|
|
| Studium:
Annotated Bibliography of Medieval England [under
development]
Coordinated by Bryan Carella
|
| One of the goals of CAMS is to draw on the
valuable resource of the collected wisdom of its participants
for the academic support of medievalists at UNC. Many of us
have done research and reading in areas that has produced
information others may find useful, while those same contributors
may benefit from similar knowledge gained from others.
|
Carolina Association
for Medieval Studies
Annotated Bibliography
of Medieval England
Ælfric
(Primary Sources).
Clemoes, Peter, ed. Ælfric's
Catholic Homilies: The First Series. EETS SS 17. London:
Oxford University Press, 1997. [folio PR1119 .S9 no. 17].
This posthumously
published volume supersedes Benjamin Thorpe's Homilies
of the Anglo-Saxon Church as the standard edition
of Catholic Homilies I.
Crawford, S. J., ed. The Old English
Version of the Heptateuch, Ælfric’s Treatise on the
Old and New Testament, and His Preface to Genesis. EETS
OS 160. London: Oxford University Press, 1922. [folio PR1119
.A2 no. 160].
Godden, Malcolm, ed. Ælfric's Catholic Homilies:
The Second Series. EETS SS 5. London: Oxford University
Press, 1979. [folio PR1119 .S9 no. 5].
This volume
supersedes Benjamin Thorpe's Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon
Church as the standard edition of Catholic Homilies
II.
Pope, John C. Homilies of Ælfric: A Supplemental
Collection. 2 vols. EETS OS 259, 260. London: Oxford
University Press, 1967-68. [folio PR1119 .A2 no. 259, 260].
This is
the standard edition of Ælfric's Supplemental
Homilies, i.e., works outside the collections known
as Catholic Homilies I and Catholic Homilies
II.
Skeat, Walter W., ed. Ælfric's Lives of Saints.
EETS OS 76, 82, 94, and 114. London: N. Trübner and
Co.,1881-1900. Reprint in 2 vols., London: Oxford University
Press, 1966. [folio PR1119 .A2 OS 76, 82, 94, 114].
These volumes
are the standard edition of Ælfric's Lives of
Saints, although there are many known problems with
the editing. Skeat provides a facing-page translation,
so it will be useful even when a more carefully edited
edition becomes available.
Thorpe, Benjamin, ed. The Homilies
of the Anglo-Saxon Church. 2 vols. London: Æ lfric
Society, 1844-46. Reprint, New York and London: Johnson
Reprint Corp., 1971; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press,
1976.
This volume
was previously the standard edition (now superseded by
Clemoes and Godden) of Catholic Homilies I and
II. The collation of homilies is different from the
newer standards and includes other homiletic and prefatory
material.
Ælfric
(Secondary Sources).
Loomis, Grant. "Further Sources of Ælfric's Saints'
Lives." Harvard Studies and Notes in Philology and
Literature 13 (1931): 1-8. [PN35 .H4].
Examines
Ælfric's sources for Lives of the Saints II.
Together with Ott, provides a solid foundation in research
of Ælfric's sources for his Lives of Saints.
Ott, J. Heinrich. Über die Quellen der Heiligenleben
in Æfrics Lives of Saints I. Halle: Kaemmerer,
1892.
A careful
examination of the sources for many of the lives in Lives
of Saints I. Although there is no English translation
yet available, Caroline L. White ("Ælfric: A New
Study of His Life and Writings," Yale Studies in English
2 [1898]) summarizes Ott's findings. A good starting
point for research on Ælfric's sources for Lives
of Saints I.
Reinsma, Luke M. Ælfric: An Annotated Bibliography.
New York: Garland, 1987. [Z8017.3 .R44 1987].
A very good
bibliography of Ælfrician manuscripts, editions,
and scholarship. Although there are some omissions and
it has not been updated since its 1987 publication, it
is an excellent starting point for research.
Wilcox, Jonathan, ed. Ælfric’s Prefaces. Durham,
England: Durham Medieval Texts, Department of English Studies,
1994. [PR1533 .A654 1994].
Alfredian
Works (Primary Sources).
Bately, Janet. ed. The Old English Orosius. EETS
SS 6. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. [PR1119
.S9 no. 6].
This is
the standard edition of the the Orosius. The
introduction, however, is of particular importance because
here Bately outlines her theory and methodolgy for determining
the content of the Alfredian canon.
Fox, Samuel, ed. and trans. King
Alfred's Anglo-Saxon Version of Boethius “De consolatione
philosophiae”: With a Literal English Translation, Notes,
and Glossary. London, 1864. [PR1549 .A2 1864].
This is
not the standard edition of the Old English Boethius:
Sedgefield’s is (cited below, where an account of the
manuscripts is also given). But Fox’s is a continuous
edition of the Bodleian manuscript, so for those who wish
to make a comparison of that manuscript to the earlier
Cotton manuscript which Sedgefield prefers, this edition
can still be useful. Be forewarned that Fox is suspected
of having merely copied earlier editions rather than re-editing
the manuscript himself; nonetheless, this is the most
accessible published text of the Bodleian manuscript,
the only manuscript to preserve the original all-prose
version of the Old English Boethius. Fox also includes
a facing-page translation of the Bodleian manuscript,
and this is literal and usually precise. In the back of
the volume is an edition of the versified Old English
version of Boethius’s metra; this material is taken from
the Cotton manuscript, and the Modern English rhymed translation
of this Old English poetry, contributed by Martin F. Tupper,
is (as noted on the title page of that section) free.
Hargrove, Henry Lee, ed. King Alfred’s
Old English Version of St. Augustine’s “Soliloquies.”
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1902. [PR1545 .A15].
Hargrove, Henry Lee, trans. King
Alfred’s Old English Version of St. Augustine’s “Soliloquies”:
Turned into Modern English. New York: Henry Holt and
Company, 1904. [PR 1545 .A3].
Sedgefield, Walter John, ed. King
Alfred’s Old English Version of Boethius “De Consolatione
Philosophiae”: Edited from the MSS., with Introduction,
Critical Notes, and Glossary. Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1899. [B659 .Z92 S44].
This is
the standard edition of the Old English Boethius.
The Boethius has a complex and fragmentary manuscript
history: it apparently existed first in an all-prose version,
and the parts of the Old English translation corresponding
to the Latin metra were then turned into Old English alliterative
verse at a later time. To complicate matters further,
the earliest surviving substantial manuscript (British
Museum Cotton Otho A.vi) preserves the later Old English
version (with Boethius’s prosae in prose and his metra
in verse), while the other major manuscript (Bodleian
180 [2079]), though copied much later, preserves the earlier
all-prose version of the Old English Boethius.
Sedgefield edits the parts of the Old English corresponding
to the Latin prose from the Cotton manuscript, and he
edits the parts of the Old English corresponding to the
Latin metra from the later Bodleian manuscript (which
renders them in prose). Throughout, he supplies material
from the Bodleian manuscript or an early transcription
where the Cotton manuscript (which was badly damaged in
the Cotton Library fire of 1731) has lacunae. The result
is a radically composite text, but it is the closest we
are likely to come to the original all-prose version of
the Old English Boethius. Sedgefield is a scrupulous
editor, and his interference is duly recorded in footnotes
and in his elaborate code of typographical denotation.
The metra from the Cotton manuscript are provided too,
in a separate section at the end, so in effect, the entire
Cotton manuscript is edited in this volume, though it
is not presented continuously.
