EXTRACT FROM KING ALFRED'S ANGLO-SAXON CODE IN WILKINS'S Leges Anglo-Saxonica. Anglo-Saxon. "Drihten was sprecende thas word to Moyse, and thus cwæth: "Ic eam Drihten thin God. Ic the ut gelædde of Aegypta londe and of heora theowdome. Ne lufa thu othre fremde godas ofer me. "Ne minne naman ne cig thu on idelnesse; forthon the thu ne bist unscyldig with me; gif thu on idelnesse cigst minne naman. "Gemine that thu gehalgie thone feste (reste) dæg. Wyrceath eow syx dagas, and on tham seofothan restath eow, thu and thin sunu and thine dohter; and thine theore, and thin wylne, and thin weorcnyten; and se cuma the bith binnan thinan durum. Fortham on syx dagum Christ geworhte heofenas and eorthan, sæs, and ealle gesceafta the on him synd, and hine gereste on thone seofothan dæge; and forthon Drihten hine gehalgode. 'Ara thinum fæder and thinre meder; tha the Drihten sealde the, that thu sy thy leng libbende on eorthan. 'Ne slea thu. Ne stala thu. 'Ne lige thu dearnunga. English. Lord was speaking these words to Moses, and said thus: I am the Lord thy God; I led thee out of the land of Egypt and its thraldom. Not love thou other strange gods over me. Not my name utter thou in vain; because thou art not guiltless with me, if thou in vain utterest my name. Mind that thou hallow the festal (sabbath) day. Work ye six days, and on the seventh rest ye, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and thy cattle, and those who come within thy doors; because in six days Christ created heaven and earth, seas, and all creatures that in them are, and rested on the seventh day, and therefore the Lord hallowed that day. Honor thy father and thy mother, whom the Lord gave thee, that thou be long living on earth. Not slay thou. Not steal thou. Not commit thou adultery. thy neighbor. Ne sæge thu lease gewitnesse with Not say thou false witness against thinum nehstan. "Ne wilna thu thines nehstan yrfes Not desire thou thy neighbor's inmid unrihte. heritance with unright (wrong fully). "Ne wyrc thu the gyldene godas, Not work thou thee golden gods, Examination of the subjoined versions of the Lord's Prayer in Anglo-Saxon, will show the changes in the language. Respecting some literal differences, it is difficult without the manuscripts at hand to verify them. This aptplies especially to the letters R and S, which are very similar in Anglo-Saxon, and on that account frequently confounded by transcribers. The interlinear translation added to No. 3 will suffice to explain the rest. THE LORD'S PRAYER. I. Anglo-Saxon version, by Eadfride, eighth bishop of Lindisfarne, about A. D. 700. "Fader uren thu in Heofnas, Sie gehalgud Nama thin, To Cymeth ric thin; Sie fillo thin suæ is in Heofne and in Eortha. Hlaf userne oferwirtlic sel us to dæg; And forgef us scyltha urna suæ we forgefon scylgum urum. And ne inlead writh in Cosnunge. Al gefrigurich from evil." II. Anglo-Saxon version, from the Gospels of Mareschall and Junius, about A. D. 890. "Fæder ure thu the eart on heofenum, Si thin nama gehalgod; To becume thin rice. Gewurthe thin willa on eorthan swa swa on heofenum. Urne dæghwamlican hlaf syle us to dæg; And forgyf us ure gyltas, swa swa we forgifadh urum gyltendum; Ac alys us of yfele. Sothlice." III. Anglo-Saxon Lord's Prayer, by Alfred, bishop of Durham, A. D. 900. "Uren fader dhic ardh in heofnas, sic gehalged dhin noma, to cymedh Our father which art in heavens, be hallowed thine name, come Vren hlaf Our loaf dhin ric, sic dhin uuilla sue is in heofnas and in eordho. thy kingdom, be thy will so as in heavens and in earth. ofer uuirthe sel vs to dæg, and forgef vs scylda urna, sue uue supersubstantial give us to day, and forgive us debts our, SO We forgefan sculdgun vrum, and no inlead vridh in costnung, forgive al debts ours, and do not lead us into temptation, but gefrig vrich from ifle." deliver everyone