Week 13

Question 1

Lindisfarne Gospels date written and in which dialect?

Answer 1

Written around 700 AD.

Contained interlinear glosses from Latin to OE, and was written in Early Old Northumbrian dialect.

Question 2

Four OE dialects

Answer 2

1. Kentish
2. West Saxon
3. Northumbrian
4. Mercian

Last two combined = Anglian

Question 3

Things that were written in Old Northumbrian

Answer 3

1. Earliest translation of the Bible
2. Early (8th/9th century)
3. Late (10th century)

Question 4

What remains of Early Old Northumbrian manuscripts? And what remains of Late Old Northumbrian manuscripts?

Answer 4

Early: not a lot; few small poems, Leiden riddle.

Late: glosses to Latin texts; Lindisfarne, Rushworth, Durham ritual.

Question 5

Translation techniques

Answer 5

1. Often multiple translations provided
2. Synonyms
3. Not only used for Lindisfarne, but also for other manuscripts
4. These translations could have different lexical or grammatical items

Question 6

What happened to Lindisfarne towards the end of the 8th century?

Answer 6

It was attacked by Vikings, so the monastic community left and brought the Gospels with them. They lived a nomadic life after that.

Name of the scribe of the OE translations of the Gospels is known.

Question 7

Why were multiple glosses used in manuscripts?

Answer 7

1. Uncertainty (but probably not)
2. Result of interest and enjoyment of the language by the scribe

Question 8

Lexical alternatives glossed in manuscripts

Answer 8

1. Often provided different meanings
2. Synonyms, nuanced lexical range
3. Gives insight in the semantic and lexical range of OE

Question 9

What do the glosses of grammatical alternatives in manuscripts show us?

Answer 9

That the subjunctive is on its way out.

Question 10

What were explanatory glosses used for?

Answer 10

Exchange of knowledge and learning gave scribes the ability to translate culturally unfamiliar concepts and provide explanations.

Question 11

Latin manuscripts: scribble on final vowel

Answer 11

Word ends with ‘n’

Question 12

Latin manuscripts: dot glosses (one dot)

Answer 12

a

Question 13

Latin manuscripts: dot glosses (two dots)

Answer 13

e

Question 14

Latin manuscripts: dot glosses (3 dots)

Answer 14

i

Question 15

Latin manuscripts: dot glosses (4 dots)

Answer 15

u

Question 16

Latin manuscripts: dot glosses (::)

Answer 16

o

Question 17

Grammatical differences between poetry and prose

Answer 17

Inflections:
1. Pronouns:
* Pec and mec instead of pe and me (acc sg)
* Sīn instead of his (sg gen poss)
2. Verbs:
* Basically no 1st sg verb with -o/-u ending.
* Often display of northern dialects: -est/-eð instead of -st/-ð.
3. Adjectives: weak were normally strong (without possessive/demonstrative pronoun)

Syntax:
1. Omission of subjects/objects, especially pronouns belonging to 2 predicates.
2. Omission of prepositions: dative cases lack prepositions in OE.
3. Adjectives used as nouns: dem. pronoun + weak adj to substitute noun.
4. Independent and subordinate clauses: see Baker

Question 18

What’s an elegy? Which texts are elegies?

Answer 18

“A lament or poem of mourning.”

Elegies can be found in the Exeter Book:
1. Deor
2. The Wanderer
3. Wulf and Eadwacer
4. The Ruin

These can also be classified as riddles though!

Question 19

Which texts can be found in the Exeter Book?

Answer 19

1. Deor
2. The Wanderer
3. Wulf and Eadwacer
4. The Ruin
5. Many riddles

Question 20

Deor

Answer 20

In this Anglo-Saxon poem, the speaker compares his problem of having lost his job to historical and mythological figures and their problems. Because they have overcome their problems, the speaker believes that he will also.

Question 21

The Wanderer

Answer 21

A warrior is wandering the earth because his people have been slain in battle; he has no home, no friends, no lord to turn to.

The pain is so bad that he can’t speak. He dreams of his lord, but it is only a dream. He dwells on his memories, later realises that coming to terms with hardship takes time. He knows he can only turn to God.

Themes of suffering and loneliness and Christianity.

Question 22

The Ruin

Answer 22

The speaker wanders through (probably) Bath’s ruins, a Roman city in decay (bathhouses, halls, grand temples).

The theme is similar to Deor; “all things pass in time”.

Additionally, parts of this poem’s pages were burnt. There are also gaps in the text.

Question 23

What is the bote (cure) that the poet of ‘The Wanderer’ offers for the speaker (and the reader)?

Answer 23

Keeping faith, because the poem encourages faith in God. Reserving grief, because it is wiser to slowly come to terms with it.

Question 24

What do the ruins, described in ‘The Ruin’, symbolise?

Answer 24

The poem reflects on the former glory of a city that has now fallen. The ruins could symbolise achievements still standing, but could also be a metaphor for the fragility of life and loss and change.

Question 25

Wulf and Eadwacer

Answer 25

Female speaker, Signy, a male Wulf, Eadwacer the husband.

The woman reflects on Wulf as her lover and addresses Eadwacer as her husband, the man who is not the real father of the welp.

There is little agreement on the poem’s meaning. One big puzzle is that the last four lines of the poem can be set out in Norse metre.

Question 26

What does “Þisses swa mæġ” refer to?

Answer 26

The repeated and final line in Deor. It means that the speaker’s pain from losing his job, but that it will fade, as the troubles of the historical and mythological figures also did.

That passed away, may this too.