Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GLOSS-VIBE (Early Medieval Glosses And The Question Of Their Genesis: A Case Study On The Vienna Bede)
Période du rapport: 2021-09-01 au 2023-08-31
1. Its main manuscript the “Vienna Bede”: Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Codex 15298 (Olim Suppl. 2698 = BVi.)
2. Angers, Bibliothèque municipal 477
3. The Karlsruhe Bede: Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, Augiensis pergamentum 167 (olim Codex Augiensis CLXVII)
4. St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 251
“De Temporum Ratione” was written in the early eighth century and is about measuring time an constructing a calendar. Building on parallel glosses on this text found in the four manuscripts, Gloss-ViBe used an interdisciplinary approach to answer the project’s main research question: are vernacular glosses original compositions or translations from original Latin glosses? Addressing this question contributes to an enhanced grasp of how people saw themselves culturally and how intellectual history evolved in the early medieval era, marked by continuous exchanges and diverse interactions among cultures. This investigation into multilingualism during this time not only benefits academic discussions but also holds relevance for contemporary Europe. The insights derived from studying the diverse cultural interactions and migrations of the first millennium AD can significantly aid in comprehending and managing current trends in migration. Throughout the project, three primary objectives were achieved:
- The transcription and collection of (parallel) glosses from the Vienna Bede and the other three manuscripts.
- The creation of a digital edition of the Vienna Bede, encompassing both the base text and its complete paratext.
- The development of a framework to identify and analyse parallel glosses.
This research not only contributes to a deeper understanding of historical cultural and linguistic interactions but also has implications for contemporary Europe by providing insights into multilingualism and migration trends.
In addition to the edition I have also written four research articles (all published open access). The first one finds answers to the project’s main research question and shows that there are translations from Irish into Latin as well as vice versa. The second article presents the workflow I have established to detect parallel glosses using DNA-sequencing methods. For the third article I have focussed on the Latin glosses of the Vienna Bede and I have shown that – in contrast to Old Irish glosses – the Latin ones are mostly short. The fourth article discusses a specific form of linguistic contact found in the early medieval Irish glosses: the usage of Roman numerals in these texts. I could show that early medieval Irish scribes used Roman numerals only rarely in bilingual or monolingual Irish contexts and more frequently spelled out the numbers. In addition to the written output of Gloss-ViBe I have given eleven conference and workshop presentations in Austria, Germany, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, two conference posters, and one public lecture. Furthermore, I have organised two workshops: an online workshop which I called “Editing Glosses in the 21st century” for which I invited seven international speakers. And, together with Elena Parina (Bonn), I have organised a Transkribus workshop for the 17th International Congress of Celtic Studies.
In summary, I meticulously transcribed the Vienna Bede and associated parallel glosses using Transkribus and developed a TEI compliant model for editing glossed corpora. Through DNA-sequencing, I identified parallel glosses across multiple manuscripts, integrated them into a master .xml-file for the digital edition. This project resulted in four open-access research articles unveiling translation patterns, workflow techniques, analyses of single glosses, and linguistic contacts in corpus of early medieval Irish and Latin glosses on Bede’s “De Temporum Ratione”. Furthermore, I engaged in numerous academic presentations, workshops, and organized events to disseminate findings and advance gloss research.