from evil. IV. Semi-Saxon Lord's Prayer, from a MS. of the early part of the thirteenth century, Reliquiæ Antiquæ, i. 235. "Fader oure that art in heve, i-halgeed bee thi nome, i-cume thi kinereiche, y-worthe thi wylle also is in hevene so be on erthe, oure ichdayes-bred gif us to-day, and forgif us our gultes, also we forgifet oure gultare, and ne led ows nowth into fondingge, auth ales ows of harme. So be hit." V. Semi-Saxon metrical Lord's Prayer, from a MS. of the thirteenth century, Reliquiae Antiquæ, i. 57. "Ure fader in hevene riche, Thi name be haliid ever i-liche, Als hit is in hevene i do Ever in eorthe ben it al so, That holi bred that lesteth ay Thu send hit ous this ilke day, Forgive ous alle that ue havith don, Als ue forgivet uch othir man, Ne lete us falle in no fondinge, Ak scilde us fro the foule thinge." Guthlac, the Saxon anchoret of Croyland, who died in A. D. 714, is the reputed author of a version of the Psalms, which (or one very similar to it) is preserved between the lines of a very old Roman psalter, considered to be one of the identical books sent by Gregory to Augustine, archbishop of Canterbury. Aldhelm, first abbot of Malmesbury, and afterwards bishop of Sherborne, made another version of the Psalms about a. D. 706, which has been identified with one discovered in the Royal Library at Paris. The first fifty psalms are in prose, the rest in metre. (It has been published under the title, Liber Psalmorum, versio Latina antiqua cum paraphrasi AngloSaxonica, etc., by Benjamin Thorpe, Oxon. 1835.) The following is a specimen: PSALM CIII. I-12. 1. Bletsa, mine sawle, blidhe drihten; and eall min inneran his thæne ecean naman! 2. Bletsige, mine sawle, bealde dryhten! ne wylt thu ofergeottul æfre weordhan. 3. IIe thinum mandædum miltsade eallum; 4. He alysde thin lif leof of forwyrde; fylde thinne willan fægere mid gode. and the mildheorte mode getrymede; on geogudhe nu gleawe geworden. and ful treaflice teonan tholian. 7. He his wegas dyde wise and cudhe Moyse tham mæran on mænige tid; Swylce his willan eac werum Israhela. 8. Mildheort thu eart and mihtig, mode gethyldig, is thin milde mod mannum cydhed. 9. Nelle thu odh ende yrre habban, ne on ecnesse the awa belgan. 10. Na thu be gewyrhtum, wealdend, urum ne æfter urum unryhte awhær gyldan. 11. Forthon thu æfter heahweorce heofenes thines lustum cydhdest tham the lufedon the. 12. Swa thas foldan fædme bewindedh, He betweonan tham teonan and unriht us fram afyrde æghwær symble, etc. There are still extant two copies of the Gospels in Latin, written in Roman uncials, which Gregory the Great sent to Augustine, the one in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and the other in the Bodleian, Oxford. The latter is the original from which numerous copies have been made. It is the old Latin version, the Vetus Italica, not the Vulgate, and the Anglo-Saxon version was made from it. This is clear from a few examples: MATT. XXVII. 32. Vetus Ital. Invenerunt hominem Cyrenæum, venientem obviam illis. Vulgate. Invenerunt hominem Cyrenæum. Anglo-Saxon. Dhá gemétton hig aenne Cyreniscne man, cumende heom togénes. MATT. XXIV. 41. Vetus Ital. Duo in lecto, unus assumetur, et unus relinquetur. Anglo-Saxon. Twegen beoth on bedde, án byth genumen, and odher byth læfed. LUKE XV. 8.. Vetus Ital. Et evertit domum. Vulgate. Et everrit domum. Anglo-Saxon. And áwent hyre hús. The same applies to Matt. xxii. 14, where the whole verse of the Vulgate: Multi enim sunt vocati, pauci vero electi, is wanting in the Vetus Italica and the Anglo-Saxon. It is not improbable that the copy of the Vetus Italica in the Bodleian is that from which the Anglo-Saxon version was made, but it is not possible to indicate with a degree of certainty the date when, and by whom, it was made. It is known on the authority of Cuthbert, that the Venerable |