#Manuscript:# Junius 1, Bodleian Library, Oxford: an oblong folio,
written in double columns on 118 leaves of parchment varying
considerably in size, the largest being 508 × 200 mm.; about 1210 A.D.,
and an autograph, but corrected by a second and third hand. See further
Holt, i. p. lxxvi.
#Facsimiles:# Skeat, W. W., Twelve Facsimiles, plate iv. Palaeographical
Society; Second Series, plate 133. Napier, A. S., Notes on the
Orthography of the Ormulum, Oxford, 1893, also in History of the Holy
Rood-tree, E. E. T. S., O. S. 103.
#Editions:# White, R. M., Oxford, 1852. Holt, R., 2 vols., Oxford, 1878.
Extracts in Mätzner, Sweet’s First Middle English Primer, 48-81, Emerson
and other Readers.
#Literature:# =The Author:= Logeman, H., Archiv, cxvii. 29; Björkman,
E., Archiv, cxix. 33, cxxiii. 23; Bradley, H., Athenaeum, May 19, 1906;
Wilson, J., ibid., July 28, 1906; =Phonology:= Blackburn, F. A., The
Change of þ to t in the Ormulum, American Journal of Philology, iii. 46;
Bülbring, K. D., Die Schreibung _eo_ im Ormulum, Bonner Beiträge, xvii.
51; Callenberg, C., Layamon und Orm nach ihren Lautverhältnissen
verglichen, Jena, 1876; Hale, E. E., Open and Close ē in the Ormulum,
Modern Language Notes, viii. 37; Kaphengst, C., An Essay on the Ormulum,
Elberfeld, _n. d._; *Lambertz, P., Die Sprache des Orrmulums, Marburg,
1904; Menze, G., Der Ostmittelländische Dialekt, Strassburg. diss.,
Cöthen, 1889; *Napier, A. S., as above; =Grammar:= Funke, O., see p.
450; Sachse, R., Das unorganische e im Orrmulum, Halle, 1881; Thuns, B.,
Das Verbum bei Orm, Leipziger Diss., Weida, 1909; Weyel, F., Der
syntaktische Gebrauch des Infinitivs im Ormulum, Meiderich, 1896; Zenke,
W., Synthesis und Analysis im Orrmulum, Götting. Diss., Halle, 1910,
completed in Morsbachs Studien, no. xl; =Consonant Doubling:= Björkman,
E., Orrms Doppelkonsonanten, Anglia, xxxvii. 351 (good summary of
previous literature); Effer, H., Einfache und doppelte Konsonanten im
Ormulum, Anglia, vii, Anzeiger, 166; Holthausen, F., Wel und well im
Ormulum, Anglia, Beiblatt, xiii. 16; Trautmann, M., Orm’s
Doppelkonsonanten, Anglia, vii, Anzeiger, 94, 208, Anglia, xviii. 371;
=General:= Brate, E., Nordische Lehnwörter im Orrmulum, Paul-Braune,
Beiträge, x. 1, 580; Deutschbein, M., Die Bedeutung der
Quantitätszeichen bei Orm, Archiv, cxxvi. 49, cxxvii. 308; Kluge, F.,
Das französische Element im Orrmulum, ES xxii. 179; Kölbing, E., Zur
Textkritik des Ormulum, ES i. 1, ii. 494; Monicke, C. H., Notes and
Queries on the Ormulum, Leipzig, 1853; Reichmann, H., Die Eigennamen im
Orrmulum, Göttingen, 1905, and as no. xxv of Morsbachs Studien;
Sarrazin, G., Über die Quellen des Orrmulum, ES vi. 1.
#Phonology:# Orm supplemented the current graphic methods by devices of
his own. Thus he systematically doubled a consonant after a short vowel
in a closed syllable, so tunnderrstanndenn 109. Whether he meant thereby
to indicate shortness of the vowel or length of the consonant is
disputed. The latter view seems the more probable; the difficulty which
is presented by the occurrence of the doubled consonant in unstressed
syllables, where it is short in ordinary speech, is removed if, with
Björkman, we suppose that the phonetist isolated his syllables in
testing their value. Where the consonant after an open syllable is in
fact short, Orm often places a breve over the preceding short vowel, as
wĭtenn 3, tăkenn 40, wăke 76, 82, 105, hĕte 87, hĕre 123, but fails at
times, as in sune 20, wake 56, here 114, 143. Likewise he uses very
seldom an almost horizontal accent to indicate vowel length, as á 174,
but more frequently, as if to emphasize his warning against possible
error, doubles it, as le̋t, fe̋t 10, ha̋t 37, űt 53, &c., or even for
greater insistence trebles it, as clū̋t 2, ȝē̋t 39, mostly before final
t. Here, too, he is not systematic, thus time 115 has a single mark of
length twenty times elsewhere, and words like ut have sometimes two,
sometimes three accents.
