Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.8.3

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12164

Introduction: This manscript contains a simple Greek-Latin lexicon, defining Greek words by a single Latin word or brief description, without citations of texts or lengthy discussion. Given its content, it was presumably produced in western Europe, probably not by a native Greek-speaker. The Greek script is simple and written by the same hand the Latin text, while the quire signatures, although in Greek, do not conform to normal Greek practice, using letters in alphabetical order rather than numerals. The physical substance of the manuscript appears to date from the mid-15th century, on the basis of the watermarks of the two types of paper it originally contained. However, while the Greek and Latin scripts could also be consistent with such a date, they are more suggestive of the 16th century. It is therefore possible that the manuscript was written at a later date than its creation as an object. Its long, slender format is well-suited to its content, but would also conform with the structure of an account-book, and such a book would be left blank when originally made, to be filled in later. It could therefore have been left unused for its original purpose and much later adopted for the copying of this lexicon. Supposing it to be a 15th-century production, it would presumably have been written in Italy, the main western venue for the study of Greek, but a later date would allow for a wider geographical range. Dr Christopher Wright

Language(s): Greek and Latin

Greek-Latin lexicon

Incipit: || f. 2r ἀβληχρός

Explicit: f. 3r ἡ ὢψ ὠπὸς vultus

ff. 1r-1v, 158v-161v are blank.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: f. 3r ἀγοραῖος Forensis conventus quibus emit & vendit

Form: codex

Support: f. 1 Western paper, folded in agenda-quarto. Watermark: Grapes ( 45 × 25 mm. ) near the gutter. ff. 2-70 Western paper, folded in agenda-quarto. Watermark: Ladder ( 55 × 19 mm. ) near the gutter, similar to Briquet 5909. This example is dated to 1460-1465. ff. 71-160 Western paper, folded in agenda-quarto, with 3 chainlines per leaf. Watermark: Mountains ( 71 × 23 mm. ) near the gutter, similar to Briquet 11699, 11702, 11722, 11725. These examples are dated to 1413-1450.

Extent: Codex: i + 159 leaves. 396 × 140 mm.

Foliation: The manuscript is foliated with the numbers 1 + 2-160, in pencil, in Arabic numerals, recto, upper right.

Collation

The manuscript consists of 16 quires, all of which are quinia.

Quires 1-15¹⁰ ff. 2-150
Quire 16^10-1 ff. 152-160 The last folio has been cancelled, without loss of text.

There are orignal quire signatures in Greek letters, in brown ink, on the last folio of each quire, verso, lower right. Some have been lost to cropping. They survive on Quires 8-10, 12-16 (θ-κ, μ-π).

Condition

There are significant losses at the beginning of the manuscript, which include the whole of the original f. 1, most of f. 2 and parts of ff. 3-13, with loss of text. These have been repaired with paper patches. There are also small tears to the edges elsewhere. There is pest damage throughout, especially severe in the later part of the manuscript (ff. 139-160). The surviving portions of the early folios are soft, with extensive staining from water and mould, which is also present less extensively elsewhere. There is a small red stain to the fore-edge of ff. 152-160.

Layout

Two columns of 47-65 lines, with Greek on the left and Latin on the right. 312 × 55-110 mm. Ruled in pencil, two vertical lines marking the beginning of text in each column and two horizontal lines marking the top and bottom of the written area.

Hand(s)

The manuscript was copied in a mixed minuscule script, upright or slanting to the right, with minimal variation in letter size.

Breathings are round. Accents are sometimes joined to breathings.

The same hand is responsible for the Latin text.

Decoration

The initial letters of headings and each section are written in red ink, occasionally slightly ornamented (e.g. ff. 143v, 151v).

A large hand with a pointing finger, similar in form to a manicule, has been drawn in pencil on 151v, along with another, partially erased drawing.

Additions

J.-B. Hautin has added his name and the title ‘Vocabularium graeco-latinum’ on the front pastedown. There are occasional brief additions to the text by various hands (e.g. ff. 139r, 143r).

Binding

18th-century quarter leather binding, with a brown leather spine and parchment covering over millboards, reused from a previous binding, with plain pastedowns. There is decorative gold tooling on the spine, along with the classmark and the title ‘Glossarium Graecum & Latinum M.S.’ also tooled in gold. The words ‘Alphabetum Graecum’ have been written on the fore-edge, and the More library classmark 987 in ink on the left board.

409 × 158 × 48 mm.

History

Origin: Produced as an object during the first three quarters of the 15th century, as indicated by the combination of watermarks. However, the style of script, though not incompatible with this date, is more suggestive of the the 16th century.

Provenance and Acquisition

Owned by J.-B. Hautin , probably the grandson of Jean-Baptiste Hautin (ca. 1580-1640) (Easterling, 'Two Greek MSS.', p. 111, n. 1).

John Moore (1646-1714) , bishop of Ely: no. 987 in the handwritten supplementary list of Moore's manuscripts, now MS Oo.7.50(2), compiled by Thomas Tanner after the publication of Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (1697).

Presented to the University Library in 1715 by George I .

Additional Information

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.

Bibliography

A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the library of the University of Cambridge Catalogue of manuscripts (Dd), (Cambridge, 1, Cambridge University Press, 1856)

The Greek Manuscripts of John Moore and Etienne Baluze Codices Manuscripti, Jackson, Donald F. (56/57, 29-42, 2006)

Study Tools in the Humanist Greek School: Preliminary Observations on Greek-Latin Lexica Teachers, Students, and Schools of Greek in the Renaissance, Rollo, A. (Leiden; Boston, 26-53, Brill, 2017)

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.8.3

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