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

not quite all) are
noted in my "Collation of the Durham Ritual" printed in the Philological Society's
Transactions, 1877-9, Appendix II. I give, by way of specimen, a curious passage (at p.
192), which tells us all about the eight pounds of material that went to make up the body
of Adam.
aehto pundo of thæm aworden is Adam pund lames of thon Octo pondera de quibus
factus est Adam. Pondus limi, inde
aworden is flæsc pund fyres of thon read is blod and hat factus est caro; pondus ignis,
inde rubeus est sanguis et calidus;
pund saltes of thon sindon salto tehero pund deawes 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 unstatholfæstnisse 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 wæges 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 suæ vel suelce ec