Furthermore, Orm invented a special symbol [g] with a flat top
projecting on both sides for the guttural stop g, reserving the
continental g for the dzh sound in such words as egge (edge), leggen,
seggen: the latter occurs in this extract only in gluternesse 167, and
that by mistake. In his representation of late OE. #eo#, #ēo#, the
author hesitated between eo and e, preferring the former at the
beginning, but gradually increasing the use of the latter, so that it
becomes normal in the last third of the work and invariable in the
Dedication and Preface, which were, no doubt, written last of all. He
then appears to have aimed at uniformity by scraping out, not always
effectually, the o wherever he had written eo, which was restored in
many instances (but apparently not in this extract) by a later scribe in
a fainter ink and thinner letter. Holt, by printing eo wherever it once
existed, fails to represent the actual state of the manuscript: in this
extract o is still visible, though partly erased, in heore 56,
heoffness, leome 57, þeossterrnesse 65, deofless 67, heoffness, leome
70, heoffness 77, mildheorrtnesse 78, heoffness 107, 113, deofless 126;
everywhere else it is completely erased. Finally, heffness 174 is so
written without erasure in a line added lengthwise on the margin,
perhaps from the following leaf, which is now missing and may have been
withdrawn by the author. It is generally held that Orm employed eo and e
to represent the same sound, the former being a traditional spelling.
This is unlikely on the part of a determined phonetician like Orm, who
would naturally be impatient of traditional spellings. Much more
probable is Bülbring’s view that Orm spoke a mixed dialect, in which an
[ö] sound existed beside the [e] sound, and that he finally decided for
the latter.
Oral #a# is _a_, acc 3, habbenn 51; #a# before nasals _a_,
grammcunndnesse 86, ‘năme’ i. 9717; #a# before lengthening groups _a_,
faldess 56 (#fal(o)d#), hande 10, sang 131, but short in annd 114,
unstressed, stanndenn 67, 117: the indefinite pronoun is mann 36. #æ# is
_a_, affterr 21, fasste 59, wăke 76; ꝥat 46 was probably meant for þatt:
wrecche 4 (4 times), wrecchelike 24 is OE. #wrecca#. #e# is _e_, cwellen
38, hĕre 123, hĕte 87, sett 146, but se̋tt 68 (probably miswritten),
stressed wel 34 (13), qualifying a verb, and in most cases at the end of
the first half-line, beside well 29 (4), qualifying adjective or adverb;
#e# before lengthening groups is _e_, ende 113, genge 129, but short are
senndeþþ 62 and enngle 15 (10), with a consonant after the lengthening
group: whillc 152, iwhillc 134, 161 represent #hwilc#, #gehwilc#,
swillke 69, #swilc#. #i# is _i_, cribbe 2, friþþ 133, inn 2 &c., mikell
93, wĭtenn 3 (Orm divided wiþþ utenn 113), but in 170: #i# before
lengthening groups is _i_, bindenn 10, child 4, shildenn 67, 126, but
brinngenn 18, sinndenn 74, 169, winnde clū́t 2, 7. #o# is _o_, follc 30,
biforenn 16; before lengthening groups _o_, unorneliȝ 45, worde 60, but
short are wollde 5, forrþrihht 1 (usually forþ uncompounded): #o# is _u_
in wurrþenn 33, 48 (#worden#) by analogy of the infinitive. #u# is _u_,
stunnt 27, vnnorne 4; before lengthening groups _u_, sungenn 131, tunge
119, wundenn 7, but short are hunngerr 37, unnderrstanndenn 109,
wullderr 132, wunnderrliȝ 35. #y# is _i_, dill 27 (*#dyll#), gillteþþ
155, ifell 64, þrisst 37, wrihhte 151; before lengthening groups, kinde
108, but birrþ 3, 44.
