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Winchester and the standardization of Old English vocabulary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Walter Hofstetter
Walter Hofstetter
Affiliation:
The University of Munich
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Extract

Over a century ago Eduard Dietrich noted that Æfric, pupil of Bishop Æthelwold and educated at Winchester, consistently used certain words (e.g. ælfremed, (ge)gearcian, (ge)fredan) in preference to synonyms (e.g. fremde, (ge)gearwian, (ge)felan) commonly found in other writers. The small number of words given by Dietrich as characteristic of Æfric's usage has been increased as a result of some lexical studies of more recent date. Karl Jost, for example, notes, among several other peculiarities of his vocabulary, Æfric's exclusive use of behreowsian and behreowsung instead of their synonyms hreowsian and hreowsung. Hans Schabram's study of the Old English terminology for superbia shows that Ælfric's language displays a remarkable uniformity in the almost exclusive choice of modig and its derivatives. One of the results of Elmar Seebold's work on the Old English equivalents for sapiens and prudens is to show that Ælfric always employed snotor and snotornes to express the concepts ‘prudens’ and ‘prudentia’. Furthermore, in his study of the Old English vocabulary for corona, Josef Kirschner argues that Ælfric's almost exclusive use of wuldorbeag for corona in a figurative-religious sense (e.g. ‘corona vitae aeternae’, ‘corona martyrii’) suggests a deliberate attempt to standardize vocabulary.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anglo-Saxon England , Volume 17 , December 1988 , pp. 139 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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References

1 The enclosure of ge- within round brackets indicates that a given word occurs both with and without this prefix.

2 Dietrich, E., ‘Abt Aelfrik. Zur Literatur-Geschichte der angelsächsischen Kirche’, Zeitschrift für historische Theologie 25 (1855), 487–594 (1) and 26 (1856), 163–256 (11); the reference to Ælfric's usage is at 1, 544–5, n. 140.Google Scholar

3 Jost, K., Wulfstanstudien, Schweizer Anglistische Arbeiten 23 (Bern, 1950), 176.Google ScholarFor Ælfric's consistent use of behreowsian and behreowsung, see also Hallander, L. G., Old English Verbs in ‘ -sian’: a Semantic and Derivational Study, Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis, Stockholm Stud. in Eng. 15 (Stockholm, 1966), 372. For the use of Dietrich's and Jost's findings as evidence of Ælfric's authorship,Google Scholarsee Homilies of Ælfric: a Supplementary Collection, ed. Pope, J. C., 2 vols., EETS 259–60 (London, 1967–1968), 99–103; Pope here adds a few peculiarities of Ælfric's usage which have emerged from his own study of the texts.Google Scholar

4 Schabram, H., Superbia: Studien zum altenglischen Wortschatz, 1: Die dialektale und zeitliche Verbreitung des Wortguts (Munich, 1965), pp. 92–3, andGoogle Scholar‘Das altenglische superbia-Wortgut: eine Nachlese’, Festschrift Prof. Herbert Koziol zum siebzigsten Geburtstag, ed. Bauer, G. et al. , Wiener Beiträge zur Englischen Philologie 75 (Vienna, 1973), 272–9, at 276.Google Scholar

5 Seebold, E., ‘Die ae. Entsprechungen von lat. sapiens und prudens: eine Untersuchung über die mundartliche Gliederung der ae. Literatur’, Anglia 92 (1974), 291–333, at 311–13.Google Scholar

6 Kirschner, J., Die Bezeichnungen für Kranz und Krone im Altenglischen (Munich, 1975); for Ælfric, see esp. the summary of Kirschner's survey of Æfric's corona vocabulary at pp. 215–16.Google Scholar

7 Eble, C. C., ‘Noun Inflection in Royal 7 C. xii, Ælfric's First Series of Catholic Homilies’ (unpubl. Ph.D dissertation, Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1970).Google Scholar

