Glossary Conventions

Coverage

This is a glossary to the edited text only, and incorporates neither the manuscript variants given in the Apparatus Criticus nor the longer additions cited in the footnotes. For those forms here listed that represent emendations to the base text (MS A), an asterisk precedes the line reference. When further information about a given instance (its etymology, sense, or interpretation in context) is provided in the Notes, the letter ‘n’ follows the line reference.

Referencing

Reference is by Part and line number. Each different orthographic and morphological form and significant sense variant is exemplified. For practical reasons of space, however, only the first instance of each usage is offered, together with an ‘etc.’ where more examples of the same occur later in the text. Those readers in search of a full guide to the forms in MS A are advised to consult the concordance in Potts, Stevenson, and Wogan-Browne 1993.

Alphabetization and cross-reference

Entries are in alphabetical order, according to which yogh [represented here by the numeral ‘3’] will be found after <g>, and thorn and eth after <t>. The vocalic and consonantal significations of <i>, <u>, and <v> are not distinguished for purposes of alphabetical ordering. The prefix i- (= OE ge-) is always included in determining this order, though in the majority of cases it appears attached to the past participles of verbs whose stem is otherwise found without it, in which case the said participial forms will be found listed under the letter <i> for purposes of cross-reference only. In general, cross-references are supplied wherever they seem helpful (i.e., except in the immediate vicinity of the main entry).

Format of entries

The format of entries is conventional, with headword and variant forms in bold type, grammatical and other information in italics, and senses in ordinary type. In most cases, orthographic/morphological variant forms and their senses are listed together; where the sense of a variant is not indicated, it should be referred back to that given at the beginning of the entry or sub-entry. In the case of words which have a particularly complex series of variant forms and senses, the two are offered separately. Phrasing and idioms that have been deemed to require further explanation are noticed at the end of the section for each variant form or sense; here, the symbol ‘~’ stands for the headword (in any of its forms).

Wherever possible, the headword given is a form actually recorded in the text, and the sense given then refers to this form, with the meanings that attach to predictable inflexional variants assumed. In the case of verbs, infinitives are preferred as headword where these are found in the text; otherwise present tense forms are listed before preterites, finite forms before non-finite, and indicative (not usually stated), subjunctive, and imperative in that order. Subjunctives are not usually recorded separately where they would be identical in form with the corresponding indicative, though exceptions will be found in the event of significant differences in sense and usage between the two. Datives of nouns (i.e., post-prepositional forms) are likewise ordinarily offered only when different from non-oblique forms, and the same is true with weak, dative, and plural forms of adjectives (where 'weak' is understood to mean singular forms inflected with -e after the definite article, etc.). Accusative (understood to refer to the direct object only) and dative are, however, normally offered separately in the case of the personal pronouns owing to their frequent functional distinction.

Abbreviations are conventional