#ā# is _a_, á 174, lare 79, whas 90; before two consonants _a_,
bitacneþþ 100, gast 73: shortening in hallȝhe 69: #swā# is usually swa
17, but se 1 (#swē#). #ǣ{1}# is _æ_, hæþenndom 161, læreþþ 73, sæ 12;
before two consonants _æ_, næfre 41, unnclænnesse 161, but _a_ in aniȝ
157 (#ānig#), lasse 39, mast 169 (North. #māst#). #ǣ{2}# is mostly _æ_,
færedd 84, 91, lætenn 45, 54, þær 19 (4), wæde 8, wære 17 (3), wærenn 58
(3), but _e_ in greditleȝȝc 167, and with shortening fordredd 88 (4);
before two consonants _æ_, wæpnedd 90, and _e_ with shortening, sellðe
95. #ē# is _e_, betenn 158, eche 19, fe̋t 10, le̋t 10, but _o_ in doþ 29
&c., from the plural. #ī# is _i_, bliþe 85, pinenn 36, riche 5 (4);
before two consonants _i_, crist 1, 90, cristenndom 49, but elsewhere
usually crisstendom. #ō# is _o_, dom 75, god 71; before two consonants
_o_, frofrenn 60, 66: shortened in comm 26, 30, 55, soffte 85. #ū# is
_u_, brukenn 174, -clū̋t 2, űt (numen) 53; shortened in vpp 18, 142, uss
3, 62. #ȳ# is _i_, bisne 43 (#bȳsne#), grisliȝ 91 (*#grȳslig#), kiþenn
92, litell 21 (3), shrideþþ 6.
#ea# before #r# + cons. is _a_, naru 13, starrke 75; before lengthening
groups _æ_, ærd 5, middelærd 6, but harrd 37, towarrd 87, warrþ 3 (3).
The _i_-umlaut is not represented in this extract, it is _e_ in ‘errfe’
i. 1068, beside ‘dærne’ i. 2004, where _æ_ represents #ea# before a
lengthening group. #ea# before #l# + cons. is _a_ (Anglian), all 3 &c.,
hallf 36, 93; before lengthening groups _a_, haldenn 22, kald 37, walde
124; the _i_-umlaut is _e_, beldeþþ 79, corrected out of miswritten
beoldeþþ; see 359/5. #eo# before #r# + cons. is _e_, herrte 89, 119, but
misspelt herte 134; before lengthening groups _e_, erless 164, erþe 20
(4). To the #wur# group belong forrwerrpenn 149, wurrþenn 17 (3),
wurrþshipe 132: ȝernenn 21 is without umlaut, but hirde 53, hirdess 46,
irre 75, 167. #eo# before #l# + cons. is seen in sellf 53, sellfenn 19
(4). #eo#, _u_-umlaut of #e# is _eo_, heoffness 57 (5), but _e_ in
heffness 5 (11), hefennlike 8, werelld 9: the _å_-umlaut of #e# is
wanting in berenn 29; the umlaut of #i# is _eo_ in heore 56, but here
50, ‘fele’ i. 7640. #ea# after palatals is _a_, shall 134, shaffte 9,
unnshaþiȝnesse 50 (#scæþþig#). #ie# after #g# is _i_, ȝifenn 14 (5),
ȝifeþþ 72, gife 174: #ȝef# is ȝiff 80. #eo# after #g# is _u_, ȝung 108;
after #sc#, _o_, shollde 47, 94, sholldenn 50, 96.
#ēa# is _æ_, læfe 49, ræfenn 89, sæm 29, but _e_ in ec 53 &c.; its
_i_-umlaut is _e_, ekedd 129, lefenn 96. #ēo# is _e_, ben 7, bitwenenn
141, defell 86 (3), lefe 34, lem 77 (4), sen 40, þed 15, and _eo_,
deofless 67, leome 57, seo 91; ȝho 2 (#hēo#) shows shifted accent: the
_i_-umlaut of #ēo# is wanting in lesenn 102, nede 33, stereþþ 9,
þessterrnesse 63, 160, þeossterrnesse 65. #gīet# is ȝḗt 39. #ēa# after
palatals is _e_, shep 50, 54, #īe# after #g#, _e_, ȝemenn 52, 125.
