Ælfric’s Grammar A Single Witness Edition Edited from London, British Library, Harley 3271 with Introduction and Textual Notes by Kendall Bitner A Thesis Submitted to the College of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies University of Saskatchewan 2018 © Copyright Kendall Bitner, April, 2018. All rights reserved. Permission to Use In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Postgraduate degree from the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the Libraries of this University may make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for copying of this thesis in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or professors who supervised my thesis work or, in their absence, by the Head of the Department or the Dean of the College in which my thesis work was done. It is understood that any copying or publication or use of this thesis or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of Saskatchewan in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis. Requests for permission to copy or to make other uses of materials in this thesis in whole or part should be addressed to: Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies Director 9 Campus Drive University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5A5 Canada OR Dean College of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies 116 Thorvaldson Building, 110 Science Place University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5C9 Canada i Abstract This thesis consists of an edition of the text of Ælfric of Eynsham’s (c. 955 × 1010–20) Grammar based on the 11th century manuscript London, British Library, Harley 3271, together with an introduction which both surveys the work’s historical context and discusses key features of the text itself. An overrarching theme of the introduction is the significance of the Grammar’s peculiar place in the history of textual transmission and of education in medieval England as it was the first translation of a Latin grammar into a vernacular European language. It thus provided its readers a more easily attainable access to Latin, the language of learning, for which reason Ælfric himself calls the text “the key that unlocks the meaning of books.” Because the edition is based on a single manuscript, I have endeavoured to remain as faithful to the manuscript as may be reasonably achieved, retaining its spelling, its scribal alterations, and its textual divisions. Emendations and additions are generally reserved for damaged sections of text or for scribal errors or omissions which might otherwise be misleading to the reader and are made with reference to both the 1880 edition of Julius Zupitza and to a second manuscript, Oxford, St John’s College, MS 154. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank, first of all, my supervisor, Dr. Yin Liu, Associate Professor of English, University of Saskatchewan, who encouraged me to begin this project and without whose ongoing aid I certainly could not have managed. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. John Porter, Associate Professor of History, University of Saskatchewan, and Dr. Michael Cichon, Associate Professor of English, St. Thomas More College, and my external reader, Dr. Corey Owen, Assistant Professor, Graham School of Professional Development, for their support and willingness to lend their invaluable expertise especially in the case of my own translations throughout the work. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. David Porter, Professor of English, retired, Southern University Baton Rouge, for a wealth of advice and for kindly offering me the text of his edition of the Excerptiones de Prisciano. iii Contents Introduction..................................................................................................................................... vi 1. Context and Significance of the Grammar ............................................................................... vi 2. Ælfric’s Life and Works ........................................................................................................... ix 3. The Function of the Grammar ................................................................................................ xi 4. The Grammar as a Translation .............................................................................................. xvi 5. Uterque lingua: The Grammar as a Grammar of English ...................................................... xxii 6. Manuscripts of Ælfric’s Grammar and the Manuscript of this Edition ................................ xxvi 7. Editorial Principles and Procedures ...................................................................................... xxx Incipit Prȩfatio Huius Libri ............................................................................................................... 1 Incipiunt Excerptiones de Arte Grammatica Anglice ............................................................................ 4 Praefatio de Partibus Orationis ...................................................................................................... 6 Incipiunt Quinque Declinationes Nominum ................................................................................... 15 Secunda Declinatio ................................................................................................................... 17 De Tertia Declinatione ............................................................................................................. 20 De Quarta Declinatione ........................................................................................................... 41 De Quinta Declinatione ............................................................................................................ 42 Incipit Pronomen ......................................................................................................................... 47 Incipit de Uerbo ........................................................................................................................... 59 De Secunda Coniugatione ......................................................................................................... 71 De Tertia Coniugatione ............................................................................................................ 77 De Quarta Coniugatione .......................................................................................................... 88 De Uerbis Anomalis uel Inequalibus ........................................................................................... 93 De Uerbis Defectiuis ................................................................................................................. 94 De Specie ................................................................................................................................. 97 De Figura .............................................................................................................................. 100 iv Incipit Aduerbium ...................................................................................................................... 102 De Participio .............................................................................................................................. 110 De Coniunctione ........................................................................................................................ 117 Incipit Prepositio ........................................................................................................................ 123 Incipit Interiectio ........................................................................................................................ 127 De Nominibus Numerorum ............................................................................................................ 130 Triginta Diuisiones Grammatice Artis ............................................................................................. 134 Appendix A: Translations of Ælfric’s Two Prefaces ...................................................................... 139 Appendix B: Terminological Tables .............................................................................................. 141 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................. 143 v Introduction 1. Context and Significance of the Grammar An appreciation of Ælfric’s career as a writer, translator, and teacher requires some reflection on the century immediately preceding his own time and, more specifically, on perhaps the most important figure in England during that time, King Alfred the Great. In the relative peace secured by the successful defense of his kingdom, Alfred sought to begin the restoration of the once renowned scholarship and learning in England, which had been so devasted by the decades of Viking invasions and, according to Alfred’s own words, even more so by his people’s own negligence.1 Alfred’s plan was twofold: his chief intention was to restore the widespread understanding of Latin grammar among the monastic community, but because this process would take many years, he also ordered, and himself took part in, the translation into English of texts which were deemed the