'Hyperboreo sono': An Exploration of Erudition in Early Modern Germanic Philology

Abstract

This essay aims to contribute to the reflection on practices for studying early modern erudition. Arguing that poetic thinking and sensitive engagement were intrinsic to the erudition of the learned Commonwealth, it explores how to read Septentrional philology as a lively practice impacted by the generative force of visualization. ‘Hyperborean’ sounds in an epigram by Joseph Justus Scaliger show erudite play in performance when considered conjointly with the ‘Getic’ poetry of Ovid, and rhyme in Bonaventura Vulcanius’s Literis getarum. Ole Worm and Francis Junius’s readings of runes as vivid scenes demonstrate the work of the ‘imagination’ (Phantasia), the process of visualization aimed for refined judgement theorized in Junius’s Pictura veterum. Their Rune Poem interpretations illustrate how visualization was tacit throughout their scholarship. Lastly, observations by Gerald Langbaine, Abraham Wheelocke, Melchior Goldast, Martin Opitz, and Junius (on Gothic) exemplify how each read for perspicuity – and how we may overlook these endeavors.