#a# + #g# is _aȝh_, laȝhess 22. #æ# + #g# is _aȝȝ_, daȝȝ 99 (= daī),
daȝȝess _s. g._ 100 (= dai-iess), laȝȝ 16, maȝȝ 40 (3), but seȝȝde 92
(as if from *#segde#). #e# + #g# is _eȝȝ_, leȝȝd 13 (= leīd). Final
#-ig# is _iȝ_ (= ī), aniȝ 157, bodiȝ 173, grisliȝ 91, modiȝnesse 87;
greditleȝȝc 167 is probably miswritten. #i# + #h# is _ihh_, sihhþe 58,
77. #o# + #g# is _oȝh_, forrhoȝhenn 149. #u# + #g# is _uȝh_, muȝhenn 80,
142. #ā# + #g# is _aȝh_, aȝhenn 3, 54. #ō# + #g# is _oh_, inoh 31. #ea#
+ #h# is seen in waxenn 137; the _i_-umlaut in mihhte 36, 137, nihht 55,
57, but mahht 72, allmahhtiȝ 108, nahht 46 (4) descend from Anglian
forms in #æ#. #eo# + #ht# is _ihht_ in brihhte 77, rihhte 49, 89, 91,
fihhten 123; the _i_-umlaut is wanting in seþ 84 (corr. out of seoþ).
#ēa# + #h# is _ehh_, þehh 74 (#ðēh# shortened by loss of stress), neh
30. #ēo# + #ht# is seen in lihht 57 (as if from #leoht#). #ā# + #w#
gives _aw_, sawless 69, 129, wawenn 151. hewe 70 is from Anglian #hēow#:
ohht 145 represents #oht#, similarly nohht 40, 91. #ēa# + #w# appears in
awwnedd 105 (*#ēawnian#); #ēo# + #w# in reweþþ 158 (corr. out of
reoweþþ), trowwþe 90 (#treowþ# without umlaut and with shifted accent),
þeww 72 (= þeū: from #þeow#), so, too, þewwten 31.
#Ealswā# is alls 172: for #e#, _i_ appears in drihhtin 42 (6); it is
lost in wiþþren 150, added in swikedomess 67, 168, onne 29, ‘offe’ i.
4097 by analogy of inne, uppe: #o# is _a_ in anan 1. The prefix #ge# is
_i_, iwhillc 134, 161.
Metathesis of #r# is seen in þrisst 37, wrihhte 151. #n# is lost in i 2,
o 36; by inadvertence it is not doubled in unorneliȝ 45, comp. vnnorne
4. #f# is used in every position, faldess 56, hafeþþ 28, hallfe 93, but
it was probably voiced between vowels and vowellikes, _v_ as in ‘serven’
i. 506 is rare. For #d#, _þ_ appears by analogy in wurrþenn 33, 48.
After #d#, #t#, certain pronominal words change initial þ to _t_, tær
13, tanne 94, tatt 13 &c., teȝȝ 128, te 25, 115, tu 34. #sć# is
regularly _sh_, shrideþþ 6, shop 9, nesshe 37; in bisscopess 51,
‘bisskopess’ i. 7233 (but elsewhere bisshopess), and mennisscnesse 38,
sc is probably due to Scandinavian influence. The stop #c# is _k_ before
_e_, _i_, makenn 5, mannkinn 21, _c_ before _o_, _u_, other consonants
and final, comm 26, clut 2, flocc 49, ec 53 (contrast ekedd 129), _k_ or
_c_ in other positions, kald 37. #č# is _ch_, child 4, eche 19, but
palatalization does not take place in swillke 69, illke 13, illkess 161,
iwhillc 134, whillc 152 and ekedd 129, mikell 93, miccle 33. #čč# is
_cch_ in wrecche 4: #cw# is regularly preserved, cwellenn 38, cwike 15;
_qu_ occurs in the Latin words quarrterrne, quaþþrigan. Palatal #g# is
_ȝ_, ȝæn 73, ȝernenn 21, ȝifenn 14 (6), but gife 174: the guttural
spirant is _ȝh_, follȝhenn 79, 107, 165, hallȝhe 69, sinnȝheþþ 155. The
guttural stop [g] is distinguished from the dzh sound in edge, which is
represented by g. #h# is lost initially in laferrd 25, nesshe 37, reweþþ
158: #hēo# is ȝho 2: #hw# is _wh_, whas 90, whatt 137.
