Publisher Description

Based on the surviving Old English textual material, as well as on Old English dictionaries and the relevant literature, this work studies the role of preverbs (eg. Byrnan, ābyrnan, forbyrnan, gebyrnan, onbyrnan) as a transitivising mechanism under the scope of the Cardinal Transitivity approach. Focus is laid on Old English morphological causative pairs that show signs of lability, i.e. verbs that can function transitively or intransitively with no morphological marking. This work has two main objectives. On the one hand, to examine to what extent preverbs may influence the valence of verbs that are ambivalent from the point of view of their valence as well as to shed light on the effects preverbs may have on other parameters of transitivity such as telicity or affectedness. On the other hand, this book also explores a rather neglected topic so far: the interaction of preverbs and the Germanic morphological causative marker -jan as transitivising mechanisms in Old English.

This 1995 book is a study of the transmission of the Vulgate Old Testament in Anglo-Saxon England.

This reader remains the only major new reader of Old English prose and verse in the past forty years. The second edition is extensively revised throughout, with the addition of a new 'Beginning Old English' section for newcomers to the Old English language, along with a new extract from Beowulf. The fifty-seven individual texts include established favourites such as The Battle of Maldon and Wulfstan's Sermon of the Wolf, as well as others not otherwise readily available, such as an extract from Apollonius of Tyre. Modern English glosses for every prose-passage and poem are provided on the same page as the text, along with extensive notes. A succinct reference grammar is appended, along with guides to pronunciation and to grammatical terminology. A comprehensive glossary lists and analyses all the Old English words that occur in the book. Headnotes to each of the six text sections, and to every individual text, establish their literary and historical contexts, and illustrate the rich cultural variety of Anglo-Saxon England. This second edition is an accessible and scholarly introduction to Old English.

It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of the Bible in the medieval world. For the Anglo-Saxons, literary culture emerged from sustained and intensive biblical study. Further, at least to judge from the Old English texts which survive, the Old Testament was the primary influence, both in terms of content and modes of interpretation. Though the Old Testament was only partially translated into Old English, recent studies have shown how completely interconnected Anglo-Latin and Old English literary traditions are. Old English Literature and the Old Testament considers the importance of the Old Testament from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, from comparative to intertextual and historical. Though the essays focus on individual works, authors, or trends, including the Interrogationes Sigewulfi, Genesis A, and Daniel, each ultimately speaks to the vernacular corpus as a whole, suggesting approaches and methodologies for further study.

Most Old English literature was translated or adapted from Latin: what was translated, and when, reflects cultural development and the increasing respectability of English. Translation was central to Old English literature as we know it. Most Old English literature, in fact, was either translated or adapted from Latin sources, and this is the first full-length study of Anglo-Saxon translation as a cultural practice. This 'culture of translation' was characterised by changing attitudes towards English: at first a necessary evil, it can be seen developing increasing authority and sophistication. Translation's pedagogical function (already visible in Latin and Old English glosses) flourished in the centralizing translation programme of the ninth-century translator-king Alfred, and English translations of the Bible further confirmed the respectability ofEnglish, while Ælfric's late tenth-century translation theory transformed principles of Latin composition into a new and vigorous language for English preaching and teaching texts. The book will integrate the Anglo-Saxon period more fully into the longer history of English translation.ROBERT STANTON is Assistant Professor of English, Boston College, Massachusetts.

St Martin of Tours is one of Christianity’s major saints and his significance reaches far beyond the powerful radiance of his iconic act of charity. While the saint and his cult have been researched comprehensively in Germany and France, his cult in the British Isles proves to be fairly unexplored. Andre Mertens closes this gap for Anglo-Saxon England by editing all the age’s surviving texts on the saint, including a commentary and translations. Moreover, Mertens looks beyond the horizon of the surviving body of literary relics and dedicates an introductory study to an analysis of the saint’s cult in Anglo-Saxon England and his significance for Anglo-Saxon culture.

This is a student edition with full Glossary of Old English poems, from manuscripts dated between A.D. 975 and 1060, which are based on liturgical materials used in the Anglo-Saxon Church. Each poem is presented with both a semi-diplomatic and a modern critical text on facing pages. Detailed explanatory notes accompany the text of each poem, and an introduction provides historical, cultural, and liturgical background for this sub-genre of vernacular English verse.

Discusses syntax and word order changes in Middle English dialects, with an emphasis on the shift from sentences where the object precedes the verb to those where the verb comes first, and considers pronouns and literary style.

This review of the critical reception of Old English literature from 1900 to the present moves beyond a focus on individual literary texts so as to survey the different schools, methods, and assumptions that have shaped the discipline. Examines the notable works and authors from the period, including Beowulf, the Venerable Bede, heroic poems, and devotional literature Reinforces key perspectives with excerpts from ten critical studies Addresses questions of medieval literacy, textuality, and orality, as well as style, gender, genre, and theme Embraces the interdisciplinary nature of the field with reference to historical studies, religious studies, anthropology, art history, and more