Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2020
Abstract
The study presents newly found evidence of a curious formula of explicit et cetera baba stara ("et cetera old hag") encountered so far in 14 exemplars from 14th and 15th centuries, mostly from Bohemia. After surveying other examples of "nonsensical" scribal additions, as well as other expressions appearing after et cetera at the end of medieval manuscript copies, the author argues that the end of the copied text is a place for corporality and obscenity - a context in which the old hag appears throughout the Middle Ages anyway.