#Accidence:# Strong declension of _masc._ and _neut._ nouns. In the
_s. n._ sune 20, 106 represents #sunu#. _Gen._ -ess, daȝȝess 100,
deofless 67, heffness 14, lifess 100, but, by a scribal error, daȝȝes
75: _d._ -e, hewe 170, sune 96, worde 60, and six others, but the
inflection is mostly wanting, as in bodiȝ 173, daȝȝ 99, dom 75, and
thirty-two others. The _acc._ heffne 12 is due to the LWS. _fem._
#heofone#. The _pl. n. a._ of masculines ends in -ess, hirdess 46,
bisscopess 51; neuters are shep 50, 54, ?wiless 126: genitives are
enngle (þed) 15, 122, kinne 64, 71, 157: datives have mostly -ess,
bandess 11, claþess 24, but þinge 71, wrihhte 151. The _fem._ nouns of
the strong declension end in e in the _s. n. a._, blisse, sellðe 95, are
80, bisne 43, except mahht 72, þed 15, werelld 9, and sæ 12. _Gen._ -e,
helle 101, 151, possibly blisse 174: _dat._ -e, blisse 18, cribbe 2,
hallfe 93, but hallf 36. _Pl. g._ is þede 122; _d._ sawless 129; _a._
hande 10, shaffte 9, sawless 69. Nouns of the weak declension have
mostly -e in all cases of the singular, but demess 75 is genitive and,
before the caesura, lem 77, dative, beside leome 57, lem 107, 163
accusative: a _pl. n._ is wawenn 151. The minor declensions are
represented by fet _pl. a._ 10, mann _s. n._ 20, manness _s. g._ 172,
manne _s. d._ 30, mann _s. a._ 134, menn _pl. n._ 76, _pl. d._ 49, 56;
nahht _s. d._ 46, nihht _s. a._ 57; moderr _s. d._ 1; child _s. n._ 4.
Adjectives which in OE. end in e retain that termination throughout, as
bliþe 85, cweme 152, eche 19, 100, 103, milde 82, riche 5, 112, 165,
soffte 85, vnnorne 4. Instances of weak inflections are _s. d. m._ laþe
165, lefe 34, rihhte 49, starrke 75, _s. d. f._ brihhte 77, _s. a. m._
laþe 32, 73, 123, _s. a. neut._ rihhte 89, rume 14: strong inflections
are few, _s. d. f._ fulle 90, hefennlike 8, 173, _s. a. m._ gode 153:
all others are uninflected in the singular. The plural ends in -e, glade
127, gode 147, hallȝhe 69, laþe 31, 66, 126, cwike 15. Adjectives used
as nouns are not inflected. #mycel# in the strong declension is mikell,
_s. d. f._ 131, _s. a. f._ 93, _s. a. neut._ 61, in the weak, miccle
_s. d. f._ 33 (#myclan#), _s. a. neut._ 120 (#mycle#). #āgen# gives
aȝhenn 3, 54 without inflection. OE. #ān# is an _n. m._ 114, a 172,
aness _g. m._ 170, an _d. f._ 2, _a. m._ 49, _a. f._ 3. Comparatives are
bettre, mare 145, lasse 39; superlative, mast 169.
The personal pronouns are uss, tu, after t, 34, þe. The pronoun of the
third person is _s. n._ he _m._ 3, ȝho _f._ 2, itt _neut._ 28 (with asse
_mf._); _d._ himm _m._ 17, 23; _a._ 2, itt _neut._ 29 (with sæm _m._);
_pl. n._ þeȝȝ 130, teȝȝ, after t, 52; _d. a._ þeȝȝm. Reflexives are himm
10, 173, þe sellfenn 44, 45, himm sellfen 19, 35: definitive, himm sellf
53: possessives, ure 4; hiss, as general form for the singular, 1, 3,
16, 34, 47, 54, but hise _g. m._ 155; _pl. a._ hise 22; here 50, heore
56, teȝȝre, after t, 32. The definite article is þe, te, after t, 25,
126: þatt (ꝥ), tatt, after t, is demonstrative adjective 13 or
demonstrative pronoun 26; its plural is þa _adj._ 56 and _pron._ 22. The
compound demonstrative is _s._ þiss 6, _pl._ þise. The relative is þatt,
tatt, after t, 13, 27; þatt 30, 36, = in, on which, þurrh whatt 137,
144, by that by which. Interrogative is whillc 152 (#hwelc#); its
correlative is swillke _pl. a._ 69: #ilca# is illke _s. n._ 13, 152,
_a._ 97, 118. Indefinites are mann 29, 36, 38, 169; whase 154, whas 90,
whoso; illkess 161, every; iwhillc 134, 161; aniȝ _pl. g._ 157; all
_s. n. neut._ 30, _d. neut._ 64, 94, _a. m._ 32, _f._ 9, _neut._ 14, but
alle _s. d. f._ 6; _pl._ alle _n._ 128, alre _g._ 169, alle 64, 71, all
122, alle _d._ 172, _a._ 5, 9, 22: all 168 is apparently _s. n._ =
everyone.
