A Dictionary of the First or Oldest Words in the English Language Part 1

A Dictionary of the First or Oldest Words in the English Language.

by Herbert Coleridge.

PREFACE.

The present publication may be considered as the foundation-stone of the Historical and Literary portion of the Philological Society's proposed English Dictionary. Its appearance in a separate form has been necessitated by the nature of the scheme, on which that work is being constructed. Without entering into details, which will be found in the Society's published Prospectus,[1] it will be sufficient for the present purpose to mention, that the raw material of the Dictionary, the words and authorities, are being brought together by a number of independent collectors, for whom it is consequently necessary to provide some common standard of comparison, whereby each may ascertain what he is to extract, and what to reject, from the author, or work, he has undertaken. This standard for works of earlier date than 1526 is furnished by the following pages, which contain an alphabetical inventory of every word found in the printed English literature of the 13th century. As, however, a mere index verborum would but inadequately fulfil its object, a certain amount of explanatory and etymological matter has been added, which it is hoped may render the work more generally interesting and useful than could otherwise have been the case. It is only proper to add that English literature, as distinguished from Semi-Saxon, is a.s.sumed to commence about the middle of the 13th century.

[1] London, Trubner and Co., Paternoster Row, price 6d.

All words are arranged under their modern forms, where such exist, but the older forms, except where utterly unimportant, are always noticed. The more remarkable of these older forms are also entered in the Glossary in their alphabetical order, with cross references to that under which the word is discussed. Thus under 'Hymn' and 'Isle' will be found the forms 'ympne' and 'ydle;' but 'ympne' and 'ydle' appear also in their proper places in the Glossary. Obsolete words are of course entered as they are spelt in the pa.s.sage whence they are taken, a rule which applies as much to different forms of the same word, as to different words. As to the etymological matter, nothing further as a general rule has been attempted than to indicate the nearest cognate, or cognates, of the particular word; but it has not been thought necessary, or desirable, to load the Glossary with ill.u.s.trations of this nature in very simple cases. I have to thank Hensleigh Wedgwood, Esq., for many kind and valuable suggestions in this part of my work.

My best thanks are also due to the Rev. J. Eastwood, the Rev. W. H.

Herford, to my colleague Mr F. J. Furnivall, and to Messrs M'Ewan and Harrison, for their valuable a.s.sistance in the formation of separate indexes to several of the works comprised in this Glossary. Their respective shares in the work are pointed out in the List of Books and Editions, which will be found in page v.

And I cannot terminate this brief preface without expressing my deep sense of the obligations I am under to Sir F. Madden, not merely for the help of his invaluable editions of La?amon and Havelok, without which this work would have been far less complete than it now is, but also for much kind personal advice and a.s.sistance, which probably few, if any, living philologists beside himself would have been competent to bestow. It only remains for me to add that, although no pains have been spared to render the book as complete as possible, I cannot but expect that some omissions and errors will be discovered, more especially as the largest and most laborious portion of the work was carried on during a long period of ill health. I shall feel very grateful to those who discover any addenda, if they will kindly communicate them to me for insertion hereafter in the Dictionary itself.

HERBERT COLERIDGE.

10, Chester Place, Regent's Park, June 13th, 1859

LIST OF BOOKS AND EDITIONS REFERRED TO.

? All the following pieces are cited by the number of the verse, except where the contrary is expressly mentioned.

_Havelok the Dane._ Edited by Sir F. Madden, for the Roxburgh Club. (By Mr H. Coleridge.)

_Geste of Kyng Horn._ Edited by M. Michel, for the Bannatyne Club. (By Mr H. Coleridge.)

(N.B. The text of this poem in the second vol. of Ritson's Metrical Romances is taken from a later MS., and differs considerably from the Bannatyne text.)

_Kyng Alysaunder._ In Weber's Metrical Romances, vol. I. (By Mr H.

Coleridge.)

_The Land of c.o.kaygne._ In Hickes's Thesaurus, vol. I. p. 231. (By Mr Furnivall.)

_The Life of St Margaret_ (cited by stanzas), } in Hickes's Thesaurus, vol. I. pp. 224, 233.

_Metrical Version of the Athanasian Creed_, } (By Mr Furnivall.)