8 Cf. ibid. p. 2.

9 Ibid. p. 86. For Ælfric's efforts to regularize his language, see also Sisam, K., Studies in the History of Old English Literature (Oxford, 1953), pp. 183–5, andGoogle ScholarClemoes, P., Ælfric's First Series of Catholic Homilies: BM Royal 7 C. xii, ed. Eliason, N. and Clemoes, P., EEMF 13 (Copenhagen, 1966), 33.Google Scholar

10 For certain changes which Ælfric's vocabulary underwent in the course of his literary career, see Godden, M. R., ‘Ælfric's Changing Vocabulary’, ES 61 (1980), 206–23.Google Scholar

11 Der Lambeth-Psalter, ed. Lindelöf, U., Acta Societatis Scientiarum Fennicae 35, no. 1, and 43, no. 3 (Helsingfors, 1909–1914) 11, 41–3 and 55–6.Google Scholar

12 The Salisbury Psalter, ed. C. and Sisam, K., EETS 242 (London, 1959), 74.Google Scholar

13 Gneuss, H., Hymnar und Hymnen im englischen Mittelalter, Buchreihe der Anglia 12 (Tübingen, 1968), 186–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14 Ælfrics Grammatik und Glossar, ed. Zupitza, J., 2nd edn. with contr. by H. Gneuss (Berlin, 1966), p. 1.Google Scholar

15 Hymnar und Hymnen, pp. 187–8.

16 Bischof Wæferths von Worcester Übersetzung der Dialoge Gregors des Grossen, ed. Hecht, H., Bibliothek der angelsächsischen Prosa 5 (Leipzig and Hamburg, 1900–1907) 11, 131.Google Scholar

17 ‘The Origin of Standard Old English and Æthelwold's School at Winchester’, ASE 1 (1972), 63–83, at 75–83.Google Scholar

18 Ibid. pp. 76–7.

19 Ibid. pp. 78–81.

20 For a discussion of Æthelwold's authorship and the date of the translation, see Gretsch, M., Die Regula Sancti Benedicti in England und ihre altenglische Übersetzung, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Englischen Philologie 2 (Munich, 1973), 9–11.Google Scholar

21 Gneuss, ‘The Origin of Standard Old English’, p. 79.

22 For inconsistency in revisions of Old English texts, see Schabram, Superbia, pp. 44 and 47–8, and Gneuss, ibid. p. 66, n. 2.

23 Seebold, ‘Die ae. Entsprechungen von lat. sapiens und prudens’, pp. 323–30. The four groups are: ‘Benediktiner-Gruppe’, ‘Gruppe Alfred und Wulfstan’, ‘Gruppe der Bibelübersetzungen’ and ‘Orosius’.

24 Ibid. pp. 324 and 327.

25 Ibid. pp. 324 (n. 64) and 331. The ‘Benediktiner-Gruppe’ favours modig and snotor with their derivatives within the semantic fields ‘superbia’ and ‘prudentia’ respectively.

26 ‘The Origin of Standard Old English’, pp. 76 and 78.

27 ‘Die ae. Entsprechungen von lat. sapiens und prudens’, pp. 330–1. Seebold argues that in the ‘Benediktiner-Gruppe’ a particular South English subdialect was used to a large extent and perhaps even raised to the status of a written standard.

28 Sh. Ono, ‘Undergytan as a “Winchester” word’, Linguistics across Historical and Geographical Boundaries: in Honour of Jacek Fisiak on the Occasion of His Fiftieth Birthday, ed. Kastovsky, D. and Szwedek, A., Trends in Ling., Stud. and Monographs 32, 2 vols. (Berlin, 1986) 1, 569–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

29 For a doubtful case, see ibid, 1, 571 and 574.

30 Ibid., 1, 572.

31 Ibid, 1, 572–3.

32 Hofstetter, W., Winchester und der spätaltenglische Sprachgebrauch: Untersuchungen zur geographischen und zeitlichen Verbreitung altenglischer Synonyme, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Englischen Philologie 14 (Munich, 1987).Google Scholar