Sedgefield, Walter John, trans. King
Alfred’s Version of the “Consolations” of Boethius, Done
into Modern English, with an Introduction. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1900. [PR1549 .A2 1900].
Sedgefield’s
edition of the Old English Boethius (cited above)
remains the standard, but his translation is a little
less accurate than Fox’s (also cited above). However,
it should be remembered that Sedgefield is translating
from a composite text derived from what he considers the
authoritative sections of the Cotton and Bodleian manuscripts,
as described in his edition of the previous year, whereas
Fox is translating entirely and continuously from the
Bodleian manuscript. Sedgefield renders the clumsy Old
English alliterative version of Boethius’s metra in equally
awkward Modern English alliterative verse; though hardly
exact, this is the one point at which Sedgefield’s translation
is consistently closer to the sense of the original than
what Fox provides.
Alfredian
Works (Secondary Sources).
Alliterative
Revival (Primary Sources).
Alliterative
Revival (Secondary Sources).
Anthologies
and Festschriften
Lapidge, Michael and Helmut Gneuss,
eds. Learning and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England:
Studies Presented to Peter Clemoes on the Occasion of
His Sixty-Fifth Birthday. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1985. [PR176 .L4 1985].
Arthuriana
(Primary Sources).
Arthuriana
(Secondary Sources).
Ackerman, Robert W. An Index
of the Arthurian Names in Middle English. Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 1952. [PE1660 .A23].
A comprehensive
listing of the names and name forms that occur in association
with the Arthur legend in Middle English (excluding the
chronicle tradition), with references to the texts in
which they occur.
Lacy, Norris J., ed. New Arthurian Encyclopedia.
Rev. ed. New York: Garland, 1996. [Davis Ref. DA152.5 .A7
N48 1996].
Loomis, R. S., ed. Arthurian
Literature in the Middle Ages: A Collaborative History.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959. [PN57 .A6 L6].
This thick
volume is a collection of essays by different scholars,
each treating a different aspect of the Arthurian legend,
its development, and its literature. The collaborative
nature of the work keeps it from being dominated by Loomis’s
own idiosyncrasies, and even though the essays are now
quite dated, many of them still provide good introductory
accounts of the primary materials relating to their subject
matter.
West, G. D. An Index of Proper
Names in French Arthurian Verse Romances. Toronto: University
of Toronto Press, 1969. [Davis Ref. PQ203 .W4].
A comprehensive
listing of the names and name forms that occur in the
French metrical Arthurian romances, with references to
the texts in which they occur.
West, G. D. An Index of Proper
Names in French Arthurian Prose Romances. Toronto: University
of Toronto Press, 1978. [Davis Ref. PQ203 .W4 1978].
A comprehensive
listing of the names and name forms that occur in the
French prose Arthurian romances, with references to the
texts in which they occur.
Atlases
and Onomasticons
MacKay, Angus with David Ditchburn,
eds. Atlas of Medieval Europe. London: Routledge,
1997. [Davis Ref. G1791 .M2 1997].
This
is a handy collection of topical maps and mini-essays
by about forty different contributors. If you want a map
of pre-547 monasteries or graphics and a short explanation
of the year-by-year spread of the Black Death through
Europe, for instance, this is one place to look. It is
more austere than Donald Matthew’s book by the same title
(see below): the maps MacKay and Ditchburn include are
black-and-white line drawings, there are no other illustrations,
and the topical essays tend to be more specific than Matthew’s.
Matthew, Donald. Atlas of Medieval
Europe. Oxford: Phaidon Press, 1983. [Davis Ref. folio
G1791 .M3 1983b].
This
is a large, glossy coffee-table book with color maps and
numerous photographs. Like MacKay and Ditchburn’s collection
(see above), Matthew’s book is organized as a series of
brief topical essays; Matthew’s essays tend to be more
general, and some of them are not furnished with corresponding
maps at all, having other kinds of illustrations instead.
Both books are useful for different reasons.
Beowulf
(Primary Sources).
Garmonsway, G. N., J. Simpson,
trans., with H. E. Davidson. "Beowulf" and Its Analogues.
London: J. M. Dent, 1968. [PR1583 .G28].
Often referred
to informally as "Garmonsway and Simpson." The first
part of this book is a translation of Beowulf;
the second part, "Analogues and Related Documents," is
a fascinating collection of primary texts, in translation,
that bear (or might bear) on our understanding of Beowulf
in its historical and literary-historical context.
Each section centers on either a people or a motif that
figures in Beowulf in some way--the Geats, the
Danes, the Swedes, the Angles, the Heathobards, the Frisians
(and their foes), the Volsungs, the Goths, fights with
anthropomorphic monsters, dragon fights, and funerary
customs--and gathers the relevant passages from the other
known texts that inform us about those literary and historical
traditions. The book concludes with a chapter on
"Archaeology and Beowulf" by Hilda Ellis Davidson.
Jack, George, ed. Beowulf: A Student Edition. Rev.
ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997. [UNC owns only the 1994
original edition: PR1580 .J33 1994].
This edition
of Beowulf includes vocabulary and grammatical
notes alongside the text, as well as high-quality notes
on literary, paleographical, and linguistic issues at
the bottom of the page. These features, along with the
short but extremely useful introduction, enable the student
to catch up on some of the basic issues of Beowulf
scholarship pretty quickly. It also includes a glossary,
although an incomplete one. Unfortunately, the vocabulary
alongside the text does include a few errors, so handle
with care.
Beowulf
(Secondary Sources).
Chase, Colin, ed. The Dating of Beowulf. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1981; reprint, 1997. [PR1585
.D37 1997].
This important
volume includes a series of papers given at a 1981 conference
at the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of
Toronto concerning the dating of Beowulf. The list
of names is impressive. Reading this volume, however,
one quickly gets a sense why the problem has been such
a persistent one, as various methods produce convincing,
though often radically different opinions. In any case,
since so many different kinds of evidence are brought
to bear, it’s an excellent way to get a general introduction
to the history and various kinds of Beowulf scholarship.
You do need to find another text to fill in the developments
on the issue of dating since 1981, e.g., the introduction
to George Jack’s glossed edition.
Bibliographies
(Celtic).
Lapidge, Michael and Richard Sharpe. A Bibliography
of Celtic-Latin Literatrure, 400-1200. Dublin: Royal
Irish Academy, 1985. [Davis Ref. z7028 .C44 L36 1985].
This work
is one of the Ancillary Publications of the Royal
Irish Academy's project to compile a Dictionary of
Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources, which will eventually
constitute a lexicon of all medieval Latin composed between
400 and 1200 by Celtic authors of various extractions,
writing either at home or abroad. Additionally,
it includes works written in Celtic-speaking areas, even
if the author was not a native Celtic speaker. This
bibliography is intended to set the scope of works used
in the compilation of that dictionary. Each entry
normally includes (1) bibliographical information for
manuscripts and standard editions, (2) listings in reference
works (where, for example, more bibliographical information
can be found), and (3) comments in the secondary literature
(which are intended to be exhaustive except in the cases
of the most studied texts, where such would be impossible).
Bibliographies
(Latin).
Guidobaldi, Maria Paula and Fabricius Pesando. Scripta
Latina: Index Editionum. Rome: In Aedibus Quasariani,
1993. [Davis Ref. Z7026 .S375 1993].
This volume
is an index of those authors writing in Latin from ancient
times up to the Carolingian age which the compilers consider
to be of the greatest historical importance. It
includes a complete list of works for each author, as
well as each work's standard abbreviation and a reference
to the standard edition.
