Is the Taunton Fragment his þ folc another instance of the Possessive + Demonstrative + Noun construction?

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present article considers whether the sequence of words his ꝥ folc in the Taunton Fragment homily for the eighth Sunday after Pentecost is an instance of the exceptionally rare Possessive+Demonstrative+Noun construction. This possibility is underpinned by the manuscript’s late date and numerous copying errors. It is, however, weakened by the fact that <h> is unstable in the Taunton Fragment and that the possessive is not required by either context or co-text. In the absence of the possessive in the Latin witnesses to the Homiliary of Angers as well as other Old English renditions of Mark 8.3, the analysis of <his> as the possessive and his ꝥ folc as the Possessive+Demonstrative construction seems unlikely. Alternatively, <his> may be an orthographic variant of the verb is. This possibility is bolstered by the instability of <h> and multiple incomplete corrections in the Taunton Fragment. An addition of the auxiliary in the homily for the eighth Sunday after Pentecost is paralleled by the similar change in the homily for the fifth Sunday after Pentecost. This alteration aligns the Taunton Fragment rendition of Mark 8.3 with Ælfric’s. In light of this internal and external evidence, <his> is more likely to represent the verb is.