33 ‘The Origin of Standard Old English’, p. 76. Cf. also Bately, J. M., ‘The Compilation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 60 B.C. to A.D. 890: Vocabulary as Evidence’, PBA 64 (1980 for 1978), 93–129, at 95: ‘In the majority of cases the presence of a certain word in a given text is of potential significance only if it can be shown to have been used at the expense of another word, or to be restricted to one of several possible contexts or groups of contexts.’Google Scholar

34 Æfric's Catholic Homilies: the Second Series, ed. Godden, M., EETS ss 5 (London, 1979), no. XXXVII, line 47.Google Scholar

35 The Gospel according to Saint Luke in Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian Versions, ed. Skeat, W. W. (Cambridge, 1874), p. 200 (XXI. II).Google Scholar

36 Ibid. p. 201 (XXI. II).

37 ‘Studies in the Prosaic Vocabulary of Old English Verse’, NM 72 (1971), 385–418, at 397.Google Scholar

38 Ibid. p. 392.

39 Cf. Hallander, Old English Verbs in ‘-sian’, pp. 155–6.

40 See the discussion of texts I.1–13, below, pp. 157–9.

41 For another interesting example, see the discussion of ÆIfric's use of cyðere and martir in Godden, ‘Ælfric's Changing Vocabulary’, pp. 208–9, and Hofstetter, Winchester, pp. 41–4; in my terminology cyðere is an ‘A word’, martir a ‘B word’.

42 For a study of the Old English vocabulary for this concept, based on a representative selection of texts, see Käsmann, H., ‘“Tugend” und “Laster” im Alt- und Mittelenglischen: eine bezeichnungsgeschichtliche Untersuchung’ (unpubl. Ph.D dissertation, Freie Universität Berlin, 1951).Google Scholar

43 The members of this group are distinguished from those of group 7 by the superscript letter ‘a’.

44 For words expressing the concept ‘virtue’ in the religious or moral sense, see group 6.

45 Käsmann (‘“Tugend” und “Laster”’) has studied the Old English equivalents for the Latin virtue in the semantic area of this group on the basis of a selection of texts. For the meanings listed below, cf. Käsmann, ‘“Tugend” und “Laster”’, pp. 3–4.

46 The members of this group are distinguished from those of group 6 by the superscript letter ‘b’.

47 For ege and egesa (and their compounds), cf. Hallander, Old English Verbs in ‘-sian’, pp. 143–57. Most of the compounds listed in section C are attested only in the poetry.

48 Compounds with -broga as their second element: brynebroga, gryrebroga, hellebroga, hellewitebroga, herebroga, sæbroga, sperebroga, wæterbroga, witebroga, wiðerbroga.

49 Compounds with -egesa as their second element: bælegesa, blodegesa, flodegesa, folcegesa, gledegesa, hildegesa, liegegesa, mægðegesa(?), nihtegesa, ðeodegesa, wæteregesa.

50 Compounds with gryre- as their first element: gryrebroga, gryregeatwe, gryregiest, gryrehwil, gryreleoð, gryremiht, gryresið.

51 Compounds with -gryre as their second element: færgryre, heortgryre, hinsiðgryre(?), leodgryre, lustgryre(?), wægryre, westengryre, wiggryre.

52 This deverbal adjective has also been included in group 10.

53 For a detailed semantic and syntactic investigation of the vocabulary of this group, see Hallander, Old English Verbs in ‘-sian’, pp. 352–84. For my study I have collected the evidence directly from the Old English texts, adding to Hallander's material mainly by registering occurrences of the words in question in texts that have meanwhile become available in editions.

54 Behreowsing is attested only in a manuscript dating from the twelfth century.

55 Construction (ββ) in Hallander, Old English Verbs in ‘-sian’ (p. 366).

56 For possible constructions, see ibid pp. 365–6.

57 Schabram has made a comprehensive analysis of the Old English vocabulary for ‘pride’ (see above, n. 4). For my study I have again collected the evidence directly from the texts, adding to Schabram's material by instances of ‘pride’ words in sources that have been made accessible in editions in the meantime.

