THE GOLDSMITH's ENTRY

a. The Language of the Goldsmith's Entry

by John Insley

The personal name forms Ælfric, Wulfwine and Eadgife are conservative andwould fit aneleventh-century text. However, the text shows consistent reduction of inflectional -a, -o and -u to [ə] represented by <e>, as in Eadgife < OE Ēadġifu f., goldsmiðes < goldsmiðas, nominative plural of OE goldsmið m. ‘goldsmith’’, geafen for ġēafon, preterite plural of OE (West Saxon) ġiefan ‘to give’ and gewired for the participle form ġewirod ‘bound in wire’’. This vowel reduction is a late OE feature which already occurs in the eleventh century, though its completion belongs rather to the twelfth century. The formulation [to] broþer rædenne would be consistent with an early-twelfth-century date, the same designation for a monastic community being used in a covenant between the prior of Bathandone Sæwi and his wife Þeofgyfu dating from c. 1106 or later. The money unit ore (OE ora) normally has the plural form oran, not orn. ‘þæt is on þis ilce boc’ is a sign thatweare concerned withanearly-twelfth-century text. Since OE bōc is a feminine athematic noun with dative singular bēċ, late West Saxon would have had ‘on þisse(re) ilcan bec’’.

b. Palaeographical commentary on the Goldsmith's entry

by Julia Crick

The script is roughly executed and it lacks rhythm and consistency. Ascenders have angular approach strokes to the left and are up to twice the height of minims, descenders are generallystraightandlong(abouttwo-threetimestheheight of minims) and n is finished in a crude foot on the base-line. Letter-forms vary in size and shape and they are irregularly spaced. Thescribe consistently employs eth, thornandwynn, and the insular forms of f, g and r, but their execution varies in detail. g has a consistently open ascender. a, d and e are neither Carolinenordistinctivelyinsular: a hasaroundform with a very small projection at the head, d is round-backed with an ascender rising at 45 degrees from the vertical, and resembles the round-backed d found in Latin manuscripts of the post-Conquest era, and e is generally flatter-backed than the Caroline form, but lacks the hook commonly seen at the top of the minim stroke in the eleventh century. Three types of s are employed: low, long and round. The round s is unusual in Insular minuscule of this type and date. h is Caroline in form.