Mantello, F. A. C. and A. G. Rigg,
eds. Medieval Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical
Guide. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America
Press, 1996. [PA2802 .M43 1996].
McGuire, Martin R. P. and Hermigild
Dressler. Introduction to Medieval Latin Studies: A
Syllabus and Bibliographical Guide. 2d ed. Washington,
DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1977. [Davis
Ref. PA2816 .M24 1977].
This work
provides a select bibliography and very brief descriptions
of the various periods and kinds of Latin used in different
geographical areas during the Middle Ages. It’s an excellent
resource for finding basic references to resources about
specific areas of medieval Latin studies, even though
(having not been revised and updated since 1977) a new
edition of this work is badly needed.
Bibliographies
(Old and Middle English; see also special authors, works).
Burnley, David and Matsuji Tajima.
The Language of Middle English Literature. Annotated
Bibliographies of Old and Middle English Literature 1.
Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1994. [Z2012 .B925 1994].
Easting, Robert. Visions of
the Other World in Middle English. Annotated Bibliographies
of Old and Middle English Literature 3. Cambridge: D.
S. Brewer, 1997. [PR272 .R4 E35 1997].
Greenfield, Stanley B. and Robinson, Fred C. A Bibliography
of Publications on Old English Literature, from the Beginnings
through 1972: Using the Collections of E. E. Ericson.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1980. [Davis Ref.
Z2012 .G83].
This work
(often referred to as "Robinson-Greenfield") is the standard
bibliography of Old English materials, primary and secondary,
up to 1972. It’s the place to go for standard editions
and basic criticism. After 1972, you have to rely on other
sources: the annual bibliographies in the journal Anglo-Saxon
England [DA152.2 .A75], "The Year’s Work in Old English,"
a review of all major work in Old English published annually
in the Old English Newsletter [PE101 .O4], Carl
Berkhout’s annual bibliography (not annotated) published
annually in the Old English Newsletter, and The
Year’s Work in English Studies [PE58 .E6].
Hollis, Stephanie and Michael Wright.
Old English Prose of Secular Learning. Annotated
Bibliographies of Old and Middle English Literature 4. Cambridge:
D. S. Brewer, 1992. [Z2012 .H7 1992].
Lagorio, Valerie Marie and Ritamary
Bradley. The Fourteenth-Century English Mystics: A
Comprehensive Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland,
1981. [Z7819 .L33].
Millett, Bella. “Ancrene Wisse,”
the Katherine Group, and the Wooing Group. Annotated
Bibliographies of Old and Middle English Literature 2.
Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1996. [Z2014 .P795 M55 1996].
Poole, Russell. Old English
Wisdom Poetry. Annotated Bibliographies of Old and
Middle English Literature 5. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer,
1998. [PR215 .P66 1998].
Tajima, Matsuji. Old and Middle
English Language Studies: A Classified Bibliography, 1923-1985.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1988. [Davis
Ref. Z2015 .A1 T3 1988].
Tajima’s
book is pretty much what it sounds like: a categorized
listing of scholarship on Old and Middle English from
1923 to 1985. Many, but not all, of the bibliographic
entries are very briefly annotated to indicate or clarify
their specific subject matter.
CD-ROMs
and Internet Databases (Miscellaneous).
Archive
of Celtic-Latin Literature (ACLL).
Turnhout: Brepols, 1994. [Davis Ref. Elec. Resources 10-135].
This database,
described below, provides full-text versions of many Celtic-Latin
texts as well as references to Lapidge and Sharpe’s bibliography.
It’s more difficult to use than CETEDOC or the Patrologia
Latina Online Database, but invaluable for those interested
in a searching a large online database of Celtic texts.
The “Literature”
guidebook for CD-ROM’s in Davis reference describes
the Archive of Celtic-Latin Literature as follows:
This CD,
which supplements the CETEDOC Library of Christian
Latin Texts (CETEDOC or CLCLT), is a full-text database
of Latin literature produced in Celtic-speaking Europe,
together with the Latin works of the Continental "peregrini"
[that is, by Celtic speakers anywhere in Europe, or
by anyone writing in a geographically Celtic region,
whether they were a native Celtic speaker or not] from
the period 400-1200 A. D. These more than 400 Latin
works, which are not found in CETEDOC, represent the
writings of over 100 known and unknown authors. Among
the subjects covered are theology, liturgy, grammar,
hagiography, poetry, and historiography. Works
include legal texts, charters, inscriptions, etc. ACLL
will be published in a series of three consecutive editions. The
first edition of the archive includes British authors,
authors in Ireland, Irish peregrini on the Continent,
Breton, and Scottish authors. The disk can be searched
in English, French, German, and Italian.
CETEDOC Library of Christian Latin Texts (CLCLT).
2 CD-ROMs. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1991-. [Davis ref.
Elec. Resources serial 10-77].
The "Literature"
guidebook for CD-ROMs in Davis Reference provides the
following description of the CETEDOC Library of Christian
Latin Texts:
CETEDOC
contains a set of 21,600,000 forms, representing virtually
the entirety of the volumes published in the Corpus
Christianorum, both the Series Latina and
the Continuatio Mediaeualis, the opera omnia
of major authors such as Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory
the Great, as well as several works not as yet available
in the Corpus Christianorum but included in the
Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (CSEL)
of Vienna, the Patrologia Latina (PL), or other
collections. The intention of CETEDOC is to produce
a general database of Christian Latin texts and thus
to create a computerized Patrology, without necessarily
stopping at the chronological limits of the ancient
Patrology. The use of this database is situated
in two complimentary perspectives: one documentary,
the other cognitive. In the first, one is concerned
with finding who said what, when, where, and how many
times; to see the precise references of this usage or
that association of terms, to find again the various
uses of texts produced in the course of history. The
second allows for multiple entries into the texts in
order to understand them better. This time one
searches not so much for references as for understanding.
CETEDOC uses a fill-in-the-blank form to perform searches. To
move within the form, use the Page Down and Page Up
keys. Within the form, you can search the entire
database or limit the search by using the filters. The
filters available are: author, title, Clavis number,
and patristic or medieval period. Other function
keys are explained at the top of the screen. For
more information on CETEDOC's search capabilities, filters,
Boolean searching and trucation symbols, see the user's
manual.
International Medieval Bibliography. Turnhout, Belgium:
Brepols, 1995-. [Davis Ref. Elec. Resources serial 10-55].
Since many
of the more broad-rangng bibliographies, such as the MLA
Bibliography, have become progressively less comprehensive
in their coverage of works related to the Middle Ages,
this tool is indispensible as a primary search engine
when begining a medieval-related research project.
The "Reference" guidebook for CD-ROM's
in Davis Reference provides the following description
of the International Medieval Biblography:
This bibliography
of the European Middle Ages (c.450-c.1500) has been
produced in print since 1968 by the International Medieval
Institute (University of Leeds). . . . [It has been
issued in a series of releases, each expanding the number
of years for which it provides cumulative bibliography.
With each release, the bibliography grows in both directions
chronologically, expanding its coverage both towards
the present, and deeper into previous years]. Coverage
is drawn from over 4,000 periodicals as well as from
miscellaneous collections of conference proceedings,
essay collections, and Festschriften. From within
a Guided Search Screen, the following fields are searchable:
Keyword, General Subject, Geographical Area, Century,
Modern Author, Article, Publication, Issue, and Publication
Year. A Browse function allows for an index display
of searches performed in the guide mode. A Free
Search function enables the user to search on every
item within the combined fields, using Boolean operators,
truncation, and date range searching. Searches
may be printed or downloaded, and sorting is possible
(either ascending or descending order) by year, author,
or title.
