scholarly journals tinbl:bein fra middelalderens Lund

2021 ◽  
pp. 5-24
Author(s):  
Rikke Steenholt Olesen
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Archaeological Excavation ◽  
Loan Word

A small piece of a tubular sheepbone (length: 6,5 cm, diameter: 2 cm) was found in 1961 during an archaeological excavation of the medieval town of Lund. The artefact is contextually dated to the second half of the eleventh century. The bone piece is provided with finely carved teeth and carries an inscription in runes. The identification of each rune character is uncomplicated. The inscription says: tinbl:bein. The second sequence bein represents the noun Rune Danish bæin, Old Danish bēn ‘bone’ in all probability with reference to the piece itself and it is plausible that the inscription forms a compound designating the utensil in question, but which utensil? The difficult task is to interpret tinbl? The first suggestion by the late runologist, Erik Moltke, related the runes to the noun Rune Danish tæinn, Old Danish tēn ‘spindle’ and alternatively, to the noun and verb Old Danish twinnæ ‘a twine/to twine’ suggesting the artefact being a utensil for twining threads together, i.e. a twining-bone. Erik Moltkes suggestions seem neither linguistically nor technically convincing. The bone piece was a unique find in 1961, but now a number of similar archaeological artefacts seem to constitute a whole group. In this article, I suggest that the sequence tinbl reflects the noun Old English timple known as a loan word in post-medieval Nordic languages. The present day English form is temple and the present day Danish form is tempel and the word designates an implement used in weaving. Consequently, the runic object must be a temple-bone (Old Danish *timpelbēn) an end-piece of a primitive medieval temple.

scholarly journals The northern world of the Anglo-Saxon mappa mundi

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 275-305
Author(s):  
Helen Appleton
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
British Library ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
The Mediterranean

AbstractThe Anglo-Saxon mappa mundi, sometimes known as the Cotton map or Cottoniana, is found on folio 56v of London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius B. v, which dates from the first half of the eleventh century. This unique survivor from the period presents a detailed image of the inhabited world, centred on the Mediterranean. The map’s distinctive cartography, with its emphasis on islands, seas and urban spaces, reflects an Insular, West Saxon geographic imagination. As Evelyn Edson has observed, the mappa mundi appears to be copy of an earlier, larger map. This article argues that the mappa mundi’s focus on urban space, translatio imperii and Scandinavia is reminiscent of the Old English Orosius, and that it originates from a similar milieu. The mappa mundi’s northern perspective, together with its obvious dependence on and emulation of Carolingian cartography, suggest that its lost exemplar originated in the assertive England of the earlier tenth century.

The Old English Name of the S-Rune and “Sun” in Germanic

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas P. A. Simms
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Old High German ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Medieval Manuscripts ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Loan Word

The name of the Old Englishs-rune,sigil, as found in various medieval manuscripts, is puzzling, as it is the only Anglo-Saxon rune name that is etymologically a loan word. This article examines the variant spelling <sygil> found only in MSCodex Vindobonensis795, arguing that the spelling with <y> is a scribal interpolation. In addressing how an Old High German-speaking scribe might have come to make such an interpolation it is argued that the wordsugilfound in Continentalrunica abecedariaought to be considered an Old High German lexeme relevant to this discussion. A novel etymology for words for ‘sun’ in Germanic is presented, particularly for forms derived from thel-stem variants of the Proto-Indo-European heteroclite.

The Minster-in-Thanet foundation story

1998 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 41-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Hollis
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Bodleian Library ◽  
Full Version

The story of how Domne Eafe acquired the land for her monastery at Thanet when her brothers were murdered by a councillor of her cousin, Ecgberht of Kent (664–73), is variously related in a number of Latin and Old English works. The full version (involving Domne Eafe's tame hind and the death of the councillor) is found in three Latin Lives. These are: a passio of the murdered princes attributed to Byrhtferth, which is the earliest recorded account of the foundation of Thanet, dated c. 1000, and written for the monks at Ramsey, who believed the relics translated to their monastery in 978 × 992 to be those of Domne Eafe's brothers; Goscelin's Vita S. Mildrethae, dated 1089 × 1099, and written for the monks at St Augustine's, Canterbury, who acquired the relics of Mildrith from Thanet in 1030; a passio of the murdered princes found in Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 285, also from Ramsey, which was composed sometime between the mid-eleventh century and the early thirteenth.

