Chapter 4. Conservatism and innovation in Anglo-Saxon scribal practice
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Christine Wallis
Abstract
The text of the Old English Bede found in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 41 (B) is remarkable for its extensively updated language, when compared with other, earlier Bede manuscripts. This paper compares B with other manuscripts of the Bede to uncover some of the scribal decisions which shape the surviving text. B’s text is subject to many alterations, indicating a translator scribe who frequently updated and altered the language of his exemplar (i.e. the manuscript from which he copied to produce the present text). However, the presence of a number of nonsensical readings points to a scribe who sometimes struggled to make sense of the text in front of him and whose abilities did not extend far enough to create a good reading in the face of these difficulties. These scribal decisions allow us to identify factors which influenced the shape of B’s text, such as the interplay between B’s now-lost exemplar and its scribes’ working methods. Careful analysis of some of B’s linguistic features enables us to draw conclusions about the age and status of its exemplar and to recover some part of a lost Bede manuscript.
Abstract
The text of the Old English Bede found in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 41 (B) is remarkable for its extensively updated language, when compared with other, earlier Bede manuscripts. This paper compares B with other manuscripts of the Bede to uncover some of the scribal decisions which shape the surviving text. B’s text is subject to many alterations, indicating a translator scribe who frequently updated and altered the language of his exemplar (i.e. the manuscript from which he copied to produce the present text). However, the presence of a number of nonsensical readings points to a scribe who sometimes struggled to make sense of the text in front of him and whose abilities did not extend far enough to create a good reading in the face of these difficulties. These scribal decisions allow us to identify factors which influenced the shape of B’s text, such as the interplay between B’s now-lost exemplar and its scribes’ working methods. Careful analysis of some of B’s linguistic features enables us to draw conclusions about the age and status of its exemplar and to recover some part of a lost Bede manuscript.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. Conspicuous lexical choice in past societies
- Chapter 1. Old English ead in Anglo-Saxon given names 15
- Chapter 2. News and relations 41
- Chapter 3. “… all spirits, and are melted into air, into thin air” 61
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Part 2. Historical layers in text and genre
- Chapter 4. Conservatism and innovation in Anglo-Saxon scribal practice 79
- Chapter 5. Old English wills 103
- Chapter 6. Spatio-temporal systems in Chaucer 125
- Chapter 7. “A riddle to myself I am” 151
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Part 3. Lexis, morphology, and a changing society
- Chapter 8. Common to the North of England and to New England 183
- Chapter 9. Betwixt, amongst , and amidst 201
- Chapter 10. English word clipping in a diachronic perspective 227
- Index 253
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. Conspicuous lexical choice in past societies
- Chapter 1. Old English ead in Anglo-Saxon given names 15
- Chapter 2. News and relations 41
- Chapter 3. “… all spirits, and are melted into air, into thin air” 61
-
Part 2. Historical layers in text and genre
- Chapter 4. Conservatism and innovation in Anglo-Saxon scribal practice 79
- Chapter 5. Old English wills 103
- Chapter 6. Spatio-temporal systems in Chaucer 125
- Chapter 7. “A riddle to myself I am” 151
-
Part 3. Lexis, morphology, and a changing society
- Chapter 8. Common to the North of England and to New England 183
- Chapter 9. Betwixt, amongst , and amidst 201
- Chapter 10. English word clipping in a diachronic perspective 227
- Index 253
