428

NOTES AND QUERIES

December 1993
English poems Judith, Juliana, and Elene [pp.
vii + 209. American University Studies, Series
IV English Language and Literature, vol. 135.
New York, San Francisco, Berne, Frankfurt am
Main, Paris, London: Peter Lang, 1991], with a
very free translation on facing pages, an en-
thusiastic introduction, three impressionistic
afterwords, and three line-drawings, one of each
of the three valiant ladies. Perhaps halige
meowle at line 56 sufficiently justifies calling
Judith a saint. Of Elene we learn that she
succeeds in what she sets out to do, 'and part of
the reason for her success is her display of
military power'. As has often been said, the
martial element is important in the biblical para-
phrase of Judith and the two saints' lives.
It would be easy to mock some of the details.
This is not a contribution to scholarship; nor
does it aim at that. It is not an ignorant book, and
the author shows wide reading in relatively
recent criticism. I could well imagine that Marie
Nelson, 'the only Anglo-Saxonist at the Univer-
sity of Florida' holds the attention of her classes.
They will include many to whom Anglo-Saxon
England is not an open book, they will include
more to whom pedantic textual and historical,
medieval scholarship is a firmly closed book. If
they read some of the better items in the biblio-
graphical lists, and understand the underlying
seriousness of the author of this book they may
be brought to see in Old English poetry and its
scholarship, in so far as they are able to sample
it, a world not represented elsewhere in their
studies.
Some of the statements made by the author,
arguing against opinions with which she dis-
agrees, make good sense: 'It does not seem to me
that there is any more despair on the part of
Judith in the Old English poem than there was in
the Vulgate.' In connection with Juliana, Nelson
replies to a critic who has in mind the kind of
reader to whom 'virgin martyrs were the pin-ups
of the persecuted church': 'but not this reader'.
She herself follows a critic who 'presents a
kinder view of Elene's verbal behavior than
either Greenfield, one of the four critics [J. P.]
Hermann charges with failure to speak out
against anti-Semitism, or Hermann himself'.
Marie Nelson writes for an audience of non-
medievalists; she is free from much critical
jargon, and does not give in to politically correct
fashion when she thinks the fashion miscon-
ceived.
E. G. STANLEY
Pembroke College, Oxford
C. J. SUMMERS's E. M. Forster: A Guide to
Research [pp. xviii + 405 (Garland Reference
Library of the Humanities, vol. 1101). New
York and London: Garland, 1991. $48.00]
completes the basic reference library in biblio-
graphy of the student of E. M. Forster. Such a
scholar and/or critic will already have access to
the precursor of this volume, F. P. W. McDow-
ell's E. M. Forster: An Annotated Bibliography
of Writings about Him, 1976, and B. J. Kirk-
patrick's A Bibliography ofE. M. Forster, 2nd
ed., 1985. The high bibliographical standards of
these two works are maintained by Summers.
The student of E. M. Forster is trebly fortunate
to have such resources.
JOHN GILLARD WATSON
Oxford
Notes
THE ALDHELM GLOSS
CONSTANTINA : DEMERA (ClGll)
COTTON CLEOPATRA A. iii, a fair copy of
several distinct glossaries arranged in two
columns per page, with the Old English inter-
pretations above the Latin lemmata, was written
in the middle of the tenth century, presumably at
St Augustine's, Canterbury.' Its first part is an a-
order glossary which breaks off in the middle of
the letter P. In the main, its constituent batches
can be ascertained with relative ease, thanks to
the pioneering study by H. Liibke over one
hundred years ago,
J
and the painstaking work
by N. R. Ker whose description in his Catalogue
is a model of clarity and economy. Several of the
batches, marked by a system of marginal sigla in
the manuscript, derive from glossae collectae
based on annotated copies of Aldhelm's works,
1
N. R. Ker, Catalogue of Manuscripts containing Anglo-
Saxon (Oxford, 1957), no. 143; origin: T. A. M. Bishop,
Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, iii
(1959
r
63),93.
