The medieval origin of the expression 'mother tongue': a history against the obviousness of meanings of a canonical term over the reflection on language

• Autor(a) principal: de Aquino, Jose Edicarlos
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Gragoatá
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.uff.br/gragoata/article/view/33619
• topic: Mother Tongue. Middle Ages. Latin. Vernaculars.; Língua materna. Idade Média. Latim. Vernáculos.

In this article, we make a historical study of the emergence of the expression "mother tongue" in the West, in order to question the obviousness effect formed around this canonical term over the reflection on language. We thus show that the expression mother tongue is a medieval invention, initially used in Latin in the texts of the Church, as a way of counter this language with the emerging vernaculars. Arguing that this expression is not purely and simply explained by the womanly feature, but that it corresponds primarily to certain sociopolitical configurations in history, we show that the earliest records of the expression mother tongue point to peculiar problems of medieval society and to the linguistic issues involved.