VERBA VOLANT, SCRIPTA MANENT

Abstract

The relationship between spoken and written word has been the focus of much research since ancient times. This is attested by the above Latin proverb (Words fly, writings remain), whose interpretations seem to emphasize the unreliability of the spoken work and the reliability of the written word. The author of this paper challenges this simplified interpretation of the Latin proverb, and uses an example to illustrate that it is the spoken word which ‘flies’ and thus enables dialogue.