Glossing wind names in Low German in Salisbury? A newly discovered text in London, British Library, Cotton Vitellius A.xii

Abstract

It's an essay investigating a text on the names of the winds in ms London, British Library, Cotton Vitellius A.xii (s. xi), where both Latin and vernacular names are given. The text may ultimately derive from Einhard's Life of Charlemagne (ch. 29), but it appears as a self-contained text in the form of a Class Glossary. Although inserted in a manuscript copied in England at Salisbury, the vernacular words of the text are not in Old English. The essay makes a case for a possible connection with Flanders, with the text being one of the very rare surviving specimen of the Old Low Franconian language.