The Oxford English Dictionary on Compact Disc. 2d
ed. 2 CD-ROMs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. [Davis
Ref. Elec. Resources 10-11].
The "Literature"
guidebook for CD-ROM's in Davis Reference provides the
following description of The Oxford English Dictionary
on Compact Disc:
The principle
behind the OED is to trace the use of every word of
Middle and Modern English . . . [from c. 1100]. The
OED today is the largest reference work on the English
language produced, and is regarded [in many cases] as
the final authority on the subject. The OED on
CD cannot be a substitute for the book itself, since
reading its very long entries on screen (some are as
long as 60,000 words) would be tiring and impractical.
Instead, the OED on CD allows the serious writer, scholar,
and reader to cull precisely the kind of information
that is required from this huge compendium. It is up
to you to decide what sort of information you want--the
structure of the program provides eight basic indexes,
each a category of infomation. You can narrow the
scope of an index to be as specfic as you like. This
second edition of the OED is a Windows compatible version
and uses the Windows format. For more information
on how to use it, see the user's guides. There
is also online help available.
Patrologia Latina Database. 5 CD-ROMs. Alexandria,
VA: Chadwick-Healy, Inc., 1995. [Davis Ref. Elec. Resources
10-99].
The Patrologia
Latina is available in two computerized forms: one
on five-CD-ROMS's and one on the internet. UNC owns only
the 5 CD-ROM version, which is a bit inconvenient since
it requires the user to constantly shift from disk to
disk in order to carry out even the most basic searches. The
internet version is available at Duke's Divinity School
library. Anyone intending to use this database extensively
may want to make the trip to Duke, since this version
is significantly less troublesome to operate. It's important
to point out, though, that the search protocol is a bit
different on the internet version, so you'll have to learn
how to use it if you're only familiar with the CD-ROM
version. The "Literature"
guidebook for CD-ROM's in Davis Reference provides the
following description of the Patrologia Latina Database:
The Patrologia
Latina Database (PLD) contains 221 volumes and represents
a complete electronic edition of the first edition of
Jacques-Paul Migne's Patrologia Latina (1884-1855
& 1862-1865). No part of the original text--preferatory
matter, notes, appendices--has been omitted. A
full list of the principal authors can be found in Appendix
B of the user manual. The main chronological sequence
of the authors in the PLD runs from about 200 AD to
1216 AD (the eve of the Reformation). However, since
Migne himself did incorporate some later medieval texts
into his original edition, the year 1500 has been taken
as a rough dividing line to separate "medieval" from
"modern" authors; and it is possible to query the database
searching only the medieval writings or the later commentary
(see "search" options). While maintaining the integrity
of Migne's editon, the Editorial Board decided that
it would be useful to the user for more recent bibliographic
information to be noted in those cases where Migne's
texts have been questioned by contemporary scholarship. Therefore,
individual documents have been given one or more of
the following codes to denote reference to three standard
reference works: Code C (Dekkers); Code G (Glorieux);
Code S (Solesmis). (For a full description of editorial
criteria & searching capabilities, consult the PLD
user manual.)
Chaucer
(Primary Sources).
Benson, Larry D., gen. ed. The Riverside Chaucer.
3d ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986. [PR1851 .B46 1987].
The standard
edition of the works of Chaucer, superseding F. N. Robinson's
1957 edition. Benson is the general editor, not the editor
of the entire corpus; the included texts have been contributed
and annotated by different individuals and vary in the
degree to which they are truly new editions. Most of them
have been significantly re-edited, but The Canterbury
Tales has not, and differs only very slightly from
Robinson's edition, as Benson indicates. In addition to
the works whose manuscripts ascribe them to Chaucer, The
Riverside Chaucer includes a section of poems not
ascribed to Chaucer in the manuscripts but generally agreed
to be by him, as well as the B and C fragments of The
Romaunt of the Rose, which are not thought by most
to be Chaucer's work. An Equatorie of the Planetis,
which some scholars have argued is by Chaucer, is not
included. The volume includes extensive supporting materials,
including a full introduction plus shorter introductions
to individual works; selective foot-of-page glosses; a
glossary; explanatory notes; partial textual notes; an
index of proper names; and select bibliographies.
Bryan, W. F. and Germaine Dempster, eds. Sources and
Analogues of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1941; reprint, 1958. [PR1912 .A2 B7].
Often referred
to informally as "Bryan and Dempster." Though several
decades old, still a useful resource. The most significant
point on which it is incorrect is its inclusion of the
Italian writer Sercambi's Novelle as a probable
influence on The Canterbury Tales: it is now known
that the composition of the Novelle was too late
for this to have been possible. A significantly revised
and updated version is in production and will supersede
this work; reports on the new project's progress can be
found on the Chaucertext website (http://www.winthrop.edu/chaucertext).
Crow, Martin M. and Clair C. Olson, eds. Chaucer Life-Records.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966. [PR1905 .C7].
An edition
of the known historical documents pertaining to the life
and doings of Chaucer, often referred to informally as
"Crow and Olson." For the most part still authoritative;
but for a much-discussed recent development, see Christopher
Cannon, "Raptus in the Chaumpaigne Release and
a Newly Discovered Document Concerning the Life of Geoffrey
Chaucer," Speculum 68 (1993): 74-94; and Henry
Angsar Kelly, "Meanings and Uses of Raptus in Chaucer's
Time," Studies in the Age of Chaucer 20 (1998):
101-65.
Havely, N. R. ed. and trans. Chaucer's Boccaccio: Sources
of Troilus and The Knight's and Franklin's Tales. Woodbridge,
Suffolk: D. S. Brewer, 1980. [PR1912.B6 1980].
Windeatt, Barry A., ed. and trans. Chaucer's Dream
Poetry: Sources and Analogues. Woodbridge, Suffolk:
D. S. Brewer, 1982. [PR1912 .A2 C5 1982].
Chaucer
(Secondary Sources).
Beidler, Peter G. and Elizabeth
M. Biebel, eds. Chaucer’s “Wife of Bath’s Prologue”
and “Tale”: An Annotated Bibliography, 1900 to 1995.
The Chaucer Bibliographies 6. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1998. [PR1868 .W7 C38 1998].
Benson, Larry D. A Glossarial Concordance to the Riverside
Chaucer. 2 vols. New York: Garland, 1993. [Davis Ref.
PR1941 .B46 1993].
This two-volume
work is a concordance of words occurring in The Riverside
Chaucer. An integrated concordance of all works generally
agreed by scholars to be by Chaucer occupies volume 1.
Volume 2, the Supplemental Concordance, includes words
occurring in fragments B and C of The Romaunt of the
Rose, which are not usually thought to be Chaucer's,
along with words occurring in a couple of other short
works of dubious authenticity. Because this is a glossarial
concordance, it lists words, not forms; this means that
inflected forms, alternative spellings appearing in The
Riverside Chaucer, etc., are included together under
a head word with the form used in the glossary to that
edition. Because this is an edition-specific concordance
(like most concordances), it does not account for variants
that have been editorially suppressed; this should be
remembered because of the extraordinarily complex manuscript
record for some of Chaucer's works, in particular The
Canterbury Tales.
Brewer, Derek S. Chaucer. 3d ed. London: Longmans,
1973. [PR1924 .B73 1973].
