IN DANICO DICITUR: Glossing in Danish Manuscripts

Abstract

THERE ARE HUNDREDS of extant Danish manuscripts from the Middle Ages housed largely libraries and archives Denmark but also, among other places, Sweden, Germany, Norway, France, the Czech Republic, the Vatican City, Austria, and the UK. (1) Casualties of abandonment and destruction (intended or otherwise) during and after the Middle Ages and victims of their unfortunate fate during the Reformation as well as of fire (particularly that Copenhagen 1728), of scurrilous book dealers and collectors, and of poor conservation, they represent only a small fraction of the total number of works that were produced. The manuscripts cover a wide range of subject matter, both secular and religious, and contain original and translated works of which the vast majority are written Latin, the oldest being the so-called Dalby Book (NkS 1325 4), a gospel manuscript from the second half of the eleventh century. The oldest Danish-language manuscript is part of the Law of Jutland (Jyske lov) Cod. Holm. B 74 dating from c. 1250. Less decorative and finely produced than some of their European counterparts, Danish manuscripts--while not untouched by their users through the centuries--have nowhere near the same level of later additions, comments, scribbling, and other marginalia found, for example, the Icelandic corpus. (2) The extant later additions and marginalia medieval Danish manuscripts are of several different types: nib trials, textual commentaries, marginal and interlinear glosses, doodles, and so on (see fig. 1). A common feature is that they have received little prior scholarly attention. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] This article examines a single type of textual commentary Danish manuscripts, the which can appear either as a later addition or as an integrated part of the main text. Glosses are found several forms and an attempt is made below toward a typology and means of describing the different kinds of glosses found the Danish corpus. Other gloss-like additions are also described and placed into a glossing context. The discussion subsequently turns to the Danish context glosses found medieval Latin charters where the value of glossographic investigations is demonstrated, both as an indication of the assimilation of Latin culture and also terms of Danish language history and the development of lexicon. DEFINITION AND TYPOLOGY Glossing is the explication of an unintelligible word or passage through the use of a gloss, that is, a short translation or another form of explanation of the word for the reader's benefit. Glosses are often synonyms and as such tautological words or phrases. However, is not always the case. The gloss can also be a so-called hyponym, a clearer or more precise term than the word the main text; it can also be a long explanation or a cross-reference. Glosses are usually the vernacular and explain a Latin text. Not all scribes and readers were able to understand Latin with equal ease and so glosses were written on the page as an aid to reading and understanding the text. It is nonetheless also possible to find vernacular glosses explaining vernacular words, and Latin glosses explaining other Latin words that may be unfamiliar to the reader. In theory, synonyms and comments can even appear both languages (Latin and Danish), or even three (although I have yet to come across such an example the Danish material). (3) It is, of course, possible that glosses were regarded as a general teaching aid rather than an individual reader's crib, which case they would be provided by the scribe to teach other manuscript users the meaning of the difficult word and assist them their reading. Not all glosses are later additions; some are found embedded the main text where the scribe has included an explanatory or clarifying word that is often flagged by a marker (for example: this is the vernacular y, where x is the glossed word, y is the and in the vernacular called is the gloss marker). …