Hand: Continuous Glossator 1 (171r1–182v8), BL Arundel 155, fols. 1–135 and 171–91

Name

Continuous Glossator 1 (171r1–182v8)

Manuscript

BL Arundel 155, fols. 1–135 and 171–91

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

Unspecified

Date

Saec. xi1

Place

CaCC

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

This small, medium-weight hand was written with a fairly flat pen and some shading. Ascenders are long, straight, and have large wedges which are usually pennant-shaped. Descenders are also long and straight but turn left very slightly at the tip. Minims are small and have small horizontal feet and small approach-strokes or wedges. A relatively wide teardrop-shaped a was used most often, but the flat-topped form also appears, particularly in e+a ligature. The round form was also used for æ, but the proportions of the a-component vary relative to those of the e-component: the lower curve and eye of the latter often extends beyond the former, but the eye can also sit below the top of the a. The tongues of æ and e are long, thin, and usually rising, although they can also be at cue-height, and the rounded hook rises slightly above cue-height, particularly before t; the tongue can be straight or turned up or down when final. Horned c and e were used, the lower stroke of which is a good deal thicker than the hook. The back of d is relatively long and curves over to the left, often reaching back over the preceding letter. The tongue of f is long, thin, flat, and reaches well past the hook. The mid-section of g hangs from the centre or slightly to the left, and a small gap was often left between the two strokes; the mid-section is small but rounded, and the tail curves from the horizontal around in a large closed loop or a wide open hook with a horizontal tip. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are moderately rounded, and the down-strokes can be vertical or turned slightly inward. Majuscule N was also used finally, although not necessarily at the ends of lines (þi n, 182r2; becuma n, 182r12). Long and low s were both used, long most often initially and before t, and low finally and when doubled (but long in flæsclicum and gemiltsigendum, 182r6 and 8). Long s has full-length ascenders and descenders and a small hook, and low s has a small hook which runs into the wedge of the following low s when doubled. One example of tall majuscule T can be found, although this seems to have been to avoid the ascender in the main text which intersects the gloss at this point (mildheorTnes, 182r23). The scribe showed a slight preference for ð over þ: although he followed the conventional distinction in most cases, he did sometimes use ð initially (ðingunga, 182r3; þu ðe, 182r14). The back of ð is long, can be straight or curving left, and has a hairline stroke extending left from the tip; the through-stroke is thin and hooked down or slightly thicker on the right. Straight-limbed dotted y was used throughout, with a short horizontal stroke added to the top of the right branch, and a long thin tail. The top of 7 is flat, can be short or long, and can have a small upward hook on the left; the descender is slightly wavy but is essentially vertical.