2
'Ober verwandtschaftliche Beziehungen einiger alten-
glischer Glossare', Archiv, lxrav (1890), 383-410, at 396f.

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December 1993 NOTES AND QUERIES 429
especially his De Virginitate (both the prose and
the metrical versions). One of the Aldhelm
batches corresponds to the running glossary
(this term for: glossae collectae) also extant in
the third part of the manuscript (Ker's art. 3).
This component is not introduced by a siglum in
the o-order booklet.
The gloss Constantino : demera (WW 375/
34)
3
occurs in one of the Aldhelm batches. It is
labelled nl, nig, or nigi and contains entries de-
rived not only from his prose and verse De Vir-
ginitate, as Ker (art. 1. c) notes, but also from the
Carmina Ecclesiastica and, above all, from the
Aenigmata. Nothing is known about the textual
history of this particular component, but the
sequence of entries under each letter, which
corresponds to the sequence of lemmata as they
occur in Aldhelm's writings, shows that it was a
running glossary which, at some earlier stage of
the transmission, was excerpted and arranged
according to the first letter of lemmata.
Wiilcker was doubtful whether demera was
Old English (WW 375 n. 5). Stryker, who re-
edited the a-order glossary, daringly claimed:
'The OE word for "judge", demere, apparently
glosses the context of the lemma.'
4
This vague
assessment was taken up in DOE, s.v. demere,
where it is specified that 'demera also occurs as
nom.sg., ref. to a woman' and documented in a
separate section: '(2) glossing Constantino and
referring to a person of high estate'.
5
The text
quoted by Stryker and DOE from the prose De
Virginitate, however, gives no clue why Con-
stantina should be interpreted as (gen.pl.) dem-
era:
Constantina, integerrimae virtutis virago,
Constantini filia, qui per idem tempus triper-
titi mundi monarchiam prosperis successibus
gubernasse dinoscitur,
The quotation stops at the point where it
becomes relevant:
3
Anglo-Saxon and Old English Vocabularies, ed.
T. Wright and R. P. Wulcker [WW|, 2nd edn (London, 1884).
* The Latin- Old English Glossary in MS Cotton Cleopatra
A 111, ed. W. G. Stryker (Diss. Stanford Univ., 1951 (un-
published)), C 544 and n. (p. 120). M. Voss, 'Strykers Edition
des alphabetischen Cleopatraglossars: Corrigenda und
Addenda', AAA - Arbeiten ausAnglistik undAmerikanistik,
xiii (1988), 123-38, is an indispensable contribution in this
connection.
5
Dictionary of Old English \DOE\ (Toronto, 1986- ),
s.v. demere.
nonne cunctas propemodum Romanorum
praetorum filias . . . ad culturam Christianae
religionis... incitauit,.. .?*
The key word is praetorum. Though the run-
ning glossary extant in part 3 of the same manu-
script is not the source of the batch in question, it
still provides the explanation: integrated into
this glossary, there occur captions (and chapter
numbers) which, as a rule, consist of proper
names taken over from the source. These cap-
tions have little to do with the official table of
capitula which precedes the prose De Virgini-
tate in the manuscripts, with repetition of the
numbers at the beginning of each chapter. They
function rather as a competing system of orien-
tation which readers would have found more
practical than the official capitula: the main bulk
of Aldhelm's opus geminatum consists of
exempla of male and female virgins. The names
of these heroes and heroines were adopted in
the copies of the metrical version and in some of
the prose as a system of quick orientation and
were exposed as rubrics, as can be gathered
from the apparatus of Ehwald's admirable edi-
tion. In the running glossary of art. 3 these head-
ings reappear. They start with .ii. De Eliseo
(WW 492/8),
7
referring to the second part of ch.
XX, run right through the prose and continue
through the carmen, the last being .Ixxxix. De
Anatholia (WW 531/13). At WW 509/29-31
the text of the running glossary (arranged in two
columns per page) reads (105
ra
14-16):
gioguSe.