Still a
standard biography of Chaucer, but see also the more recent
biography by Derek Pearsall (below). This 1973 third edition
of Brewer's biography is the product of extensive revision
of and additions to the second edition.
Burton, T. L. and Rosemary Greentree,
eds. Chaucer’s “Miller’s,” “Reeve’s,” and “Cook’s Tales”:
An Annotated Bibliography, 1900 to 1992. The Chaucer
Bibliographies 5. Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
1997. [Z8164 .C438 1997].
Eckhardt, Caroline D. Chaucer’s
“General Prologue” to “The Canterbury Tales”: An Annotated
Bibliography, 1900 to 1982. The Chaucer Bibliographies
3. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989. [Z8164
.E25 1989].
Glowka, Arthur Wayne. A Guide to Chaucer's Meter.
New York: University Press of America, 1991. [PR1951 .G57
1991].
Lambdin, Laura T. and Robert T. Lambdin, eds. Chaucer’s
Pilgrims: An Historical Guide to the Pilgrims in
The Canterbury Tales. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
1996. [PR1875 .O26 C48 1996].
A collection
of essays by different authors, each focusing on a single
Canterbury Tales pilgrim and introducing his or
her occupation or social status in its late medieval historical
context. The chapters are not intended to advance theses
so much as to digest current knowledge; they vary in quality.
Lerer, Seth. Chaucer and His Readers: Imagining the Author
in Late-Medieval England. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1993. [PR1924 .L38 1993].
A study
of Chaucer's reception in the fifteenth century, with
an emphasis on the formation of the Chaucer canon and
the early development of what would become enduring conceptions
of Chaucer.
Mann, Jill. Chaucer and Medieval Estates Satire: The
Literature of Social Classes and the General Prologue to
The Canterbury Tales. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1973. [PR1868 .P9 M3].
A study
of the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
that situates it, and by extension The Canterbury
Tales as a whole, in the context of traditional medieval
discourse about the three estates of society (those who
govern, those who labor, and those who pray). Later scholars
have sometimes argued that Mann is wrong in her vision
of this or that character (for instance the Pardoner:
see C. David Benson, "Chaucer's Pardoner: His Sexuality
and Modern Critics," Mediaevalia 8 [1985 for 1982]:
337-49; and Richard Firth Green, "The Sexual Normality
of Chaucer's Pardoner," Mediaevalia 8 [1985 for
1982]: 351-58), but Mann's book remains influential.
McAlpine, Monica E. Chaucer’s “Knight’s
Tale”: An Annotated Bibliography, 1900 to 1985. The
Chaucer Bibliographies 4. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1991. [Z8164 .M22 1991].
Minnis, A. J. Chaucer and Pagan Antiquity. Cambridge:
D. S. Brewer, 1982. [PR1933 .R4 M566 1982].
Oizumi, Akio. A Complete Concordance to the Works
of Geoffrey Chaucer. 12 vols. Hildesheim: Olms-Weidmann,
1991. [Davis Ref. PR1941 .C667 1991].
This work
is a complete concordance to The Riverside Chaucer--complete
in its inclusion even of words such as "and" and "the."
Words are presented in the KWIC format, which places the
key word in the center of the page and gives as much context
as will fit on either side of it. There are some
important differences between this concordance and Benson's
(see above). First, this is a concordance of forms,
not of words; this means that each inflected form, alternative
spelling appearing in The Riverside Chaucer, etc.
appears separately, not as part of a single-word grouping.
Finding all instances of the verb "holden" requires looking
up all its possible forms and spellings. Second,
Oizumi's concordance is actually not a single concordance,
but a collection of separate concordances for each of
Chaucer's works: volumes 1-4 cover The Canterbury
Tales, volume 7 covers Troilus and Criseyde,
etc. However, volume 10, the integrated word index,
prevents users from having to look up every form in the
separate concordance for each work. Third, the listings
for The Canterbury Tales list the fragments of
that work not by their usual numerical designations (fragment
IV, etc.), but by their alphabetic designations in accordance
with an alternative order for the tales (based on a passe
scholarly hypothesis called the Bradshaw Shift, for which
there is no manuscript evidence). Like Benson's
concordance, Oizumi's is edition-specific. Oizumi's
final two volumes, 11 and 12, contain supplementary lists:
rhyme concordances, rhyme-word indexes, and frequency
tabulations of rhyme words, rhyme schemes, and rhyme structures.
Owen, Charles A., Jr. The Manuscripts
of “The Canterbury Tales.” Cambridge: D. S. Brewer,
1991. [PR1875 .T48 O94 1991].
Oxford Guides To Chaucer series:
Cooper, Helen. Oxford Guides to Chaucer:
The Canterbury Tales. 2d ed. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1996. [PR1874 .C64 1996].
Minnis, A. J. with V. J. Scattergood and Jeremy J.
Smith. Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Shorter Poems.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995. [PR1924 .M47 1995].
Windeatt, Barry. Oxford Guides to Chaucer: Troilus
and Criseyde. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992. [PR
1896 .W56 1992].
The Oxford Guides
to Chaucerseries, written by Helen Cooper, Barry Windeatt,
and A. J. Minnis et al., is an unusually thorough late-college
or graduate-level introduction to Chaucer's works and
remains useful to initiates for quick reference. The
three-volume series treats most of Chaucer's recognized
writings, excluding only two prose works (Boece
and A Treatise on the Astrolabe), and the volume
on The Shorter Poems includes a brief section
on Chaucer's language by Jeremy J. Smith. All three
installments of the series were first published in or
after 1989, and Cooper's has already come out in a revised
second edition, so these handbooks are relatively up-to-date.
Each chapter or section of each book includes some bibliography,
but this tends to be sketchy, because the emphasis of
the series is not on surveying past scholarship. Instead,
the method is to present basically mainstream understanding
flavored by the insights and preferences of these books'
individual authors, each of whom is a firmly established
scholar. This approach does mean that a reader is implicitly
asked to trust the judgment of these writers on certain
matters, which probably will not cause trouble in most
cases; but a reader who approaches this series already
having a years-old bone to pick with one of the authors
will predictably not be fully satisfied with his or
her contribution.
Peck, Russell A. Chaucer’s Lyrics
and “Anelida and Arcite”: An Annotated Bibliography, 1900
to 1980. The Chaucer Bibliographies 1. Toronto: University
of Toronto Press, 1983. [Z8164 .P42 1983].
Peck, Russell A. Chaucer’s “Romaunt
of the Rose” and “Boece,” “Treatise on the Astrolabe,”
“Equatorie of the Planetis,” Lost Works, and Chaucerian
Apocrypha: An Annotated Bibliography, 1900-1985. The
Chaucer Bibliographies 2. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1988. [Z8164 .P425 1988].
Pearsall, Derek. The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer: A Critical
Biography. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992.
Pinti, Daniel J., ed. Writing
after Chaucer: Essential Readings in Chaucer and the Fifteenth
Century. New York: Garland, 1998. [PR293 .W74 1998].
Chaucer’s
influence on the fifteenth century—and the fifteenth century’s
influence on “Chaucer” as we conceive of him and his canon—is
an important and increasingly popular area of research
(and one which frequently turns up on exams in one form
or another). This recent contribution to that discussion
is a collection of solid essays by prominent Chaucer scholars:
a very useful introduction.
Rand Schmidt, Kari Anne. The Authorship of "The Equatorie
of the Planetis." Woodbridge, Suffolk: D. S. Brewer,
1993. [PR1911 .R36 1993].
