King Alfred's Old English Version of St. Augustine's Soliloquies Turned into Modern English

138 Pages·3.799 MB·English

by  Augustine of Hippo

King Alfred's Version of
St. Augustine's Soliloquies
ftms ^ nfme fam jnim
nxxVr önjoJK* fiM feano}^ bl^i^ fttböÄ'on
X<rc jv-tfi ^Vo'i» fi iKV on i%efc'
oti |Mm vi>uin (vr Oi^'jt fimi ini w fi^gvji
«uV cm
nwkf - 'Vci
jinr Cftfraf. fcejKi^W^- ^/l^wn.
cVnmr^Srböftnif iTt4)Jfto
ancrum- ^püfc«*^ j i r ^ un ^^ j l f^
oj^.'i^iftr fCtp M jnihfmo
irfoni^mrjeAoisil
f]» ine kr^ % l|c pol^ t^ mali^f.
Ms. Cotton Vitellius A.XV, fol. 20b.
(Reproduced by permission of the trustees of the British Museum)
King Alfred's Version of
O
St- Augustiners Soliloquies
Edited by
THOMAS A. CARNICELLI
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
1969
© Copyright 1969 by the
President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Distributed in Great Britain by Oxford University Press, London
Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the
Hyder Edward RoUins Fund
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 69-12719
Printed in Great Britain
This work is dedicated to William Alfred and Morton Bloomfield, for their
advice and encouragement.

CONTENTS
Abbreviations of Terms ix
Abbreviations of Sources xi
Introduction 1
1. Manuscript 1
2. Date and Provenance of the MS 3
3. Language 3
4. Orthography 19
5. Syntax 24
6. Sources 28
7. Relation of the Sol. to the OE Boethius 29
8. Authorship, Relation to Alfred's Other Works 38
9. Bibliography 40
10. Principles of this edition 43
Text 47
Commentary 99
Glossary 109

ABBREVIATIONS OF TERMS
LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS
AN Anglo-Norman North. Northumbrian
Angl. Anglian nWS non-West-Saxon
Gmc. Germanic OE Old English
Kt. Kentish OF Old French
Lat. Latin ON Old Norse
ME Middle English WS West-Saxon
Merc. Mercian
The following are sometimes added before the names of languages and
dialects:
com. common
e early
1 late
Prim. Primitive
GRAMMATICAL TERMS
acc. accusative ind. indicative pers. person
adj. adjective indecl. indeclinable pl. plural
adv. adverb indef. indefinite prep. preposition
art. article inf. infinitive pres. present
comp. comparative instr. instrumental pret. preterite
conj. conjunction inter. interrogative pron. pronoun
dat. dative interj. interjection rel. relative
decl. declension masc. masculine sb. substantive
def. definite neg. negative sg. Singular
dem. demonstrative neut. neuter Str. strong
fem. feminine nom. nominative subj. subjunctive
gen. genitive num. numeral superl. Superlative
imp. imperative opt. Optative vb. verb
impers. impersonal part. participle wk. weak
IX