_The Owl and Nightingale._ Edited by Mr Wright for the Percy Society. (By Mr Furnivall and Mr H. Coleridge.)

_Fragment on Popular Science_, from the Early English Metrical Lives of Saints, in Mr Wright's 'Popular Treatises on Science.' (By Mr H.

Coleridge.)

_Specimens of Lyric Poetry_, temp. Edw. I. Edited by Mr Wright, for the Percy Society. (By Mr M'Ewan.)

_Various Pieces in the Reliquiae Antiquae_ (cited by volume and page). (By Mr H. Coleridge.)

_Political Songs_, temp. Hen. III. and Edw. I. Edited by Mr Wright, for the Camden Society. (By the Rev. W. H. Herford.)

_Ritson's Ancient Songs_, Cla.s.s I. Most of these songs, however, are contained in the Specimens of Lyric Poetry, temp. Ed. I., and are quoted from that collection. (By Mr Harrison.)

_Religious Songs_, printed at the end of the Percy Society's edition of the Owl and Nightingale. (By Mr H. Coleridge.)

_Dialogue between the Soul and Body._ In the Appendix to Mapes's Poems, edited by Mr Wright, for the Camden Society, p. 334. (By the Rev. J.

Eastwood.)

_The Early English Psalter._ Edited by the Rev. J. Stevenson, for the Surtees' Society. Cited by the psalm and verse. (By Mr H. Coleridge.)

_Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle._ Ed. Hearne (2nd ed., 1810). Cited by the page. (By Mr. H. Coleridge.)

_The Legend of St Brandan._ Edited by Mr Wright, for the Percy Society.

(By the Rev. J. Eastwood.)

_The Life and Martyrdom of Thomas Beket._ Edited by Mr Black, for the Percy Society. (By the Rev. J. Eastwood.)

(Owing to the gross inaccuracy of the marginal numbering in the printed edition of this poem, it has been found necessary to go over the whole afresh, and to cite according to the amended reckoning. The following data will a.s.sist the reader:--The first error occurs in page 64, where the line numbered 1280 should be 1282. The second occurs in page 100, where ten lines are dropped, and 1961 is printed for 1973, the true number. The third will be found in page 110, where 2049 is made to succeed 2139, and after this, of course, the confusion is hopeless. The exact number of lines in the poem is 2515, while the printed numbers give only 2398. Readers are therefore requested to renumber their copies from page 64 onwards, before attempting to verify the references in the Glossary.)

The following pieces will be printed in the second part of the Philological Society's Transactions for 1858, and are therefore included in the Glossary. I am indebted to the kindness of my friend and colleague, Mr Furnivall, for the loan of his transcripts.

_A Moral Ode._ MS. Egerton, 613. Cited by stanzas.

(Hickes printed Extracts from this Ode, in his Thesaurus, vol. I. p.

222, from one of the Digby MSS.; but his text is somewhat different from that of the Egerton MS., and omits nine stanzas contained in the latter.)

_A Sermon_ (cited by stanzas), } _Signa Ante Judicium_, } _A Fragment on the Seven Sins_, } MS. Harl.

_The Ten Commandments_, } 913.

_Christ on the Cross_, } _A Poem on Miracles_, containing a Tale of an Oxford Student, } _The Fall and Pa.s.sion_, }

_The Legends of_ } _St Dunstan_, } _St Katherine_, } _St Andrew_, } _St Lucy_, } from MS. Harl. 2277.

_St Swithin_, } _St Edward_, } _Pilate_, } _Judas Iscariot_, }

A few references will also be found to the Manuel des Pecches of Robert Brunne, now being edited by Mr Furnivall, for the Roxburgh Club, but the proof-sheets came into my hands too late to allow of anything like a complete a.n.a.lysis of the language of the poem.

OTHER WORKS REFERRED TO IN THE GLOSSARY.

Burguy's Grammaire de la Langue d'Ol. 3 vols. 8vo. Berlin, 1856. The third volume contains an excellent Glossary.

Cotgrave's French and English Dictionary, by Howell. 1650.

Egilsson's Lexicon Poetic.u.m Antiquae Linguae Septemtrionalis. Hafniae, 1854-1859. One part is still wanting to complete the work.