The Vocabulary of the Annales Fuldenses

Abstract

TO the uninitiated, who form their conclusion from a comparison of the imposing exterior of the seven volumes of DuCange with the modest single volume of Harper's Latin Dictionary, the contribution of the Middle Ages to the vocabulary of Mediaeval Latin is likely to be greatly exaggerated; to the occasional reader of mediaeval literary texts who is forced to seek aid from these volumes the impression is possibly even more exaggerated, since he finds that in spite of its bulk this great work so often fails him. Even scholars who have more than a speaking acquaintance with DuCange will not agree. The theologian, for whom DuCange is an encyclopaedia rather than a dictionary, may entertain the belief that the work is fairly complete; the historian will not be so optimistic, though opinion may vary with the character of the text he happens to be reading. At the opposite extreme from the theologian will be found the student of literature; a scholar working in the field of Mediaeval Latin poetry has gone on record with the statement that he has consulted DuCange many times and has invariably been disappointed. For the first misconception mentioned above the encyclopaedic character of DuCange is to blame, for the second the fact that its interests are so largely theological. It is the purpose of the present article to analyze the vocabulary of a short Mediaeval Latin text and to indicate the extent and character of the new elements that have entered into it.1 The text chosen is the so-called Annales Fuldenses for the years 838-887 (ed. Kurze, pp. 29-107), the Latinity of which reveals a command of language on the part of the writer and a control of syntax that can scarcely be paralleled in the chronicles of the time. The subject matter and the simple style has enabled the writer to content himself with a vocabulary of comparatively modest dimensions; the choice of words is