The Dialect of the Life of Saint Katherine: A Linguistic Study of the Phonology and Inflections

261 Pages·1973·23.233 MB·English

by  H. M. Logan

JANUA LINGUARUM
STUDIA MEMORIAE
NICOLAI VAN WIJK DEDICATA
edenda curai
C. H. VAN SCHOONEVELD
Indiana University
Series Practica, 130

THE DIALECT OF
THE LIFE OF SAINT KATHERINE
A LINGUISTIC STUDY OF THE
PHONOLOGY AND INFLECTIONS
by
H. M. LOGAN
University of Waterloo
1973
MOUTON
THE HAGUE-PARIS
© Copyright 1973 in The Netherlands.
Mouton & Co. N.V., Publishers, The Hague.
No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint,
microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publishers.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER : 72-88211
Printed in Hungary
PREFACE
The language of the Katherine Group has been the subject of considerable
study, mostly stimulated by J. R. R. Tolkien's important article, "Ancrene
Wisse and Hali Meidhad", in Essays and Studies 14 (1929), 104-120, which
connected the Bodley 34 version of the Katherine Group with the Ancrene
Wisse. Since then, the separate pieces in the Group have been reedited for
the Early English Text Society, and the editors have described in some detail
the language of each text.
Perhaps the most important piece in the Group is the Life of Saint Katherine,
which is found in all three manuscripts which contain the Group. Yet this work
has not been reedited recently nor has its language been described. The only
available edition is still that of Eugen Einenkel in EETS, OS 80 (1884). This
is essentially a critical text based on the version found in the MS Royal 17 A
XXVII, with variants from MSS Bodley 34 and Cotton Titus D XVIII; but
it is often inconsistent and inaccurate. Unfortunately the language described
in the introduction to the edition is that of the reconstructed text and not that
of any of the manuscripts.
Before anything can be done with the language of the Katherine Group as a
whole, the language of the Saint Katherine must be adequately described.
The purpose of this study, then, is to provide such a description. An attempt
is made throughout to localize the three texts of the Saint Katherine. The lo-
calization is based on a diachronic description of the phonology and inflections
of each text, to which are applied the findings of Samuel Moore, et al., "Middle
English Dialect Characteristics and Dialect Boundaries: . . . Localized Texts
and Documents", in Essays and Studies in English and Comparative Literature
(Ann Arbor, 1935).
In order to avoid distortion of the material and to facilitate comparison
with the other texts of the Group, full lists of examples are given for every
significant linguistic feature, and exceptional forms are noted and discussed.
This was made possible by the use of the Univac I computer at the University
of Pennsylvania Computer Center. The entire text was typed onto magnetic
6 PREFACE
tape which was then programmed to produce a complete concordance of the
Saint Katherine and a classification of the phonological and grammatical fea-
tures of each text. Although all line references are to Einenkel's edition, repro-
ductions of the manuscripts were consulted and their forms cited. Thus the
description is based on a collation of the manuscripts with Einenkel's edition
and on a study of all the forms.
As a result of this study, it may be possible to make a more detailed compar-
ison of the entire Group to determine whether dialectal variation occurs
within the collection in each manuscript.
This study developed out of my dissertation, undertaken some ten years ago
at the University of Pennsylvania and completed in 1966. Since that time the
University of Waterloo has given me several summer research grants and I
have been able to make use of the impressive facilities of the University of
Waterloo Computer Centre to continue my research on the Katherine text.
Every page of this book offers perhaps inadequate acknowledgement of the
debt all students of medieval language owe to those scholars in the great tra-
dition of philology, editors and grammarians without whom nothing would
be possible. I should like to acknowledge here the more personal debt I owe
to those people who have helped me in the course of writing this book. Mr.
Robert L. Carroll kindly gave his time and considerable ability to program
the data for me at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Albert C. Baugh
made several fruitful suggestions in the preliminary stages of writing. I am
especially indebted to Professors James D. Gordon and Theophilus E. M. Boll
of the University of Pennsylvania for their valuable comments and recom-
mendations.
All scholars know the special debt they owe their wives, which, one hopes,
can never be fully paid. I owe more than the usual debt to my wife, Grace,
who not only helped to program the material for the computer, but also pre-
pared the various versions of the text.
I am most obligated to Professor Harold S. Stine of the University of Penn-
sylvania for his kindness and encouragement throughout the writing of this
book and the time and considerable knowledge he freely gave. The final shape
and character of the book are due to his guidance. The inadequacies are my
own.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface 5
I. PROBLEMS IN TEXT AND DIALECT U
II. TEXTUAL RELATIONS AND THE AB—DIALECT 18
III. GRAPHOLOGY 32
IV. PHONOLOGY 52
Vowels
1. OE a? /»/, Merc., Kt. e 52
2. OE a j&l 59
3. OE a + I 62
4. OE ce + l + i/j 63
5. OE a + nasal 65
6. OE a + nasal + i/j 69
7. OE e 70
8. OE i 72
9. OE o 74
10. OE u 75
11. OE y 76
12. OE a 82
13. OE & (WG ai + i/j) 85
14. OE ae1 89
15. OE e (other than Se1) 93
16. OE I 94
17. OE o 94
18. OE u 95
19. OE y 96
8 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Diphthongs
20. OE ear (breaking of a? before r -f consonant) 97
21. OE ear + consonant -f i/j 100
22. OE eah (breaking of as before h) 102
23. OE eah + consonant + i/j 102
24. OE eo 103
25. OE m 110
26. OE Sä + i/j 112
27. OE S3 114
28. Influence of Initial Palatals 117
29. OE Front Vowels + 3// 120
30. OE Vowels + w 123
Consonants
31. OE c 124
32. OE 3 127
33. OE A 132
34. OE initial / 133
35. OE p ßj 135
36. OE d 137
37. Loss of Consonants 139
38. Summary of Phonology 141
V. GRAMMAR 145
Nouns
39. Declensions 145
40. Cases 150
Pronouns
41. Personal Pronouns 157
42. Possessive Pronouns 162
43. Intensives and Reflexives 163
44. Demonstratives and the Definite Article 164
45. Relative Pronominals 171
46. Interrogative Pronouns 173
47. Indefinite Pronouns 174
48. Numerals 176
Adjectives and Adverbs
49. Classes of Adjectives 177
50. Inflections of Adjectives 178
TABLE OF CONTENTS 9
51. Adverbs 181
52. Comparative and Superlative 183
Verbs
53. General 185
54. Infinitive (OE -an) 187
55. Infinitive (OE -ian) 188
56. Present Participle and Gerund 190
57. Present Indicative 192
58. Present Subjunctive 198
59. Imperative 198
60. Preterite Endings 199
61. Past Participle 201
62. Strong Verbs 203
63. Weak Verbs 211
64. Preterite-Present Verbs 217
65. Irregular Verbs 218
66. OE Negative Contractions 221
VI. SUMMARY OF DIALECTAL FEATURES 222
Bibliography 234
Index 241