Infinitives end in -enn, except sen 40, fon 36: of the second weak
conjugation are follȝhenn 107, forhoȝhenn 149, lofenn 110, lokenn 156,
makenn 5, pinenn 36, ræfenn 89, sammnenn 48, tacnenn 47, þankenn 120.
The _dat. inf._ is not inflected, to berenn 29, tunnderrstanndenn 109,
to sen 116, forr to kiþenn 92, for . . . to makenn 112. Presents are
_s._ 3. beldeþþ 79, bitacneþþ 100, and nineteen others; contracted,
birrþ 3, 44, seþ 84, stannt 158; _pl._ cumenn 70, haldenn 22, lufenn 23,
stanndenn 117, waken 66, wiþþrenn 150: _subjunctive s._ 3. gife 174, seo
91. Past of Strong Verbs: I a. _s._ 3. laȝȝ 16: I b. _s._ 3. comm 26,
30, 55: I c. _s._ 3. wand 2, warrþ 3, 20, 42; _pl._ 3. sungenn 131: IV.
_s._ 3. shop 9, toc 60, 82; _pl._ 3. unnderrstodenn 135, wokenn 46, 56
(form from #wacan#, meaning from #wacian#): V. _s._ 3. let 10.
Participles past: I a. ȝifenn 17: I b. borenn 1, 97, cumenn 92, utnumen
53: I c. wundenn 7, wurrþenn 33, 48: IV. V. waxenn 138: V. forrdredd 88,
forrdredde _adj. pl._ 59, 83, offdredde 74. Past of Weak Verbs: _s._ 3.
leȝȝde 2, seȝȝde 92. Participles past: bitacnedd 81, ekedd 129, leȝȝd
13, sett 68, 146. Minor Groups: witenn _inf._ 3, witt 2 _s. imp._ 34,
wisste _pt. s._ 83, wisstenn _pt. pl._ 128, 139; shall _pr. s._ 134,
shollde _pt. s._ 47, 94, shollden _pt. pl._ 50, 96; muȝhenn _inf._ 142,
maȝȝ _pr. s._ 40, 152, 171, muȝhenn _pr. pl. subj._ 80, mihhte _pt. s._
36, 137; ben _inf._ 7, iss _pr. s._ 63, 151 (apparently with _pl._
nominative), niss 91, sinndenn _pr. pl._ 74, 169, be _pr. s. subj._ 28,
si 3 _s. imp._ 132, wass _pt. s._ 1, wærenn _pt. pl._ 58, 76, 127, wære
_pt. s. subj._ 17, 138, 172; wile _pr. s._ 88, wollde _pt. s._ 5; to don
_dat. inf._ 32, doþ _pr. s._ 29, 109, missdoþ 157, don _pp._ 61, 118.
#Vocabulary:# Scandinavian are afell 28, aȝȝ 44, baþe 10, fra 67, gætenn
52, griþþ 133, laȝhenn 44, lahȝhre 43, mec 85, occ 117, sahht(nesse)
140, skerrenn 88, skill (læs) 27, summ 27, takenn 40, till 49, (inn)till
18, þeȝȝ 74, þeȝȝre 32, þohh 28, usell 4, usell(dom) 24, and the suffix
in (modiȝ)leȝȝc, (gredit)leȝȝc 167; possibly also bandess 10, come 148,
deȝeþþ 41. French is gluter(nesse) 167; long i in Crist shows new
borrowing from French.
#Dialect:# East Midland bordering on the North; a mixed dialect, which
possibly accounts for the wavering in the representation of #eo#, #ēo#.
The large Scandinavian element in the vocabulary and the absence of u in
final syllables (372/34) point to the East; the representation of #ā# +
#w#, the development of #c#, #g#, and perhaps the uniform appearance of
#ā# as a in this thirteenth-century text, show Northern influence.
