| The literature of Anglo-Saxon England had two features that distinguished it from continental writings: first, the early creation of a written vernacular, and second, a highly elaborate style of Latin replete with archaisms, neologisms, and grecisms. While this Latin style, called hermeneutic by modern scholars, had its analogues on the Continent, only in England was the style so widespread that virtually all Latin composition connected to the tenth-century monastic reform showed its influence. Although the rise of the hermeneutic style coincided with a growth in production of vernacular texts, the difficulty of hermeneutic Latin confined its readership to a small highly educated audience. My dissertation examines why such effort was invested in ornamenting literature with esoteric vocabulary, when these hard words ensured that only a few could read and understand it.;The difficulty of the hermeneutic style also has analogues in Old English texts. For instance, in the literary prose of Alfred's reign, several texts have strange syntax that appears to have been derived from Latin. While in many texts this is the result of an overly literal translation, in the case of the Old English Orosius the syntactical irregularities cannot be attributed to close translation, since the anonymous author took great liberties while translating. Was the purpose of this Latinate syntax to cause the text to appear more literally translated than it was?;My dissertation studies the function of hard words and difficult syntax in three distinct periods: the late seventh-century writing of Aldhelm, the Old English Orosius from King Alfred's reign, and the writings of the tenth-century monastic reform. I investigate how stylistic choices of vocabulary and syntax relate to the textual authority invested in each of these works. This research not only provides interesting insight into the relevant texts of each language, but also into the roles and relative prestige of English and Latin as literary languages in Anglo-Saxon England. |