A detailed
study of The Equatorie of the Planetis, a work
some scholars have suspected to be by Chaucer, in an attempt
to resolve the question of its authorship on linguistic
grounds. Rand Schmidt compares the Equatorie
to Chaucer's one known scientific work, A Treatise
on the Astrolabe, and to his other known prose writings.
She concludes that Chaucer's prose is not stylistically
consistent enough to provide a basis for confident
judgment, and that therefore the linguistic evidence is
insufficient to prove or disprove Chaucer's authorship.
Rand Schmidt does note, however, that the Equatorie
and the Treatise have more features in common than
the Treatise has with other prose works known to
be by Chaucer. In addition to about 100 pages of
analysis and argumentation, Rand Schmidt's book includes
full photographic facsimiles and transcriptions of the
Equatorie, the Treatise, and two non-Chaucerian
scientific prose works in Middle English, as well as a
full concordance to the Equatorie.
Rowland, Beryl, ed. Companion to Chaucer Studies.
Rev. ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. [PR1924
.R68 1979].
Contains
22 chapters, each on a different topic and each commissioned
from an established scholar. Twenty of the chapters were
updated to reflect scholarly activity since the first
edition's publication in 1968; two new chapters were added
("Chaucer, the Church, and Religion" by Robert W. Ackerman
and "The Legend of Good Women" by John H. Fisher).
These two new chapters replaced two original chapters
on other subjects, whose authors did not revise them for
inclusion in the revised edition ("Chaucer and Fourteenth-Century
Society" by Clair C. Olson and "Chaucer's Influence on
Fifteenth-Century Poetry" by Denton Fox); these two omitted
chapters, particularly Fox's, are still useful introductions
(though dated) and can be found in the 1968 first edition.
Sutton, Marilyn, ed. Chaucer’s
“Pardoner’s Prologue” and “Tale”: An Annotated Bibliography,
1900 to 1995. The Chaucer Bibliographies 7. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 2000. [PR1868 .P4 S8 2000].
Chronologies,
etc.
Fryde, E. B., et al. Handbook of British Chronology.
3d ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
[Davis Ref. DA34 .H28 1996].
Concordances,
etc. (Middle English; see also special authors, works).
Preston, Michael James. A Concordance to the Middle English
Shorter Poem. 2 vols. Leeds: W. S. Maney and Son Ltd.,
1975. [Davis Ref. PR1175.8 .P7].
This is
a form concordance to ten prominent editions of Middle
English lyric poems, which are listed in the front of
volume 1. The concordance is to these editions, not to
the words as they appear in the manuscripts (a potentially
important distinction where there may have been editorial
emendations), and because it is a form concordance rather
than a glossarial concordance, variant or inflected forms
of the same word are listed separately, not grouped together
under a single lemma. Though Preston’s concordance is
not comprehensive for the Middle English lyric, it does
cover a great many of these short poems (and all of the
familiar ones), sometimes in multiple manuscript realizations.
Saito, Toshio, Mitsunori Imai, and Kunihiro Miki. A Concordance
to Middle English Metrical Romances. Frankfurt am Main:
Verlag Peter Lang, 1988. [Folio PR321 .S25 1988].
Concordances,
etc. (Old English; see also special authors, works).
Bessinger, J. B. Jr. with Philip H. Smith and Michael
W. Twomey. A Concordance to "The Anglo-Saxon Poetic
Records." Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1978.
[Davis Ref. PR1506 .B47 1978].
Venezky, Richard L., ed. A Microfiche Concordance
to Old English. Newark: University of Delaware, 1980.
[Davis Ref. Microfiche 30-13].
This important
tool is a near-exhaustive concordance of every word in
the Old English corpus. It is an extremely powerful tool
for determining the semantic range of individual words
in Old English, the occurrence of certain word-forms,
etc.—anything for which you might use a concordance. It
is important to remember, though, that the Old English
forms are not regularized, and so you do have to account
for spelling variants.
Critical
Anthologies.
Greenfield, Stanley B. and Daniel G. Calder with Michael
Lapidge. A New Critical History of Old English Literature.
New York: New York University Press, 1986. [PR173 .G73
1986].
This basic
work on Old English literature (often referred to as "Greenfield-Calder")
provides a basic introduction to various genres of Old
English and some of the general lines of critical thought
applied to them. Chapters are not limited to literature
per se, as chapter four, for instance, includes a discussion
of legal and scientific texts. Also, it provides a bibliography
of scholarship in Old English literature in the back,
continuing from where Robinson-Greenfield left off (1972)
up to the time of this volume’s publication. There’s also
an excellent introductory chapter on Anglo-Latin.
Godden, Malcolm and Michael Lapidge,
eds. The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature.
New York: Cambridge University, Press, 1991. [PR173 .C36
1991].
This basic
anthology of criticism includes articles on some major
topics in Old English literature written by top-notch
scholars in their areas. Like Greenfield-Calder, it’s
an excellent introduction to some of the basic lines of
critical thought in Old English literary studies.
O'Keefe, Katherine O'Brien, ed. Reading Old English Texts.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. [PR173 .O38
1997].
This recent
work provides an introduction to and history of the basic
approaches to reading Old English texts. Topics include
everything from theoretical and feminist approaches to
comparative literature and computer-based approaches.
It’s a thin volume, but an important one. It contains
an excellent introduction on the history of Old English
textual studies by Katherine O’Brien O’Keefe.
Dictionaries
and Etymological Works (Germanic).
Bosworth, Joseph. An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Based
on the Manuscript Collections of Joseph Bosworth. Supplement,
by Northcote Toller, enl. Addenda and Corrigenda, by Alistair
Campbell. London: Oxford University Press, 1972. [Davis
Ref. PE279 .B52 1972 Suppl.].
This large
volume (usually referred to as "Bosworth-Toller") is still
the standard dictionary of Old English. It is in the process
of being superseded by the Dictionary of Old English,
developed by the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University
of Toronto, which is currently releasing its work in fascicles.
Cameron, Angus, et al., eds. Dictionary of Old English
[microfiche]. Toronto: Published for the Dictionary
of Old English Project, Centre for Medieval Studies, University
of Toronto, by the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies,
1986-. [Davis Ref. Microfiche 30-55].
When finished,
this work (referred to as the "DOE") will be the
standard dictionary of Old English. Right now, the project,
undertaken by the Centre for Medieval Studies as the University
of Toronto, has only been partially completed—see the
UNC online catalog for the latest letter that has been
completed. Regular updates on the progress of the project
appear in the Old English Newsletter.
Craigie, William A., ed. A Dictionary of the Older Scottish
Tongue. 8 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1937-. [Davis Ref. PE2116 .C7].
Along with
the Scottish National Dictionary, this work is
one of the two major historical dictionaries of the Scots
language. It professes to cover the period from the twelfth
century to the end of the seventeenth, so it is particularly
useful for Middle Scots (more so than The Scottish
National Dictionary, which only aims to include those
words known to have been in use since c. 1700). The work
consists of eight volumes, but the last is incomplete.
De Vries, Jan. Altnordisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch.
Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1961. [Davis Ref. PD1805 .V7].
The expressed
purpose of this work is to provide an etymological dictionary
of Old Norse, but—if you have an ON cognate—it’s good
for Germanic etymology in general.
Grant, William. ed. The Scottish National Dictionary.
10 vols. Edinburgh: The Scottish National Dictionary Association,
1931-75. [Davis Ref. PE2106 .S4].
