Porter, David W., Excerptiones de Prisciano (Anglo-Saxon Texts 4, 2002). ISBN: 859916359
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Text name(s): Ælfric's Latin Grammar; Excerptiones de Prisciano

Number of pages of primary source text: 282

Medieval Author(s): Aelfric Priscian

Dates: 940 - 960

Archival Reference:

Original Language(s): Latin;

Translation: Original language included. English translation.

Translation Comments: facing-page

Geopolitical Region(s): England;

County/Region:

Apparatus: Index Glossary Appendices Bibliography Introduction

Comments:

In extensive endnotes, Porter notes the sources for all of the excerpts (which must have required intense research to find). Appendix I contains Scholia to the Excerptiones de Prisciano. Appendix II notes the textual apparatus, such as rubricated initials. Appendix III is a glossary of tree names. Appendix IV lists the foliation of the Antwerp-London Manuscript. There is a brief glossary of grammatical terms, and a brief index. The amount of work that Porter put into this volume is impressive, and it makes a fascinating study for anyone interested in the history of languages.

Introduction Summary:

The introduction (39 pp.) explains that the Excerptiones de Prisciano, a collection of excerpts from the Byzantine grammarian Priscian, was probably compiled in England in the mid-tenth century. Ælfric used this as the source for his Grammar, written in Anglo-Saxon around the turn of the eleventh century. This was the first work to use English to teach Latin. Porter lists the extant manuscripts of the Excerptiones and their stemma and provenance. He then discusses Priscian and his influence on European learning. He traces how the text made its way from Constantinople (where it was first published in 526) to England via Carolingian Europe. He addresses the question of who authored the Latin Excerptiones; it might have been Ælfric himself. Porter discusses the relationship of Ælfric’s Grammar to the Excerptiones. He also describes his editorial method, and the difficulties of translating such a long technical text.

Cataloger: MK