58 Used both as noun and as adjective.

59 Kirschner has completed a comprehensive study of the Old English corona vocabulary (see above, n. 6). I have again collected the material from the Old English texts, increasing Kirschner's evidence by instances of the words in texts which have become available in editions since he carried out his survey.

60 A semantic differentiation of this kind would be irrelevant for the other members of the group.

61 For details, see Kirschner, Kranz und Krone, pp. 91–7 and 122. In Kirschner's semantic scheme (p. 122), this figurative-religious sense of ‘crown’ is referred to as ‘bildlich’.

62 Cynehelma and (ge)cynehelmiana are used in senses referred to as ‘eigentlich’ and ‘abstrakt’ in Kirschner's semantic scheme (Ibid.).

63 Texts using only ‘B words’ have been disregarded.

64 For the definition of the term ‘Winchester usage’, see above, p. 144.

65 ‘B words’ are not regarded as criteria in the above-mentioned arrangement of texts.

66 Cf. above, n. 22.

67 The Stowe Psalter is an extensively modernized gloss of the textual type of the Regius Psalter; for the remarkable increase in the proportion of ‘A words’, cf. below, text II. 20.

68 The Vitellius Psalter is a partly modernized gloss based on the textual type of the Regius Psalter except for pss. I-XVII. 35 and the later additions, which depend on the type of the Vespasian Psalter. The Vitellius Psalter has been included in this group because comparison with the Vespasian Psalter (cf. below, text II. 5) and the Regius Psalter (cf. below, text II. 20) shows an increase in the proportion of ‘A words’ which, in my view, can be convincingly explained only by the assumption that these ‘A words’ represent a dominant feature in the usage of the reviser(s) (cf. above, pp. 151–2, modification (b)).

69 The Arundel Psalter is a partly modernized gloss which depends on the textual type of the Vespasian Psalter for (approximately) pss. I-LI and LXIII-LXXV and on the type of the Regius Psalter for the rest. Although the proportion of ‘A words’ amounts to only a little over ten per cent (cf above, p. 151, condition (3)), I have included the Arundel Psalter in this group because, as in the case of the Stowe Psalter (I.4) and the Vitellius Psalter (I.5), comparison with the Vespasian Psalter (cf. below, text II.5) and the Regius Psalter (cf. below, text II. 20) shows an increase in the proportion of ‘A words’ which, in my opinion, presupposes that the language of the reviser(s) was strongly marked by the Winchester usage (cf. above, pp. 151–2, modification (b)).

70 The Lambeth Psalter is a late Old English compilation with numerous double and multiple glosses drawn from various sources.

71 The modification of condition (1) (cf. above, pp. 151–2) is applicable to this text.

72 The glosses to three metrical hymns in BL Cotton Julius A. vi and to some metrical hymns and stanzas in BL Cotton Vespasian D. xii are closely related to those of the Durham Hymnal; they are either derived from the same source as these or copied from them.

73 Item XLII in Wulfstan: Sammlung der ihm zugeschriebenen Homilien, ed. A. Napier (Berlin, 1883; repr. with a bibliographical supplement by K. Ostheeren, Dublin, 1967).Google Scholar

74 This is the Mercian gloss to Matthew, Mark I–II. 15 and John XVIII. 1–3 in Oxford, Bodleian Library, Auct. D. 2. 19 (‘Rushworth1’).

75 The texts listed under the Cameron reference numbers B.2.6.1–5 (‘Works attributed to Wulfstan’) do not contain any relevant material, with the exception of B.2.6.3 Gerefa, which has been treated separately. In assembling the evidence for the works of Wulfstan, I have treated as separate texts those of his homilies which represent extensions or revisions of earlier versions or which contain parts of earlier works, i.e. relevant words in parallel passages have been counted as separate occurrences. This also applies to the two versions of the Institutes of Polity and the laws written by Wulfstan.

