Hand: Ink Glosses, CCCC 173, fols. 57–83

Name

Ink Glosses

Manuscript

CCCC 173, fols. 57–83

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

Unspecified

Date

Saec. xi

Place

Unknown (Wi?)

Stokes, English Vernacular Script, ca 990–ca 1035, Vol. 2 (PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2006)

Most of the inked glosses in both Latin and Old English include a mixture of Insular and Caroline letter-forms. Caroline a was used almost universally, the Insular form only found three times (alege, 59r; gelandum, 61r; the second in þa ilcan, 71r; and a hybrid form in aðelbold, 75r). The a-component of æ was usually formed by a thin rounded loop attached to the back of e (þudbæran, 60v; gelæua, 73r; onræs, 73r), but the Caroline form was also used (æuenne, 61r). Round c was used throughout, and round e is much more common, although the horned form is found. Insular d is more common, although the Caroline form was also used (Caroline in gemedamad, 59r; thu bist etwuemed, 59r; geand, 61v; nyrdnes, 62v; geanwurfede 63v). Insular d was always written with the back angled between about 15–45°; it could be straight, fairly long, and closer to the horizontal (þa þudbæran, 60v; gelandum, 61r), turned over slightly at the tip (lacede, 72r), or shorter and closer to 45° (unhode, wiðerede, gemenifealdre, all on 72r). Caroline f dominates: the Insular form was used twice (fyres, 62r; foge, 71r) compared to thirteen times for the Caroline. Caroline g is uncommon, only appearing three times (alege, 59r; gelifeste, 59v; fellice gresu 61v) compared to seventeen times for the Insular form. Insular g usually has a flat top, a mid-stroke hanging from the centre which descends fairly vertically, turns more or less to the horizontal, and then curves around in a wide open tail which can be hooked up, down or remain straight at the tip. The tail sometimes ends with a small, round, three-quarter closed loop (geand, 61v); g can also have a very small mid-section (both times in maggelæua, 73r), and in one case has a rising top and a sickle-shaped tail (galdrum, 72v). One scribe used Uncial g (g e, fo g e, þa g eferde, g emenifealdre); he wrote with a flat pen and fairly light-brown ink, mainly on 71r–72r, and his script also shows Caroline a and r, Insular d, both forms of f, and both Caroline and low s. Caroline r also dominates, the Insular form appearing only twice in two consecutive glosses (gewyrttenes and geripes, both on 77v); these were both written by the same scribe who only used Insular letter-forms, who wrote a fairly wide and messy script, and whose script is similar to that with the uncial g. Caroline h and s are somewhat harder to distinguish from the Insular forms in glosses, but the Caroline form seems to dominate in both cases. Unambiguous low s is found only four times, twice in gewurttenes and geripes cited above, once in þuhs, 72r, and once in fyres, 62r; this last gloss was also written in a wide, very rough script using only Insular letter-forms which include a rounded e+s ligature, a long tongue on f, and round undotted y. A Caroline s+t ligature was used in stem, 63v. The conventional distinction between þ and ð was usually followed (but note ðiwende, 75r). The back of ð is long and slightly concave down, much like d but with a short, horizontal, high through-stroke. Straight-limbed y is found most often, although the round form was also used, and neither are dotted; a straight-limbed, dotted, but bilinear form is found once, looking exactly like the modern v (the first in wynsyme, 59v).