I ndolemg. [sic]
.xxxvii. D econstantine.
ealdor manna.
P retorum.
In four of the insular Latin manuscripts of the
prose De Virginitate the word praetorum is
explained by an Old English interlinear gloss, in
three of them also accompanied by a Latin inter-
pretamentum. In the two most densely glossed
manuscripts of the so-called Abingdon group,
Brussels, Bibliotheque Royale MS 1650, and its
presumable copy (as regards the glosses),
6
Aldhelmi Opera, ed. R. Ehwald, MGH, AA xv (Berlin,
1919), 302/lOff. In this case the English translation is un-
necessary: Aldhelm, The Prose Works, trans. M. Lapidge and
M. Herren (Cambridge, 1979).
7
The heading./'. De Elia is missing at 95va2, supplied by
WW 492/3; cf. Ehwald, 249/16 with n. .

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430
NOTES AND QUERIES
December 1993
Bodleian Library MS Digby 146,
8
the relevant
entry reads praetorum : iudicum ealdorman
(probably a merograph for -manna)? the two
principal witnesses of the so-called Salisbury
group, British Library, MSS Royal 6 A. vi and 5
E. xi,' read praetorum A. iudicum I demena
(OEG 7. 311) and pretorum A. demena (OEG
8. 249), gen. pi. of dema. The gloss dema to
praetor further occurs at OEG 17. 58 (also
from Aldhelm's prose De Virginitate, but from a
different passage); cf. further pretorium [MS
precorum]: domhus, domcern in Cleopatra, art.
3 (WW 509/25), and domern in the Abingdon
group of Aldhelm glosses (Goossens 4376;
OEG 1.4498).
The running glossary in pt. 3 of the Cleopatra
volume, though it is not the source for the Con-
stantino : demera entry in the mg/-batchof pt. 1,
still holds the clue for this entry. It may be
inferred that the glossae collectae which the
mg/-batch eventually derives from contained
similar quick access rubrics as art. 3. The gloss
demera, gen. pi. of demere, aptly rendering
praetorum, was erroneously coupled up with
the immediately preceding (De) Constantino
which, as a chapter rubric, was, of course,
unglossed. Shifting of lemmata or inter-
pretamenta or, in other words, attachment of an
interpretamentum to the wrong lemma is a com-
mon enough feature in glossaries of any type.
Compared with striking examples like the ill-
matched bigamus A. uir unius mulieris
11
or,
more seriously, the Aldhelm gloss Diane :
ricenne (WW 511/35 & 387/38), where Diana
lured nineteenth-century scholars in search of
Anglo-Saxon paganism into a pitfall,
12
the cor-
rection of Constantino: demera to [praetorum]:
demera is a matter of little consequence, but its
solution has, incidentally, shed some light on the
* Ker, Catalogue, nos. 8 and 320.
' The Old English Glosses of MS. Brussels, Royal Library,
1650 (Aldhelm's De Laudibus Virginitatis), ed. L. Goossens
(Brussels, 1974), 4394; Old English Glosses, ed. A.S.Napier
| OEG) (Oxford, 1900), 1.4515.
10
Ker, Catalogue, nos. 254 and 252. For grouping and
relationship see Napier, OEG, xxiii-xxvi; H. Schabram,
Superbia. Studien turn altenglischen Wortschatz, 1 (Munich,
1965), 62ff. (with further references); Goossens, 22ff.
" According to Stryker, ed. cit., B 174 and n. (cf. WW
361/35 and n. 10).
1
' Until E. Sievers, "Die angebliche gottin Ricen", PBB, xvi
(1892), 366-8, solved the problem by demonstrating that
ricenne properly belonged to the neighbouring turificare
(Ehwald, 309/21).
make-up of the running glossary used for the
(g/-component.
There is one semantic detail which deserves a
closer look. Both the running glossary in Cleo-
patra and the interlinear glosses in manuscripts
of the Abingdon group render praetor by
ealdorman, but praetorium by donuernJ
domhus (the contextual meaning of praetor-
ium, in this instance, is 'palace').'
