3

faint, as happened in England some few years ago, so that no English priest could compose or expound a letter in Latin, until Archbishop Dunstan and Bishop Æthelwold1 established that teaching in monasteries.' It was for the youth of the monastic schools that the grammar was intended,2 and the teaching of Latin may be further illustrated by the Latin Colloquy, with its interlinear English gloss, which goes under Ælfric's name, and by the Latin-English vocabulary which generally follows the grammar. This contains the corresponding Latin and English words for various groups of common things, such as parts of the body, the house and its parts, &c. As early as the 8th century collections of Latin words with the English equivalents had been made, sometimes arranged in alphabetical order, thus taking a first step towards the compilation of a Latin-English dictionary.

4

As a last instance of attention to Latin literature may be noted the library that Leofric, bishop of Exeter (1050), acquired for his church. Besides others it contained 'Liber pastoralis, liber dialogorum, liber Boetii de Consolatione, Isagoge Porphirii,... liber Prosperi, liber Prudentii psicomachie, liber Prudentii ymnorum, liber Prudentii de martyribus,... liber Isidori etimologiarum,... liber Isidori de novo et veteri testamento, liber Isidori de miraculis Christi,... liber Persii, Sedulies boc, glose Statii...'

12. In the preceding remarks it has been chiefly in the

1 Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester (d. 984), was Ælfric's teacher. In the Latin preface to the grammar occurs the expression 'sicut didicimus in scola Adelwoldi.'

26 Ego Ælfricus has excerptiones de Prisciano minore vel majore vobis puerulis tenellis ad vestram linguam transferre studui.'

3 The Colloquy will be found in Thorpe's Analecta Anglo-Saxonica, or in the first volume of Wright's Vocabularies.

* See the two volumes of Wright's Vocabularies, or the edition of these by Wülcker.

5 'pus fela Ledenboca he beget in to þan mynstre,' Earle's Charters, P. 251.

Charters.

character of a literary language that Latin has Latin been considered, the language in which were written books that were read or composed by the old English scholars. But from a rather different quarter may be illustrated a familiarity with Latin during the whole period under notice from the long series of charters written in that language. The first of these, given by Kemble in his Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici, and accepted by him as genuine, is a charter of Ethelbert of Kent, dated 604, and from that time onwards there is no period which shews the disuse of Latin.

Absence of foreign material in the writings of Ælfric and others.

13. It will be seen from what has been said in the preceding paragraphs, that the freedom from foreign material, which continued to mark the language in the 10th and 11th centuries, was not due to ignorance of Latin on the part of those who wrote the best English. Ælfric, as we have seen, was a scholar, but in his works, which are the best specimens of the prose of his time, there are very few words borrowed from Latin. And it is the same with other writers. All preferred to use native material, with the result that, in respect to the proportion of the native to the foreign element in the vocabulary, the earliest and the latest stages of the language are in striking contrast with one another.

The larger knowledge of the English due to Christi

anity.

14. But though from the language of the literature that Christianity brought to the knowledge of the English, they may have taken few words, yet by that literature they were introduced to a new world of thought, whose ideas called for expression. Nor was it only by a knowledge that Christianity brought to them in their island home that their mental horizon was widened. The door was opened to intercourse alike with the Celtic Christians of Britain and Ireland, and with the Christians of the continent. The examples of men like Aidan1 1 See the life of Aidan, Bede III. 5.

of Iona were put before the English in their own land, or by sojourn in Ireland they came to know a new life. To Gaul and to Italy there was constant resort. Benedict Biscop journeyed five times to the continent. Wilfred of York, before his settlement there, had lived in Gaul and Rome.1 Alcuin was the friend of Charlemagne. Englishwomen went to Gaul for instruction, and more than one English king went to Rome.3 The fervour of English Christianity led Englishmen to missionary effort among their heathen kinsmen on the continent, and Wictbert and Wilbrord went to preach to the Frisians.*

The modification of language

which is im

plied by modification of

knowledge.

