, The Goldyn Targe, lines 4-5)
Matutyne, depurit and cristallyne are aureate words. Aureate diction occurs in the noun phrase
Noun phrase
In grammar, a noun phrase, nominal phrase, or nominal group is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like word optionally accompanied by modifiers such as adjectives....
golden candle matutine, a circumlocution
Circumlocution
Circumlocution is an ambiguous or roundabout figure of speech...
which stands for sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
. The couplet can thus be translated as: up rose the sun with clear pure crystal light.
Dunbar himself uses the term later in the same poem in a passage that employs the limits to expression topos
Topos
In mathematics, a topos is a type of category that behaves like the category of sheaves of sets on a topological space...
. It occurs as part of a dream vision
Dream vision
A dream vision is a literary device in which a dream is recounted for a specific purpose. While dreams occur frequently throughout the history of literature, the dream vision emerged as a poetic genre in its own right, and was particularly popular in the Middle Ages. This genre typically follows a...
in which the makar is describing the army of goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
es he has witnessed alighting upon the earth:
- Discrive I wald, but quho coud wele endyteComposition (language)The term composition , in written language, refers to the collective body of important features established by the author in their creation of literature...
- Hou all the feldís wyth thai lilies quhiteWhiteWhite is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...
- Depaynt war bricht, quhilk to the heven did gleteLightLight or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light has wavelength in a range from about 380 nanometres to about 740 nm, with a frequency range of about 405 THz to 790 THz...
? - Noucht thou, OmerHomerIn the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
, als fair as thou could wryte, - For all thine ornate stilísLiberal artsThe term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
so perfyte; - Nor yit thou TulliusCiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
, quhois lippísLipLips are a visible body part at the mouth of humans and many animals. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech...
suete - Off rhetorikeRhetoricRhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
did in to termés fleteBuoyancyIn physics, buoyancy is a force exerted by a fluid that opposes an object's weight. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus a column of fluid, or an object submerged in the fluid, experiences greater pressure at the bottom of the...
: - Your aureate tongís both bene all to lyte
- For to compile that paradise complete.
(The Goldyn Targe
Shield
A shield is a type of personal armor, meant to intercept attacks, either by stopping projectiles such as arrows or redirecting a hit from a sword, mace or battle axe to the side of the shield-bearer....
, lines 64-72)
I would (attempt to) describe (the scene), but who could satisfactorily frame in verse the way in which all the fields were radiantly adorned by those white lilies (the landing army) that shone upwards into the sky? Not you, Homer, sublime as you were in writing, for all your faultlessly ornate diction; nor you, Cicero, whose sweet lips were so consistently lucid in rhetoric: your aureate tongues both (the Greek and the Roman) were not adequate to describe that vision in full.