WRITING AUTHORITY IN LATE MEDIEVAL ... - Cornell University

tongues or to prophesy; for greater is he that prophesies than he who speaks with tongue lest
perhaps it is interpreted so that it is taken for the edification by the Church.’ 429
Both Paul and the Dominus propose to order the multiplicity of language outside its
communicative qualities through what the pedagogic strength of a voice, “speche ys noзt yknowe
bote зif hyt be lurned.” In Paul’s case, this is a prophetic voice that teaches to the gentiles by
witnessing to a united community of Christians:
in lege scriptum est quoniam in aliis linguis et labiis aliis loquar populo huic et nec sic exaudient
me dicit Dominus. itaque linguae in signum sunt non fidelibus sed infidelibus prophetia autem non
infidelibus sed fidelibus. si ergo conveniat universa ecclesia in unum et omnes linguis loquantur
intrent autem idiotae aut infideles nonne dicent quod insanitis si autem omnes prophetent intret
autem quis infidelis vel idiota convincitur ab omnibus diiudicatur ab omnibus.
In the law it is written, I will speak to these people in other tongues and other lips, and for such
they will not hear me, said the Lord. And therefore, tongues are not a sign to the faithful but to the
unfaithful. Prophecy, however, is not to the unfaithful but to the faithful. If therefore the whole
church agrees/convenes in one, and all speak with tongues, however, would the idiots/the
deaf/unlearned or the infidels entering not say that you go mad? But if all prophesy, and there
enters anyone of the infidels or an idiot/deaf/unlearned he is judged by all [My emphasis]. 430
In the Dominus’s case, translation is “nedeful” because learning requires a voicing and preaching
for the community of “Englyschmen”:
Also þe gospel and prophecy and þe ryзt fey of holy churche mot be tauзt and ypreched to
Englyschmen þat conneþ no Latyn. Þanne þe gospel and prophecy and þe ryзt fey of holy cherche
mot be told ham an Englysch, and þat ys noзt ydo bote by Englysche translacion. Vor such
Englysch prechyng ys verrey Englysch translacion, and such Englysch prechyng ys good and
nedeful; þanne Englysche translacion ys good and nedefol [My emphasis]. 431
Paul thinks of prophetic speech as a sufficient witness of God’s power because the “idiotae”, the
‘dumb’ can be judged immediately by the unified power of the voice of the Church. Dominus
argues the same for translation saying that “Englyschmen” can only learn “þe gospel and
prophecy and þe ryзt fey of holy churche” in the language that is closest to them, English. This is
why Dominus argues that the teaching of the faith in the vernacular “ys verrey Englysch
translacion”—that there is no difference between linguistic change and linguistic pedagogy.
429 1 Corinthians 14:5.
430 1 Corinthians 14: 21-24.
431 Qtd. in Waldron, “Trevisa’s Original” 292-293.
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