The Reichenau Glossary is a collection of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

glosses A gloss is a brief notation, especially a marginal one or an interlinear one, of the meaning of a word or wording in a text. It may be in the language of the text or in the reader's language if that is different. A collection of glosses is a ''g ...

likely compiled in the 8th century in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

to assist local clergy in understanding certain words or expressions found in the

Vulgate Bible The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels us ...

Background

Over the centuries Jerome’s translation of the Bible (c. 382–405) became more difficult to read for novice clergy as a result of the various grammatical, lexical, and phonological changes that spoken Latin was experiencing. To facilitate interpretation, scribes would put together glossaries or collected explanations of words or phrases found in the Vulgate. The words used as glosses tended to be those that were destined to survive in Romance, while the words that needed glossing generally were not. What we now know as the Reichenau Glossary was compiled circa the eighth century at the

Abbey of Corbie Corbie Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery in Corbie, Picardy, France, dedicated to Saint Peter. It was founded by Balthild, the widow of Clovis II, who had monks sent from Luxeuil. The Abbey of Corbie became celebrated both for its library ...

Picardy Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France. Hi ...

. From there it eventually found its way to the

Abbey of Reichenau Reichenau Abbey was a Benedictine monastery on Reichenau Island (known in Latin as Augia Dives). It was founded in 724 by the itinerant Saint Pirmin, who is said to have fled Spain ahead of the Moorish invaders, with patronage that included Charl ...

, in southern Germany, where it was ‘discovered’ in 1863 by the philologist Adolf Hotzmann.Quiros 1986: 43

Selected entries

Notes

References

{{reflist

Sources

; General *Adams James Noel. 2007. ''The regional diversification of Latin''. Cambridge University Press. *Alkire, Ti & Rosen, Carol. 2010. ''Romance languages: A historical introduction''. New York: Cambridge University Press. *Anderson, James Maxwell & Rochet, Bernard. 1979. ''Historical Romance Morphology''. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International. *Diez, Friedrich Christian. 1870. ''Anciens glossaires romans corrigés et expliqués''. Translated by Alfred Bauer. Paris. *Elcock, William Dennis. 1960. ''The Romance languages''. London: Faber and Faber. *Engels, J. 1968. Les ''Gloses de Reichenau'' réédités. ''Neophilologus'' 52. 378–386. *Hall, Robert Anderson. 1981. ''Proto-Romance morphology''. Philadelphia: John Benjamins. *Jensen, Frede. 1972. ''From Vulgar Latin to Old Provençal.'' University of North Carolina Press. *Jensen, Frede. 1986. ''The syntax of medieval Occitan''. Tübingen: Niemeyer. *Jensen, Frede. 1990. ''Old French and comparative Gallo-Romance syntax''. Tübingen: Niemeyer. *Lausberg, Heinrich. 1970. ''Lingüística románica'', I: Fonética. Madrid: Gredos. *Levy, ELmb. 1923. ''Petit dictionnaire provençal-français''. Heidelberg: Winter. *Lloyd, Paul M. 1987. ''From Latin to Spanish''. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. * Loporcaro, Michele. 2018. ''Gender from Latin to Romance.'' Oxford University Press. *Malkiel, Yakov. 1944. The etymology of Portuguese iguaria. ''Language'' 20. 108–130. *Malkiel, Yakov. 1983. ''From particular to general linguistics: Selected essays 1965–1978''. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub. Co. *Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm. 1911. ''Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch''. Heidelberg: C. Winter. *Marchot, Paul. 1901. ''Petite phonétique du français prélittéraire: VIe–Xe siècles''. Fribourg: B. Veith. *Pei, Mario. 1941. ''The Italian language''. New York: Columbia University Press. *Pope, Mildred K. 1934. ''From Latin to French, with especial consideration of Anglo-Norman''. Manchester University Press. *Posner, Rebecca. 1996. ''The Romance languages''. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. *Quirós, Manuel. 1986. Las glosas de Reichenau. ''Filología y Lingüística'' 12. 43–50. *Rossi, Mario. 2004. ''Dictionnaire étymologique et ethnologique des parlers brionnais''. Paris: Publibook. *Williams, Edwin Bucher. 1962. ''From Latin to Portuguese''. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ; Online etymological dictionaries *''Dexonline'' (https://dexonline.ro/) *''Online Etymology Dictionary'' (http://etymonline.com/) *''Trésor de la langue Française informatisé'' (http://www.atilf.fr/tlfi) *''Treccani'' (https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/)

External links