The glossary in MS Cambridge, St John’s College, E.17 and Middle English lexicography

Abstract

The only bilingual item of ms. Cambridge, St John’s College, E.17 is a short glossary with French lemmata and English interpretamenta, copied in the upper part of f. 126r. The Middle English entries feature a number of rare words, including a few hapax legomena. In other instances, that of the St John’s glossary is the first occurrence of the word ever attested in Middle English. Hence, the little studied glossary reveals itself to be a treasure-trove for the lexicographer. Moreover, whereas the number of borrowings from French is limited to two words, the glossary contains several loanwords from Old Norse. This feature might help locate the glossary, whose origin, as well as that of the entire codex, is unknown.