This ten-volume
work is one of the 2 major dictionaries of the Scots language,
the other being Craigie's Dictionary of the Older Scottish
Tongue. However, since it only professes to cover
those words known to have been in use since c. 1700, it
is less useful for Middle Scots than Craigie's dictionary.
Feist, Sigmund. Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der Gotischen
Sprache. 3d ed. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1939. [PD1193 .F42
1939].
Frank, Roberta and Angus Cameron, eds. A Plan for
the Dictionary of Old English. Toronto: University
of Toronto Press, 1973. [PE273 .P5].
Holthausen, Ferdinand. Altenglisches Etymologisches
Wörterbuch. 2d ed. Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1963.
[PE263 .H6 1963].
The standard
etymological dictionary of Old English—it’s old, but still
useful. You will want to compare the information here
with that found elsewhere if possible.
Jóhannesson, Alexander. Isländisches Etymologisches
Wörterbuch. Bern: A. Francke, 1951-1956. [PD2363
.J6].
Kluge, Friedrich. Etymologisches Wörterbuch der
Deutschen Sprache. 22d ed. New York: de Gruyter, 1989.
[Davis Ref. PF3580 .K5 1989].
Lehmann, Winfred Philip. A Gothic Etymological Dictionary.
Leiden: Brill, 1986. [PD1193 .L435 1986].
This work
is based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wörterbuch
der Gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist (above).
Middle English Dictionary. Ann Arbor: University
of Michigan Press, 1954-. [Davis Ref. PE679 .M54].
This work,
usually referred to as the "MED," is the standard
reference dictionary of Middle English. It contains thorough
entries with illustrative examples and excellent etymological
information. It is still a work in progress, but it's
nearing completion: in January of 2000, it was complete
through the letter "W." The MED has had a series
of editors-in-chief: Hans Kurath (A-F), Sherman M. Kuhn
(G-P), and Robert E. Lewis (Q-present); it is sometimes
(though now only rarely and inaccurately) referred to
as "Kurath and Kuhn" or just "Kurath." Two important ancillary
volumes are shelved with the dictionary itself: Hans Kurath,
Margaret S. Ogden, Charles E. Palmer, and Richard L. McKelvey,
Middle English Dictionary: Plan and Bibliography
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1954); and Mary
Jane Williams, Middle English Dictionary: Plan and
Bibliography, Supplement I (Ann Arbor: University
of Michigan Press, 1984).
Onions, C. T. The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966. [Davis Ref. Desk PE1580
.O5].
This work
(often referred to as "Onion’s Etymologies") is
an important source to consult for Modern English etymology,
as it often has more accurate information than the OED.
Watkins, Calvert. ed. The American Heritage Dictionary
of Indo-European Roots. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.,
c1985. [Davis Ref. Desk P615 .A43 1985].
This work
provides a list of the Indo-European roots for all the
words in the American Heritage Dictionary which have a
known Indo-European root. Its scope, therefore,
is limited to the English language; and while it lists
a small number of important cognates with other major
Indo-European languages (mainly Germanic and specifically
Old Norse because of its relevance to the history of English),
it does not attempt to cover them in any systematic way.
It's important to point out that this work is not a complete
list of Indo-European roots, since those roots which don't
have an English reflex are not included. Furthermore,
since the work is focused on English, the root forms are
listed without laryngeals, since these are irrelevant
to the history of Germanic. The work was published
three separate times, all of which are slightly different
even though they are not labeled as separate editions.
These are referred to as AHD1, AHD2, and
AHD3; the later versions are not necessarily more
complete than the earlier ones--each contains information
that the others do not. AHD1, the original
version, was published in the back of the American Heritage
Dictionary as an appendix. Later, the decision was
made to publish this appendix as a separate volume, known
as AHD2. Finally, the work was re-installed
in the back of the American Heritage Dictionary again
as appendix, and this version is known as AHD3.
This work is frequently misused by scholars who treat
it as if it were a complete dictionary of Indo-European
roots, and who ignore the fact that it is specifically
focused on those roots relevant to the English language.
The only "complete" etymological dictionary of Indo-European
roots is Julius Pokorny's Indogermanisches Etymologisches
Wörterbuch, which is badly out of date (e.g.,
it was published before laryngeals were known about) and
incomplete. Unfortunately, despite its problems, Pokorny
is the best work of its kind available today.
Dictionaries
and Etymological Works (Latin).
Ernout, Alfred. Dictionnaire étymologique de
la langue latine. 4th ed., rev. and updated by A Meillet.
Paris: Klincksieck, 1960. [Davis Ref. PA2342 .E7 1960].
Grösse, Johann Georg Theodor. Orbis Latinus:
Lexikon lateinischer Namen des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit.
Ed. Helmut Plechl with Sophie-Charlotte Plechl. 3 vols.
Braunschweig: Klinkhardt and Biermann, 1972. [Davis Ref.
G107 .G8 1972].
An onomasticon
of Latin place-names that gives their vernacular equivalents.
This is a useful resource, because medieval Latin place-names
frequently do not have obvious correspondences with the
familiar modern names.
Latham, R. E. Revised Medieval Latin Word-List from British
and Irish Sources. London: Oxford University Press,
1964. [PA2891 .L3].
This one-volume
work is a dictionary of medieval Latin, based on the specialized
semantics these words often took on in British and Irish
sources. Be careful not to mistake it with its forerunner
(without "Revised" in the title), or the much more
weighty Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources
by the same author (see below).
Latham, R. E. Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British
Sources. London: Oxford University Press, 1975-. [Davis
Ref. PA2891 .L28].
This important
work is, just as it claims to be, a dictionary of medieval
Latin based on the specialized semantics certain Latin
words took on in British sources. It makes an attempt
to provide illustrative examples. It is currently a work
in progress (completed up to the letter "L" in Jan. 2000)
under the editorial leadership of David Howlett (of "books
in biblical style" fame).
Niermeyer, Jan Frederik and C. Van de Kieft. Mediae Latinitatis
Lexicon Minus. New York: Brill, 1976. [Davis
Ref. PA2364 .N5 197].
This lexicon
covers Late Antique and Medieval Latin in a one-volume
handbook intended for quick reference, which is more up-to-date
and easy to use than the "Old Du Cange" dictionary.
(A "New Du Cange" is in preparation, and will be
for a long time to come. It, like the "Old Du
Cange," will also have the disadvantage of being too
bulky for quick reference). Niermeyer does not focus
on providing a lexicon derived from belles-lettres,
but rather the "great body of technical words which .
. . denote the concepts belonging to the wide field of
law and institutions, to describe the social facts referred
to in charters, laws, and chronicles." It provides
definitions in both French and English, occasional, brief
etymological infomation (usually limited to what language
a word was borrowed from), and representative quotations.
Oxford Latin
Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1982. [Davis Ref. PA 2365 .E5 O9 1982].
This lexicon
is the standard dictionary of Classical Latin, covering
the period from the beginnings to approximately 200 A.D. This
scope is roughly defined, however, since works such as
the Digests of Justinian (early 3rd century) are
covered, while early Christian Latin, even those texts
composed before the end of the second century, are not
included. Its layout is based on the format of the Oxford
English Dictionary. Each entry, based on a new
reading of the primary texts, is quite extensive, including
the word itself, exhaustive definitions supported by ample
quotations, brief grammatical and etymological information
(frequently including cognates in certain other major
Indo-European languages), and the morphological elements
of a word’s formation. One innovation in this dictionary
is the inclusion of separate entries on the principal
suffixes used in Latin word-formation.
Souter, Alexander. A Glossary of
Later Latin. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949; reprint,
1957. [Davis Ref. PA 2308 .S6 1957].
