English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day | Page 8

of thon pondus salis, inde sunt salsae lacrimae; pondus roris, unde
aworden is swat pund blostmes of thon is fagung egena factus est sudor; pondus floris, inde est uarietas oculorum;
pund wolcnes of thon is unstydfullnisse vel unstatholf?stnisse pondus nubis, inde est instabilitas
thohta mentium;
pund windes of thon is oroth cald pund gefe of thon is pondus uenti, inde est anhela frigida: pondus gratiae, id est
thoht monnes sensus hominis.
We thus learn that Adam's flesh was made of a pound of loam; his red and hot blood, of fire; his salt tears, of salt; his sweat, of dew; the colour of his eyes, of flowers; the instability of his thoughts, of cloud; his cold breath, of wind; and his intelligence, of grace.
The Northumbrian glosses on the four Gospels are contained in two MSS., both of remarkable interest and value. The former of these, sometimes known as the Lindisfarne MS., and sometimes as the Durham Book, is now MS. Cotton, Nero D. 4 in the British Museum, and is one of the chief treasures in our national collection. It contains a beautifully executed Latin text of the four Gospels, written in the isle of Lindisfarne, by Eadfrith (bishop of Lindisfarne in 698-721), probably before 700. The interlinear Northumbrian gloss is two and a half centuries later, and was made by Aldred, a priest, about 950, at a time when the MS. was kept at Chester-le-Street, near Durham, whither it had been removed for greater safety. Somewhat later it was again removed to Durham, where it remained for several centuries.
The second MS. is called the Rushworth MS., as it was presented to the Bodleian Library (Oxford) by John Rushworth, who was deputy-clerk to the House of Commons during the Long Parliament. The Latin text was written, probably in the eighth century, by a scribe named Macregol. The gloss, written in the latter half of the tenth century, is in two hands, those of Farman and Owun, whose names are given. Farman was a priest of Harewood, on the river Wharfe, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He glossed the whole of St Matthew's Gospel, and a very small portion of St Mark. It is worthy of especial notice, that his gloss, throughout St Matthew, is not in the Northumbrian dialect, but in a form of Mercian. But it is clear that when he had completed this first Gospel, he borrowed the Lindisfarne MS. as a guide to help him, and kept it before him when he began to gloss St Mark. He at once began to copy the glosses in the older MS., with slight occasional variations in the grammar; but he soon tired of his task, and turned it over to Owun, who continued it to the end. The result is that the Northumbrian glosses in this MS., throughout the three last Gospels, are of no great value, as they tell us little more than can be better learnt from the Durham book; on the other hand, Farman's Mercian gloss to St Matthew is of high value, but need not be considered at present. Hence it is best in this case to rely, for our knowledge of Old Northumbrian, on the Durham book alone.
It must be remembered that a gloss is not quite the same thing as a free translation that observes the rules of grammar. A gloss translates the Latin text word by word, in the order of that text; so that the glossator can neither observe the natural English order nor in all cases preserve the English grammar; a fact which somewhat lessens its value, and must always be allowed for. It is therefore necessary, in all cases, to ascertain the Latin text. I subjoin a specimen, from Matt, v 11-15.
eadge aron ge mith thy yfle hia gecuoethas iuh and mith thy 11. Beati estis cum maledixerunt uobis et cum
oehtas iuih and cuoethas eghwelc yfel with iuih persecuti uos fuerint et dixerint omne malum aduersum uos
gesuicas vel w?ges fore mec gefeath and wynnsumiath forthon mentientes propter me. 12. gaudete et exultate quoniam
mearda iuere monigfalde is vel sint merces uestra copiosa est
in heofnum su? vel suelce ec forthon in caelis sic enim
ge-oehton tha witgo tha the weron ?r iuih gee persecuti sunt prophetas qui fuerunt ante uos. 13. Uos
sint salt eorthes th?t gif salt forworthes in thon ges?lted bith to estis sal terrae quod si sal euanuerit in quo sallietur ad
nowihte vel n?nihte m?ge ofer th?t nihilum ualet ultra
buta th?t gesended bith vel geworpen út nisi ut mittatur foras
and getreden bith from monnum et conculcetur ab hominibus
gie aron vel sint leht middangeardes 14. Uos estis lux mundi
ne m?g burug vel ceastra gehyda vel gedeigla ofer mor geseted non potest ciuitas abscondi supra monte posita.
ne ec bernas th?ccille vel leht-f?t 15. neque accendunt lucernam
and settas tha vel hia unther mitte et ponunt eam sub
vel under