Trilingual glosses in London, British Library, Cotton Faustina A. X

Description

Conference paper with A. Seiler & H. Pagan.The manuscript London, British Library, Cotton Faustina A.X is a mid to late twelfth century copy of Ælfric’s grammar and glossary containing trilingual glosses in Latin, (Old & Middle) English and Anglo Norman, uniquely demonstrating the multilingual and diachronic reception of the work in medieval England. However, the text has only been the subject of one incomplete edition (Hunt, 1991, i 24-26), which fails to capture the complexity of its composition and its medieval reception. Recent work by Menzer (2004, 114) has suggested that some of the glossing in the manuscript shows evidence of being written by a native French speaker, using the text to learn English. In light of the importance of this text and manuscript, a new edition of the text and glosses is now under preparation. The present paper would like to examine two central research questions arising from this work. Firstly, we would like to examine the relationship between Ælfric’s glossary and the glosses more closely, exploring the relationship between the multiple glossing hands as well as the relationship between the vernacular glosses. Secondly, the paper will demonstrate the importance of these glosses for modern lexicography through an examination of the representation of the Middle English and Anglo-Norman glosses in the dictionaries of these languages, highlighting the crucial role medieval glosses have for the study of medieval multilingualism.

Period	22 Jun 2018
Event title	International Conference on Historical Lexicology and Lexicography
Event type	Conference
Conference number	9
Location	Genoa, ItalyShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International