76 Genesis IV–V 31, X, XI and XXIV. 15 to the end; Exodus; Leviticus; Numbers I–XII, a few words in XIII.4 and XIII.5–17; Deuteronomy; Joshua 1.1–10 and XII (Clemoes, P., The Old English Illustrated Hexateuch, ed. Dodwell, C. R. and Clemoes, P., EEMF 18 (Copenhagen, 1974), 48, andGoogle ScholarSmith, A.B., The Anonymous Parts of the Old English Hexateuch: a Latin–Old English/Old English–Latin Glossary (Cambridge, 1985), p. x, n. 11).Google Scholar

77 This is one of the entries on two preliminary quires of Oxford, Bodleian Library, Auct. D. 2. 16 made at Exeter in the second half of the eleventh century (Ker, N.R., Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford, 1957), no. 291).Google Scholar

78 The Salisbury Psalter is a late Old English gloss based on the type of the Regius Psalter.

79 For examples, see texts 11.1–9.

80 For details concerning this use of miht in Northumbrian texts, see Hofstetter, Winchester, texts 233, 238 and 264.

81 For the question of the authorship of the Old English prose psalms in the Paris Psalter, which are very probably attributable to King Alfred, see Bately, J. M., ‘Lexical Evidence for the Authorship of the Prose Psalms in the Paris Psalter’, ASE 10 (1982), 69–95, and Hofstetter, Winchester, text 119.Google Scholar

82 Some of the divergences in question, it is true, may be due also to differences of subdialect: according to Seebold's results, we have to assume that the works of King Alfred, the Old English Orosius and the group of texts representing the Winchester usage (essentially Seebold's ‘Benediktiner-Gruppe’) belong to three different subdialects (see esp. Seebold, ‘Die ae. Entsprechungen von lat. sapiens und prudens’, pp. 323–33).

83 Sawyer, P. H., Anglo-Saxon Charters: an Annotated List and Bibliography, R. Hist. Soc. Guides and Handbooks 8 (London, 1968), no. 1188.Google Scholar

84 See Hofstetter, Winchester, text 179.

85 For evidence of the possibility that certain differences in vocabulary usage between Ælfric and Wulfstan are due to differences of subdialect, see Seebold, ‘Die ae. Entsprechungen von lat. sapiens und prudens’, pp. 323–33, esp. 324, 327–8 and 331–3.

86 The first indications of the Winchester usage are to be found in the Regius Psalter (II.20), which was written about the middle of the tenth century, perhaps at Winchester. This gloss provides the earliest occurrences of the Winchester words ælfremed, æfremedung, tobrytan, tocwysan and gewuldorbeagian (for details, see Hofstetter, Winchester, text 226).

87 Snotor ‘prudent’ (cf. above, p. 142 and n. 25) and understand, perceive’ (cf. above, pp. 142–3) may also be regarded as characteristic elements of this new usage. For the question of how extensive the vocabulary typical of this usage was, see Gneuss, ‘The Origin of Standard Old English’, pp. 76 and 80; cf. also Hofstetter, Winchester, pp. 6–7.

88 See ibid. text 2 and the references there cited.

89 For details, see ibid. texts 4–6.

90 For a detailed account of the points of agreement between the Lambeth Psalter, the Stowe Psalter and the Vitellius Psalter, see ibid. texts 4 and 7.

91 Bishop, T. A. M. (English Caroline Minuscule (Oxford, 1971), p. xv, n. 2) has identified the hand which wrote CCCC 201, pp. 170–6, as that of a New Minster scribe; for the date of this hand, see Ker, Catalogue, p. 90 (Part B, hand (3)).Google Scholar

92 Hill, J., ‘Ælfric's “Silent Days”’, Sources and Relations: Studies in Honour of J. E. Cross, ed. Collins, M., Price, J. and Hamer, A., Leeds Stud. in Eng. ns 16 (Leeds, 1985), 118–31, esp. 123–5.Google Scholar

93 Ibid. p. 125.

94 M. Förster, ‘Lokalisierung und Datierung der altenglischen Version der Chrodegang-Regel’, Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. Abteilung, Jahrgang 1933, Schlussheft, pp. 7–8, and Ker, Catalogue, p. 74. Like Æthelwold's translation of the Benedictine Rule, the Old English Rule of Chrodegang combines a large proportion of Winchester words with vocabulary pointing back to an earlier usage.

