St. Gallen, Stiftsbiblioothek MS 299 Compendium of Glossaries

Abstract

450. St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek MS 299

Compendium of Glossaries

[Ker App. 28; Gneuss -]

HISTORY: A late 9c St. Gall biblical glossary collection with integral OHG (Alemannic) and OE interpretations (Steinmeyer and Sievers 4:449-50; OE glosses at pp. 3-4, 8-11, 265, and 280, on OHG dialect(s) see references in Bergmann and Stricker 2005: 2.538-40). It is apparently a compilation of two contemporary manuscripts of similar layout and character as shown by the two signature systems (see "Collation;' note): Part 1, pp. 1-73 (decayed and trimmed leaf after p. 4 skipped, now numbered '4a' (= 4), '4b', '4c'; recto of decayed leaf skipped after p. 64, numbering now '64, -, 65'); Part 2, pp. 74-336 (number skipped after p. 74, that leaf now being '74/76') (see Bergmann and Stricker 2005: 2: 536). A note at p. 38, 'Recaluaster e<st> q<ui> in anteriori | parte capitis dvo caluitia hab& medi&ate int<er> ilia. habente | pilos. vt est vuikram<mus>: has generated some comment as to whether this might be the scribe of this glossary collection and to be identified with the "Uuichrammus" mentioned in St. Gall 260 (a 9c Bede manuscript). If this Uuichrammus is the Wichram known from eight other documents in St. Gall, MSS 474, 475, 518, 523, 533, 535, 536, and 543, dated to the years 860-869, then MS 299 can perhaps be dated to the 860s as well (Bruckner 1938: 94; idem 1977-1991: 262). Similarities between the script of St. Gallen 260 and 299 have been noted by Scarpatetti et al. (1991: nos. 847, 850), both with references to "Uichrammus"), though this hand has not been certainly identified with that of the eight other St. Gall manuscripts listed above. St. Gall 9 [446], 283 [448], 295 [449], and 299 offer specimens of St. Gall commentarial activity in the later 9c and exhibit A-S-influenced glossarial activity. St. Gall 299 shares some batches of lemmata in common with the Leiden-family of glossaries ultimately deriving from the Canterbury school of Theodore and Hadrian- namely, in Part 1 biblical glosses on pp. 3-21, "De lapidibus" on pp. 24-25, Eusebius (Leiden batch XXXV) on pp. 30-31; and in Part 2 lemmata and glosses from church councils and decretals on pp. 186-209, Gregory (= Leiden batch XXXIX) on pp. 263-266, Cassian(= Leiden batches XXXI V and XLVIII) on pp. 267-269, and Eusebius batches on pp. 270-278. "The rest, i.e., a very considerable proportion of glossary material, both biblical and non-biblical, does not show any specifically close connection [to the Canterbury tradition], .. . it belongs to the mare magnum of glossary material which 'ultimately derives' or often only possibly derives from the insular tradition" (p.c. P. Vaciago). OHG words have been underlined by one or more modern hands.