This lexicon,
begun under the editorship of Alexander Souter, the first
editor of the the Oxford Latin Dictionary (OLD),
intends to pick up where OLD leaves of (i.e., c. 180 A.
D.) and continue to c. 600 A. D. This stipulation
applies only to the date when the words or word-forms
are first attested, even if there is evidence that such
words may have been in use much earlier. Given its stated
period of coverage, this work is good for Christian authors
(otherwise uncovered by the OLD) such as Augustine, Boethius,
Gregory the Great, Gregory of Tours, Caesarius of Arles,
and Cassiodorus, though not for even slightly later medieval
authors such as Isidore of Seville and the Venerable Bede. The
entries are rather sparse, especially for the most common
words. Generally, just the word, its definition(s),
and its basic grammatical information areincluded, though
occasionally one may find brief citation references, date
of probable first attestation, and even more occasionally
a note on the word’s history in certain European vernacular
languages. In 1957, the Glossary was “reprinted
from corrected sheets of the first edition.”
Walde, Alois and J. B. Hofmann. Lateinisches Etymologisches
Wörterbuch. 3 vols. Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1938-56.
[Davis Ref. PA2342 .W2 1938].
Dictionaries
and Etymological Works (Old Irish).
Dictionary of the Irish Language:
Based Mainly on Old and Middle Irish Materials. Dublin:
Royal Irish Academy, 1913-76. [Davis Ref. PB1291 .R7].
Compact edition (1983): [folio PB1291 .D49 1983].
The Dictionary
of the Irish Language (DIL) is the standard
dictonary of Old and Middle Irish. It is, however,
an extremely problematic work, and it is certainly worth
reading the introduction before attempting to use it--doing
so will help prepare you for at least some of the difficulties
you will likely encouter. The most obvious problem
with this work is that it includes only the barest cross-referencing
of the many various orthographical forms of Old and Middle
Irish words, so it's extremely difficult to find the entry
you're looking for if you aren't already familiar with
the common practices of Old and Middle Irish orthography.
Even more frustrating is the inconsistency of the kinds
of information provided in the work: some sections of
the Dictionary are more complete than others: for
some letters of the alphabet, a full listing of occuring
nominal and verbal inflections is provided, but for others
this information is not provided. Likewise, for
some letters of the alphabet, proper names of literary
significance are included, but they are left out elsewhere.
In addition to these problems, its etymological information
is seriously out of date (one should consult Vendryes'
Lexique étymologique de l'irlandais ancien,
though this, too, is a bit out of date). Despite
these problems, it is still an impressive work and the
only usable dictionary of Old and Middle Irish. Many of
the problems that it contains result from the mere skeleton
crew of scholars who put it together, working heroically
under very taxing conditions. The Dictionary
exists in two forms, a multivolume edition and a compact,
single-volume editon, which are identical in content.
Vendryes, Joseph. Lexique étymologique de l'irlandais
ancien. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies,
1959-. [Davis Ref. PB1288 .V4].
This is
the standard etymological ditionary of Old Irish.
Though it's a bit out of date, it's certainly preferable
to the etymological information provided in the Dictionary
of the Irish Language, which is seriously out of date
and quite often incorrect.
Editing.
McCarran, Vincent P. and Douglas
Moffat, eds. A Guide to Editing Middle English.
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998. [PR275
.T45 G85 1998].
McCarran
and Moffat have assembled a volume whose usefulness extends
beyond what its title suggests. The book’s primary target
audience is those who are or will be involved in editing
Middle English texts; but many of its chapters—especially
the early ones, which give a good overview of ways modern
scholars and textual critics conceive of the medieval
text and the appropriate goals of an editor—will be of
interest to others as well. The later chapters are explorations
of and advice concerning the specific types of problems
editors encounter when working with particular types of
texts. McCarran and Moffat conclude with some useful appendices,
such as a list of dictionaries of use to an editor of
Middle English and a list of published facsimiles of Middle
English manuscripts.
Encyclopedic
Works.
Biggs, Frederick M., Thomas D. Hill, and Paul Szarmach,
eds. Sources of Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture: a Trial
Version. Binghamton, NY: Center for Medieval and Early
Renaissance Studies, State University of New York at Binghamton,
1990. [Z2012 .S58 1990].
Cross, F. L. and E. A. Livingstone, eds. Oxford Dictionary
of the Christian Church. 3d ed. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1997. [Davis Ref. BR95 .O8 1997].
Farmer, David Hugh. Oxford Dictionary of Saints.
4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. [Davis
Ref. BR1710 .F34 1997].
A very handy
and thorough alphabetical listing of Christian saints,
with a short article for each saint summarizing his or
her traditional story, associations, and feast day.
Each article is followed by a bibliographical note indicating
the resources upon which Farmer has drawn for his information.
Although these bibliographical notes make no claim of
comprehensiveness, they are one means of finding some
of the major written accounts of particular saints.
Note that this reference tool is not designed exclusively
for medievalists and does contain post-medieval material.
Kibler, William W. and Grovera A. Zinn, eds. Medieval
France: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 1995. [Davis
Ref. DC33.2 .M44 1995].
Lapidge, Michael, et al., eds. The Blackwell Encyclopaedia
of Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford: Blackwell, 1999. [Davis
Ref. DA152 .B58 1999].
This recent
work has good, if rather short entries on all things related
to Anglo-Saxon England. Since its focus is on Anglo-Saxon
England, it tends to be more complete than Szarmach’s
Medieval England: An Encyclopedia. The work has
excellent but brief bibliography at the end of each entry,
so it’s a good place to go for references to standard
editions, etc.
New Catholic Encyclopedia. 19 vols. New York: McGraw-Hill,
1967-. [Davis Ref. BX841 .N45 1967].
Ogilvy, Jack David Angus. Books Known to the English,
597-1066. Cambridge, MA: Mediaeval Academy of America,
1967. [Z6602 .O35].
For a long
time, this very incomplete work was the only one that
attempted to catalog all of the major resources available
to the English during the early Middle Ages. It
is now in the process of being superseded by the SASLC
project. It's important to emphasize that this work
is very incomplete and out of date, even taking into account
Ogilvy's corrections, published later (Books Known
to the English, 597-1066: Addenda et Corrigenda [Binghamton,
NY: Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies,
State University of New York--Binghamton, 1985]). [Z6602
.O35]; volume of addenda and corrigenda, [Z6602 .O455
1985].
Pulsiano, Phillip, et al., eds. Medieval Scandinavia:
An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 1993. [Davis Ref.
DL30 .M43 1993].
Strayer, Joseph R., ed.-in-chief. Dictionary of the
Middle Ages. 13 vols. New York: Scribner, c1982-c1989.
[Davis Ref. D114 .D5 1982].
This thirteen-volume
work contains encyclopedia-type entries, usually several
pages long, on all topics related to the Middle Ages.
It’s a good place to go for the basic facts and some of
the basic scholarly points-of-view on a particular topic.
Also, though a work like this gets out of date pretty
quickly, it’s a fair source to go to for basic bibliography,
since each entry ends with a basic list of primary and
secondary related sources.
Szarmach, Paul E., M. Theresa Tavormina, and Joel T. Rosenthal,
eds. Medieval England: An Encyclopedia. New York:
Garland, 1998. [Davis Ref. DA129 .M43 1998].
This recent
work has a series of good, short entries on some major
issues related to the Old and Middle English periods (several
of which were written by our own UNC faculty). The entries
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