95 Gneuss, Hymnar und Hymnen, p. 445.

96 For details concerning the glosses to the Expositio hymnorum, the Durham Hymnal and the monastic canticles, see Hofstetter, Winchester, texts 10–13 and the references there cited.

97 Further evidence pointing to Winchester is provided by the texts discussed ibid. texts 56, 159 and 175. Apart from the vocabulary no relation with Winchester can be established for I.14–16 and 19–23; for a possible connection of I.21 (Revision of Werferth's translation of Gregory's Dialogi) with Winchester, see Ibid. text 21.

98 It is of course possible that some of the Winchester words were also in use in some parts of the country independently of any Winchester influence. After all, the Winchester usage cannot have been created ex nihilo; its initiators certainly chose its vocabulary from language already in existence. The significant point is that, outside Winchester and its sphere of influence, these words were not made elements of a standard usage.

99 Cf., e.g., Clayton, M., ‘Feasts of the Virgin in the Liturgy of the Anglo-Saxon Church’, ASE 13 (1984), 209–33, at 227–9, and The Salisbury Psalter, ed. C. and K. Sisam, p. 5, n. 3.Google Scholar

100 II.19 and Hofstetter, Winchester, texts 36, 44, 53, 102, 190 and 191.

101 For evidence of the possibility that Winchester vocabulary was used also in the south-eastern Danelaw, see ibid. texts 20, 72 and 77.

102 For examples of texts connected with the south-east of England, see I.16 and II.22–6 and ibid. texts 16, 32 (‘Zusammenfassung’), 59, 108 (corrections), 123, 131, 145, 176–7, 187, 212–21, 227, 232, 236 and 247.

103 The fact that Æthelsige, a monk of the Old Minster, Winchester, became abbot of St Augustine's, Canterbury, in 1061, also deserves to be mentioned in this connection.

104 For details, see ibid. p. 109 and texts 212–18.

105 Cf. Gneuss, ‘The Origin of Standard Old English’, p. 76.

106 The Winchester words gelaðung and cyðere translate the Latin ecclesia ‘assembly, congregation = church’ and martyr ‘witness = martyr’, both of which have been borrowed from the Greek. Besides their use as Winchester words,gelaðung and cyðere also occur in the non-religious senses of ‘invitation, assembly’ and ‘witness’ respectively.

107 Latin ‘corona gloriae’

108 Cf. also Kirschner, Kranz und Krone, pp. 258–9.

109 Godden (‘Ælfric's Changing Vocabulary’, p. 222) suggests that the practice of glossing Latin texts in the school at Winchester may have produced ‘as a perhaps unintentional byproduct a Winchester set of Latin–Old English equivalents which influenced the practice of literary writers trained in the school too’.

110 For the importance of subdialects in the distribution of the Old English vocabulary for prudentia and superbia, see Seebold, ‘Die ae. Entsprechungen von lat. sapiens und prudens’, pp. 322 and 330–1; cf. also above, p. 142.

111 Further investigation will be necessary to ascertain the extent of the vocabulary characteristic of this standard; cf. also above, n. 87.

112 Cf. Godden, ‘Ælfric's Changing Vocabulary’.

113 Some of Ælfric's deviations from the Winchester standard are explicable by his concern for style (for details, see Hofstetter, Winchester, text 3). In his search for variety in his diction, for example, Ælfric occasionally used a synonymous ‘C word’ to avoid repetition (for ‘elegant variation’ between synonyms as a feature of Ælfric's style, see Homilies of Ælfric, ed. Pope, p. 123, and Godden, ‘Ælfric's Changing Vocabulary’, p. 221).

114 Cf. above, p. 140, and the references cited in n. 9.

115 I am grateful to Professor Helmut Gneuss for his helpful suggestions in connection with this article.