A study of scribal practices in early Irish and Anglo-Saxon manuscripts
This thesis describes and accounts for certain innovative scribal practices in Irish and Anglo-Saxon manuscripts of the seventh to ninth centuries, seeing these as both graphic and linguistic phenomena. Part One deals with the linguistic context in which the scribes were working, examining the general role of grammar during the period and those aspects of grammatical teaching which would most concern the scribe. The presence of Latin as a non-vernacular Church language in Ireland and Anglo- Saxon England resulted in a dependence on and enthusiasm for the study of Latin grammar, and innovations in scribal practice must be seen in the context of this special linguistic environment. Irish grammarians understood their own language in terms of syntactic groups rather than distinct parts of speech: this and other differences between Irish and Latin may have encouraged the practices of separation (and abbreviation) in the copying of Latin, as a means of making the latter easier to read. The traditional teaching of the Latin grammarians on the eight parts of speech was especially popular with Insular grammarians, and this analysis underlies the practice of word separation, but a lack of explicit teaching on word boundaries
Tunbridge, Genny Louise
Manuscripts, English (Old) ; Manuscripts, Irish
A study of scribal practices in early Irish and Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. This thesis describes and accounts for certain innovative scribal practices in Irish and Anglo-Saxon manuscripts of the seventh to ninth centuries, seeing these as both graphic and linguistic phenomena. Part One deals with the linguistic context in which the scribes were working, examining the general role of grammar during the period and those aspects of grammatical teaching which would most concern the scribe. The presence of Latin as a non-vernacular Church language in Ireland and Anglo- Saxon England resulted in a dependence on and enthusiasm for the study of Latin grammar, and innovations in scribal practice must be seen in the context of this special linguistic environment. Irish grammarians understood their own language in terms of syntactic groups rather than distinct parts of speech: this and other differences between Irish and Latin may have encouraged the practices of separation (and abbreviation) in the copying of Latin, as a means of making the latter easier to read. The traditional teaching of the Latin grammarians on the eight parts of speech was especially popular with Insular grammarians, and this analysis underlies the practice of word separation, but a lack of explicit teaching on word boundaries
study scribal practice early irish anglo_saxon manuscript describes account certain innovative scribal practice irish anglo_saxon manuscript see graphic linguistic_phenomenon part_one deal linguistic context scribe work examine general role grammar period aspects grammatical teaching would concern scribe presence latin non vernacular church language ireland anglo saxon_england result dependence enthusiasm study latin grammar innovation scribal practice must see context special linguistic_environment irish grammarian understood language term syntactic group rather distinct part speech difference irish latin may encourage practice separation copying latin mean make latter easy read traditional teaching latin grammarian part speech especially popular insular grammarian analysis underlies practice word separation lack explicit teaching word_boundary