David W. Porter

Anglo-Saxon colloquies: Ælfric, Ælfric bata and de raris fabulis retractata

The Latin colloquies De Raris Fabulis Retractata were a major source for the colloquies of the Anglo-Saxon monk lfric Bata. From the Retractata Bata adopted situational settings and verbatim locutions, though he treated his source very freely, making many omissions and many rearrangements. There is some possibility that Retractata is Batas own revision of the colloquies De Raris Fabulis. No evidence proves lfrics use of earlier colloquies in composing his own conversational text. On the basis of the close connection of Bata to Retractata and to the other writings in the same manuscript (Oxford, St Johns College 154), the paper argues that the manuscript represents a collection of school texts assembled by lfric Bata.

Isidore's Etymologiae at the school of Canterbury

Abstract This article demonstrates that some 180 of the 2,400 text glosses in the ‘Leiden Glossary’ derive from an epitome of the Etymologiae. A reconstruction of this lost source shows that it consisted of abbreviated entries from all twenty of Isidores books, with selected books heavily glossed in Old English. Mirroring the encyclopedic scope of the Etymologiae, this seventh-century epitome was extensively excerpted by glossary-compilers and gave thousands of English words their first written form.

The Anglo-Latin elegy of Herbert and Wulfgar

Abstract A poem by a French monk named Herbert petitions Wulfgar Abbot of Abingdon for a gift of warm clothing. The poem, a mock epic employing alliteration and hermeneutic vocabulary, presents the seasons as warring deities. Using similar technique in the final eight lines of the poem, Wulfgar denies Herbert with a humourous response. This article contains an edition, translation, and analysis of the poem, along with brief biographies of the two authors. Another work by Herbert, a prosimetric letter requesting an allowance of fish, is edited and translated in an appendix.

An Unrecorded Old English Compound

The recovery of the Old English lexicon presents a number of methodological problems in distinguishing authentic from spurious forms. The Dictionary of Old English follows a commonsense policy of basing its corpus on edited texts only, so that informed editorial judgment mediates the raw manuscript data. That policy aims to eliminate mistaken readings—those that are mere scribal slips—but, human fallibility being what it is, the inevitable cost is that editors will introduce their own errors. A case in point from the Antwerp-London glossaries: the following entry, transmitted via various editions (Wright and Wülcker 147.40; Kindschi 140.17), has found its way into the dictionaries (e.g., Bosworth and Toller, s.v. scearp).

Ælfric'sColloquy and Ælfric bata

Comparing the three version of ÆlfricsColloquy, the essay argues that Ælfrics student Ælfric Bata made editorial additions to each version. These interpolations are presented in detail, and probable teaching aims behind the changes are explored. Batas possible authorship of the continuous gloss to theColloquy is also suggested. Textual evidence from relevant manuscripts allows a comprehensive description of Batas editorial and authorial activities, and furthermore establishes his close connection with MS. Oxford, St Johns College 154, a connection which may indicate Batas involvement in the publishing of Ælfrics influential pedagogical works.