The article is concerned with the semantic prehistory of vulgarity in the Middle Ages. Starting (and differen­tiating) from obscenity, to which has been devoted a well-estab­lished discourse in the Middle Ages, some examples from literature and material culture are presented (priapean tales, miseri­cordia and secular pilgrim badges), defining the obscene as a medieval perfor­mative precursor of the vulgar. The article shows more specifically how semantic proto­forms of vulgarity can be recognized in theo­logical discourse in the terms scurrilitas and turpi­loquium which were used to define ‚sins of the tongue‘ attributed to ioculatores and other secular speakers. The last part of the article indicates that the German comic romance Der Ring, written by Heinrich Witten­wiler in 1410, can be considered an early source for vulgarity in character speech and action as well as in the narrator’s voice. It illustrates the morally improper speech and behaviour of the many, becoming an occasion for laughter.

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Velten, Hans Rudolf (2024): „Performative Protoformen des Vulgären: Turpiloquium und currilitas im Mittelalter bis zu Heinrich Wittenwilers Der Ring (1410)“, in: Joseph Imorde, Michael Multhammer und Hans Rudolf Velten (Hg.): Das Populäre der Anderen – Vulgarität im Ausgang der Vormoderne. Paderborn (Poesis, 10), S. 11–32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.30965/9783846769096_003.