An Eighth-Century Latin–Anglo-Saxon Glossary Preserved in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

An Eighth-Century Latin–Anglo-Saxon Glossary Preserved in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Synopsis

This 1890 glossary is an edition of the text of MS. 144 in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, by scholar Jan Hendrik Hessels (1836–1926). Hessels was simultaneously producing a multi-volume edition of the archives of the Dutch Church in London, published between 1887 and 1897, and also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. This was the first edition of the MS in its entirety, though three shorter versions had been produced in 1857 and the 1880s. The glossary comprises two parts: an interpretation of Hebrew and Greek names, and a Latin–Old English glossary. Hessels' thorough introduction describes the manuscript, outlines his methodology and provides extensive tables of the 'organic changes' in the text that he takes great care to categorise and explain. M. R. James describes this work as 'edited…with the greatest care and completeness', and it is much sought after by scholars today.