3
As lexical
equivalents, both translations are historically
adequate, since the functions of the praetor -
and hence, of his office, the praetorium - were
both judicial and administrative;
14
on the
Anglo-Saxon side, one of the duties of the
ealdorman was to preside at lawsuits.
15
Never-
theless, the lexical dichotomy of the inter-
pretamenta in the texts mentioned above calls
for an explanation, even more so when we take
into account that to look for terminological
adequacy with the detachment of an historian is
not sufficient; in texts of this genre it is para-
mount to look for filiations and lexicographical
origins. The dissociation rather suggests two dif-
ferent strands in the tradition, and this assump-
tion gains credit when we turn to the
fipinal-Erfurt-Corpus complex of glossaries
and open, for example, the Corpus Glossary}
6
Here we find the items praetor : praefectus (P
678), praetorium : domus judiciaria (P 622)
and, conspicuously, praetor : in cujus domo
judicium judicatur (P 620). Whereas the entry
praetor : praefectus clearly echoes Isidore's
pretores idem qui etprefecti, "the interpretation
in cujus domo judicium judicatur looks like a
semantic back-formation derived from the
interpretation of praetorium. This observation
is corroborated by considering the likeliest
ultimate source. Praetorium (TtpaiTwpiov), but
13
Ehwald, 302/3; cf. Lapidge and Herren (trans.), 114:
palace'.
M
See, for example, Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford,
1968-82), s.w. praetor, praetorium.
15
Cf., for example, F. Liebermann, Die Gesetze der Angel-
sachsen (Halle, 1898-1916), II. 2 (1912), art. Ealdorman,
20.
'* The Corpus Glossary, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Cambridge,
1921). Facs.: The Epinal, Erfurt, Werden, and Corpus Glos-
saries, EEMF, xxii (Copenhagen, 1988), fo. 50". For the rela-
tionship between fipinal-Erfurt and Corpus see J. D. Pheifer,
ibid., 50ff.
" Isidorus Hispalensis, Etymologiae, IX, ed. M. Reydellet
(Paris, 1984), 3,26f.: Prefect! dicti quod pretoria potestatepre-
sint. Pretores idem qui et prefecti, quasi prepositores. 4,16:
Pretores autem quasi preceptores ciuitatis et principes.

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December 1993 NOTES AND QUERIES 431
not praetor, occurs seven times in the New
Testament (Matth. 27:27 = Marc. 15:16 - Joan.
18:28, Joan. 18:33, 19:9, Act. 23:35; Philip.
1:13);
18
all five instances in the Gospels refer to
the governor's residence, in the dramatic scene
where Jesus is arraigned before Pilate. There is a
long established tradition of understanding
praetorium here as 'judgement hall'. This nar-
row, situational definition extends from the
West-Saxon Gospels and Old English homiletic
prose (dom-em)
19
to the Authorized Version,
or, in German, from the earliest Bible glosses
(c800, thinc-hus)
20
to Luther's richthaus. The
Corpus entry praetorium : domus Judiciaria is
most probably indebted to the item pretorium :
domus iudicaturia [read: -oria], which occurs in
the Leiden Glossary in glossae collectae from
Matthew.
21
There might have been other factors contri-
buting to the knowledge of the function of the
praetor in ancient Rome - Orosius would have
been an obvious source of information
22
- but
this seems the likeliest explanation. If this is,
in fact, the correct assessment of the lexico-
graphical background, the Old English transla-
tion ealdorman is indebted to the Isidorian
praefectus equation, whereas dema/demere,
" See W. Bauer, Grieehiseh-deutsches Worterbuch zu den
Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der friihchristlichen
Literatur, 6. Aufl., hg. K. & B. Aland (Berlin, New York,
1988), s.v. Tjpanwpiov: 'Amtswohnung des Statthalters'; most
probably: Herod's palace in the western part of Jerusalem;
Acts of the Apostles 23:35: Herod's palace at Caesarea
(where Paulus is being detained).