15. The conditions of knowledge, then, among the English, whether that knowledge were gained by intercourse with books or with men, must have been very different from that which would have prevailed had Christianity not come to them, and this difference implies that the language must have been very different from that which would have served their needs, had they remained outside the Christian pale. If we could say how different, we should get a measure of the influence exerted on the language by Christianity. As it is impossible to say what the language might have been, if it had been left to itself, it is impossible to determine the difference just spoken of; but there are many points in which the influence in question may be traced, and these will be noticed in the following chapter.

1 See for Wilfrid's life, Bede v. 19.

2 The daughter of Earconbert (640) of Kent was in a monastery at Brie, 'for,' says Bede, at that time but few monasteries being built in England, many were wont to repair to the monasteries of the Franks, and they also sent their daughters there to be instructed,' III. 8.

3 An. 728. Her Ine ferde to Rome,' A. S. Chron.

737. Her Forphere biscop and Fripogib cuen ferdun to Rome,' ib.

855. Æbelwulf cyning ferde to Rome, and þær was xii monah wuniende, and þa him hamweard for, and him Carl Francna cyning his dohtor geaf him to cuene,' ib.

4 Bede IV. 9, 10.

CHAPTER VI

expansion of the contrast of Old

Learning in England — the Latin authors chiefly studied were the Christian writers-Latin of the Second Period — Latin-English hybrids — the Latin element, except in special classes of words, really small-changed conditions of life implied by some of the Latin words native language— parallel Latin and English words English and Modern English in respect to the use of foreign material -illustration of this from translations of the Scriptures — ecclesiastical terms scientific terms terms of grammar · of Astronomy — other classes of words — the method by which the use of Latin words was avoided — importance of the influence of Christianity on the language.

Learning in England before 1066.

1. In the preceding chapter some illustration has been attempted of the extent to which, in the period between the coming of Augustine and the Norman Conquest, learning, that had followed in the train of Christianity, flourished in England. Though it fell on evil days when the Danes were ravaging the country, yet through a great part of the period the names of English scholars may be pointed to as evidence that Latin was known by those who were likely to mould the literary speech of England. Much of the prose literature, as will be noticed later, is translation from the Latin. The writer of the best English prose, when the period was drawing to its close, was Ælfric, the compiler of a Latin-English Grammar. With such a knowledge of Latin among Englishmen, the natural result was, that one effect on their language, in which the influence of Christianity may be traced, was the incorporation into it of foreign material. This addition to the vocabulary is known as Latin of the Second Period.

2. Before giving a list of the words that may be placed under this head, it may be well to refer to some The Latin of the notices given in Chapter v.

From these

authors chiefly studied

were the

writers.

it will be seen, that, as might be expected, it was not the classical writers, who were the special Christian objects of study; it was rather the Christian writers of a later age, with whom the Christian scholars of England were familiar. It was religious, rather than literary, considerations, which made an author acceptable; even Alcuin, according to his biographer, in later life saw the folly of reading the lies of Virgil, and would neither study them himself, nor permit his pupils to do so either;1 and the Latin, with which the glossaries shew their compilers to have been brought in contact, is not always such as finds a place in a classical dictionary.

3. With this preface as to the character of the Latin with which the English scholars were most familiar we may proceed to give a list of words of Latin origin,2 that made their way into English before Period. about the middle of the eleventh century:

The Latin of the Second

* Words which occur only in Latin-English Glossaries, or in glosses to Latin works.

† Ecclesiastical words.

§ Plant names.

Words that occur only once or twice. For the reason of these distinctions see § 5.

1 'Legerat isdem vir Domini (Alcuin) libros juvenis antiquorum philosophorum, Virgiliique mendacia, quae nolebat jam ipse nec audire, neque discipulos suos legere, "sufficiunt," inquiens, "divini poetae vobis, nec egetis luxuriosa sermonis Virgilii vos pollui facundia."' In the same spirit Isidore of Seville (d. 636) forbade the monks under his control from reading books written by heathen of the olden time.

2 Under this head are taken words borrowed by Latin from other languages.