Hand: Additional Lemmata and Glosses, BL Cotton Otho E.i

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

Although Neil Ker wrote that the additional material was written in the main hand, Bishop disagreed and attributed this material to his ‘Scribe i’.Ker, Catalogue, p. 238 (no. 184); Bishop, ‘Notes, VI’, pp. 417–18. Ker also wrote that the longer Old English glosses were written continuously with the Latin and implied that the lemmata under F and O which were collected together were part of the original manuscript instead of being later additions. However, it seems much more likely that the original scribe wrote only the Latin lemmata and that a second scribe, Bishop’s ‘Scribe i’, then added the interlinear glosses, the marginal additions, and the glosses containing longer explanations. The difference in Latin hands is most apparent in the weight and duct but also in the original scribe’s forward-leaning r with little pen-lift and the very small bowl of g, compared to the more upright and set r and larger, rounder bowl of g in the second hand. The vernacular script was written with a very thin pen in the glosses and in a rather heavier hand in the additions. Ascenders are very long in the glosses but are still slightly longer than minims in the additions, and have consistent but small wedges in both cases. Descenders are slightly longer than minims in the additions and are substantially longer in glosses. Minims have short approach-strokes and feet. The top of a is fairly flat, the back is fairly vertical, and the left side curves inward, the result not unlike Conner’s Form II. The a-component of æ is sometimes like a itself, sometimes a similar shape but narrow and without a clearly flat top, and sometimes wider and more teardrop-shaped. The tongue of æ is fairly straight and can be rising or more horizontal. Round c was used, as was round d which extends somewhat above cue-height. Round e is also found, the tongue of which is high, straight, and rising. The hook of f is fairly short, and the tongue is also short and concave up. The top of g is flat and fairly wide, the mid-section hangs from the left and extends some way to the right, and the tail is wide, open, and curved up at the tip. The shoulders of h, m, and n are all quite rounded, but that of r is usually more angular. Long, low, round, and tall s are all found. Long s is prevalent in the glosses. Round s is found usually initially or finally in the additions, and tall s also stands on the base-line in the additions. Low s is found throughout. The scribe showed little apparent distinction between þ and ð (note both broþor and broðor). The back of ð is fairly long and quite concave-down, and the through-stroke sits fairly high, does not pass through the left of the back, and is hooked down on the right. The south-west branch of x is long, and the north-west branch is hooked right. A fairly narrow and elongated round y is normal, consistently dotted, although straight-limbed undotted y is also found. Latin script is Style-II Anglo-Caroline.