" See the instances quoted by DOE, s.v. dom-cem, esp.
(a). The definition given there ('specifically (2 lx) the courts of
Pilate and Caiphas where Christ was tried') is incorrect con-
cerning Caiphas and unsatisfactory with regard to the equivo-
cal expression 'court'.
20
Easi est access by way of I. Ros engr en, Sprache und
Verwandlschafi einiger althochdeutschen und altsachsischen
Evangelienglossen, Scripta Minora, 1962-3:4 (Lund, 1964),
59 s.v. dinghus.
21
A late Eighth-Century Latin-Anglo-Saxon Glossary,
preserved in the Library of the Leiden University, ed. J. H.
Hessels (Cambridge, 1906), xxiv.18. For the glossographical
traditions see W. M. Lindsay, The Corpus, Spinal, Erfurt and
Leyden Glossaries, Publications of the Philological Society,
viii (London, (1921)), 14f. etpassim.
22
The early glossaries, e.g. Corpus, furthermore contain
praetores: honores secundi a consulibus (Lindsay, P 810), an
entry which goes back to the Abstrusa-Abolita tradition and
is no longer traceable to its ultimate source. The Old English
Orosius, ed. J. Bately, EETS, s.s. 6 (1980), 77/1, reports the
strange formation (ace.) pretorium: jpa sendon hie eft
Cecilium heora pretorium mid firde (both manuscripts),
corresponding to Caeciliuspraetor... cum exercilu missus.
which looks like a straightforward rendering of
praetor, has a more complicated prehistory and
is probably a back-formation of praetorium
'judgement hall' and thus the result of a biblical
detour via Jerusalem.
ROLAND TORKAR
Gottingen
NOT ST DUNSTAN'S BOOK?
STUBBS's reading
1
of St Dunstan's name on the
binding of Bodleian MS Hatton 42 has been
accepted for more than a century; it is of crucial
importance for the history of this major canon-
law collection in its progress from ninth-century
Brittany through Anglo-Saxon England to its
medieval home at Worcester.
2
The inscription is
written sideways in uneven capitals up the for-
merflatspineof whittawed leather, which is no w
preserved on the lower inside pastedown.
3
One problem, the absence of a T' in the name,
was already recognized by E. W. B. Nicholson
(Bodley's Librarian, 1882-1912) when he tran-
scribed the inscription as part of a long note on
the new front pastedown after the manuscript's
repair:
LIBER S
c
DUNSANI"
' Memorials of Saint Dunstan Archbishop of Canterbury,
ed. William Stubbs, RS 63 (1874), pp. lxxvi-lxxvii and cxii-
cxiii.
2
See David N. Dumville, 'Wulfric Cild', N&Q, ccxxxviii
(1993), 5-9.1 should like to thank Dr Dumville and Dr Martin
Kauffmann for helpful discussions during the preparation of
this article.
3
Flat spines were a natural feature of early medieval Eng-
lish bindings before the development of raised cords during
the thirteenth century. The boards and cording-pattern of this
volume were pronounced by Graham Pollard to be Anglo-
Saxon ('Some Anglo-Saxon bookbindings', The Book Collec-
tor, xxiv (1975), 130-59, at 143-4, diagram 3, with
arguments about the binding's origins relying heavily, though
not exclusively, on the 'Dunstan' reading); but it would be rash
to make the same claim for the leather and sewing-structure,
for the repairs of Nicholson's time were so radical that the
manuscript now has raised cords and a rounded back which
make the boards project unnaturally at the fore-edge. The
surviving leather has the same feel as that of English 'monas-
tic' bindings of the late eleventh to early thirteenth century,
and could be a recovering of that period: spine inscribed at the
same time??
' A small cross-shape at the top of Nicholson's 'A' may be
his attempt to represent the missing T , but there is no hint of
this in the inscription itself (the 'A', though still legible, is par-
ticularly rubbed). Nicholson's superscript 'c' is a possible
reading of the abbreviation-mark, which is however more

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