A medieval minute

How does one share knowledge and love of the medieval with the world in just 60 seconds? For English professor Emily Steiner, the answer was to put on a performance in front of Benjamin Franklin and College Hall, featuring some of her favorite Middle English words. 

The idea for the performance was a response to the challenge to give a “60-Second Lecture,” an event series sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences. On Wednesdays at noon in the spring and fall, invited faculty speak for a minute about their research. At select events, like graduation and Homecoming, alumni and students also present. In the 15-year history of the series, Steiner’s was the first truly dramatic performance.

“I had to find a way to get people back into the Middle Ages very quickly,” she says. “What I actually had to do was make the Middle Ages come to them and pop into the present.” And the best way to “pop,” she decided, was to put on a play. “I was going to have to call upon the great medieval tradition of outdoor drama if I was going to be able to do this effectively,” says Steiner, who also teaches a course on medieval drama.

Steiner’s lecture, she decided, would teach a few obsolete words that were popular 600 years ago. But choosing those words, she knew, would present a challenge. So she opened the debate to the public through Twitter, where her account @PiersatPenn has 14,000 followers and she often posts using the hashtag #medievaltwitter.

“I was determined to use this word popenjay,” Steiner says, which is what brought a stuffed parrot out of her basement and to the scene as a prop. Used frequently until about 150 years ago, the word can mean parrot, but is often used in Middle English to describe someone who is proud and conceited, a trait assigned to their candidate Pernel Puddingheart. It comes from the Arabic word for parrot, babagha, via Spanish. “I felt like it had this rich linguistic history.”

Read more at Omnia.