Launching English Intellectual History: The Construction of the First English Encyclopedia at Canterbury in the 7th Century

FAIN: FB-56779-13

David William Porter
Southern University and A & M College (Baton Rouge, LA 70813-0001)

The project studies a set of vocabularies recently discovered to be the earliest school text (and first long text) in the English language. There are three focuses: the vocabularies as a medium of Classical learning to Old English, the educational influence of vocabularies at the 7th-century School of Canterbury, and the influence of the vocabularies on the writings of the first generation of Anglo-Saxon authors. The final product: a book-length study revolutionizing knowledge of the beginnings of written English.

Associated Products

'Isidore's of Seville's Etymologiae at the School of Canterbury', forthcoming in Anglo-Saxon England (Article)
Title: 'Isidore's of Seville's Etymologiae at the School of Canterbury', forthcoming in Anglo-Saxon England
Author: David W Porter
Abstract: The article demonstrates that some 180 of the 2,400 text glosses in the ‘Leiden Glossary’ derive from an epitome of the Etymologiae. A reconstruction of this lost source shows that it consisted of abbreviated entries from all twenty of Isidore’s books, with selected books heavily glossed in Old English. Mirroring the encyclopedic scope of the Etymologiae, this seventh-century epitome was extensively excerpted by glossary-compilers and gave thousands of English words their first written form.
Year: 2013
Access Model: Subscription
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Anglo-Saxon England
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Aldhelm Manuscripts (Book)
Title: Aldhelm Manuscripts
Author: David W Porter
Author: Philip Pulsiano
Editor: Alger Doane
Abstract: Detailed manuscript descriptions of works by Aldhelm; accompanying microfiche facsimiles of the manuscripts. In the final stages of editing.
Year: 2014
Type: Multi-author monograph
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

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