Lists of saints' resting-places in Anglo-Saxon England

1978 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 61-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. Rollason
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
British Library ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Scholarly Edition ◽  
Corpus Christi ◽  
Topographical Feature ◽  
Usual Formula

Secgan be þam Godes sanctum þe on Engla lande ærost reston is the title of a short document in Old English which is extant in two manuscripts, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 201, pp. 149–51, and London, British Library, Stowe 944, 34v–39r. These manuscripts are dated to the middle and the first half of the eleventh century respectively on the evidence of their script. A third copy was once in London, British Library, Cotton Vitellius D. xvii but was destroyed in the fire of 1731. The only scholarly edition is that of Felix Liebermann. The document mentions the resting-places of eighty-nine saints: all but one of these places are in England and all but ten of the saints were active in England. The usual formula is of the type, ‘Ðonne resteð sanctus Congarus confessor on Cungresbirig’ (37b), but in many cases the place is further defined by reference to some topographical feature, most often a river, as, for example, ‘Ðonne resteð sanctus Iohannes biscop on þare stowe Beferlic, neah þare ea Hul’ (5a).

scholarly journals The Ely memoranda and the economy of the late Anglo-Saxon fenland

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 333-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rory Naismith
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
Material Resources

AbstractConsisting of six short Old English texts written in the early eleventh century, the Ely memoranda illustrate how a major and recently refounded Benedictine abbey managed its landed endowment. Two of the memoranda relate to generous help provided by Ely to Thorney, and four concern Ely's own lands. The collection as a whole reveals much about interaction between monasteries, monastic perspectives on material resources and investment in them, the economy of eastern England, and the context of record-keeping. This article offers a new edition and translation of the texts, and surveys the contribution the memoranda make to understanding of cultural and economic history.

Reddatur Parentibus: The Vengeance of the Family in Cnut's Homicide Legislation

2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Jurasinski
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
British Library ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Corpus Christi ◽  
The Family ◽  
Ultimate Outcome ◽  
English Law ◽  
One Year

TheAnglo-Saxon Chroniclestates that during his 1018 meeting in Oxford with the leading English ecclesiastical and lay authorities, roughly one year after his accession to the throne in England, Cnut agreed to uphold “the laws of Edgar” during his reign. The ultimate outcome of this and subsequent meetings is the code issued at Winchester in 1020, referred to by editorial convention as I and II Cnut. This code contains, respectively, the religious and secular laws of England promulgated under Cnut. The code is contained in four manuscripts in Old English. The earliest are British Library, Cotton Nero A.i and Cambridge, Corpus Christi College (CCCC) 201, both dated to the mid-eleventh century; the latest, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College (CCCC) 383 and British Library, Harley 55, belong to the early twelfth century. Cnut's code reappears in three twelfth-century Norman Latin tracts intended to acquaint French authorities with English law, theInstituta Cnuti, Consiliatio Cnuti, andQuadripartitus. TheLeges Henrici Primi, prepared by the same author as theQuadripartitus, also draws heavily on Cnut's legislation.

The origin of the Exeter Book of Old English poetry

1996 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 135-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Gameson
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Critical Edition ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Exeter Book ◽  
English Poetry ◽  
Documentary Evidence ◽  
Vernacular Literature ◽  
Old English Poetry ◽  
The Third ◽  
English Verse

Exeter, Cathedral Library, 3501, fols. 8–130, the celebrated Exeter Book of Old English Poetry, preserves approximately one-sixth of the surviving corpus of Old English verse, and its importance for the study of pre-Conquest vernacular literature can hardly be exaggerated. It is physically a handsome codex, and is of large dimensions for one written in the vernacular: c. 320 × 220 mm, with a written area of c. 240 × 160 mm (see pl. III). In contrast to many coeval English manuscripts, particularly those in the vernacular, there is documentary evidence for the Exeter Book's pre-Conquest provenance. Assuming it is identical with the ‘i mycel Englisc boc be gehwilcum þingum on leoðwisum geworht’ (‘one large English book about various things written in verse’) in the inventory of lands, ornaments and books that Leofric, bishop of Crediton then Exeter, had acquired for the latter foundation, then it has been at Exeter since the third quarter of the eleventh century. This, however, is at least three generations after the book was written, and it has generally been assumed that it originated else where. Identifying the scriptorium where the Exeter Book was made is clearly a matter of the greatest interest and importance. A recent, admirably thorough monograph has put forward a thought-provoking case for seeing Exeter itself as the centre responsible, and has proceeded to draw a range of literary and historical conclusions from this. The comprehensive new critical edition of the manuscript has favoured the thesis, and it has been echoed elsewhere. If correct, this is extremely valuable and exciting – but is it correct? The matter is of sufficient importance to merit further scrutiny.

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