Lambertz has noted so many correspondences between the phonology of Orm
and that of the Rushworth gloss on the Gospel of S. Matthew as to make
it probable that they belong to the same dialectal area. The Northern
border of Lincolnshire was most probably the place where the Ormulum was
written.
#Metre:# For the scheme of the Septenarius see p. 327. Orm’s verse is
monotonously regular; every line has its fifteen syllables exactly
counted out and ends in x́ x; the caesura comes after the eighth
syllable; the rhythm is iambic without substitution. For the sake of
this uniformity he does violence to the natural accent in Niþþrédd 35,
Bisscópess 51, Enngléss 69, sahhtnésse 140, drihhtíness 171, though
Schipper regards such cases as examples of ‘hovering accent,’ wherein
the stress is distributed equally over the two syllables having the
word-accent and the verse-accent,--a spondee rather than an iamb.
Elision takes place regularly before an initial vowel or h, sonẹ, leȝȝdẹ
2, vnnornẹ, wrecchẹ 4, heffnẹ 12, mihhtẹ 36, wolldẹ 54, wilẹ 88, seȝȝdẹ
94, whasẹ 154, &c. Sometimes e is not written, as in whas 90; crasis is
found elsewhere in he̋t (= he itt), ȝhőt (= ȝho itt), þűtt (= þu itt),
and similar combinations.
#Introduction:# The author of the Ormulum speaks of himself under two
names in ‘Þiss boc iss nemmnedd Orrmulum Forrþi þatt Orrm itt wrohhte,’
Preface 1, 2, and ‘Icc wass þær þær I crisstnedd wass Orrmin bi name
nemmnedd,’ Dedication 323, 4. The former was a fairly common name in the
Scandinavian districts of the North; in the latter, not found elsewhere,
he has probably added, as befitting the ritual occasion, the Latin
termination īn from īnus, as in Awwstin (= Augustinus). In the same way,
as Bradley suggests, he has taken the termination of Ormulum from
Speculum, as often occurring in titles of devotional books, like
Speculum Laicorum, Conscientiae, Sanctorale. He tells us that he wrote
at the request of his brother Walter, who was, like himself, an
Augustinian Canon; his purpose was to paraphrase and expound, for the
benefit of unlearned English folk, the Gospels of the Mass throughout
the year. His exposition is drawn for the most part from S. Bede, and
particularly from his sermons and commentaries, and to a small extent
from S. Gregory the Great. Traces of his acquaintance with S. Isidore
and Josephus, through Hegesippus, have been found by Sarrazin.
Nothing further is known of Orm, but Bradley has made it probable that
he was an inmate of Elsham Priory in North Lincolnshire (Dugdale, vi.
560). The contention of J. Wilson that he was identical with Orm,
brother of Walter, Prior of Carlisle between 1150 and 1170, would be
very attractive, if it were not for the philological difficulty, for the
Ormulum is undoubtedly written in the Midland dialect, and must be dated
about 1210.
This extract gives ll. 3662-4009, in Holt, i. pp. 126-38.
1. #Forrþrihht anan se#, lit. Straightway forthwith as, i.e. as soon as.
Orm has ‘forrþrihht se, anan se, sone swa, son se, forrþrihht summ, anan
summ,’ all with this same meaning, and forrþrihht summ, immediately, ii.
42/11404. Orm’s expletives are a feature of his dreary style; in his
dedication he says that he has set ‘maniȝ word | þe rime swa to
fillenn,’ that is, to make up the number of syllables required for his
metre; he makes extensive use of all, 112/3, 16 &c. Beside anan, Orm has
the primitive onn an, continuously, without a break.
2-18. The original of this passage is, ‘_Et pannis eum involvit et
reclinavit eum in praesepio . . . parvulus natus est nobis_, ut nos viri
possimus esse perfecti. Qui totum mundum vario vestit ornatu, pannis
vilibus involvitur, ut nos stolam primam recipere valeamus. Per quem
omnia facta sunt, manus pedesque cunis adstringitur, ut nostrae manus ad
opus bonum exertae, nostri sint pedes in viam pacis directi. Cui coelum
sedes est, duri praesepis angustia continetur, ut nos per coelestis
regni gaudia dilatet. Qui panis est Angelorum, in praesepio reclinatur,
ut nos quasi sancta animalia carnis suae frumento reficiat,’ Bede, v.
234.