% The Corpus of Old English
% ![](img/by.eps){height=25px}\newline P. S. Langeslag
% ![](img/unilogo600dpi.jpg){height=40px}
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@doec, @echoe, @williamson, @aspr
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```{=latex}
\definecolor{burgundy}{HTML}{990000}
\usepackage[style=american]{csquotes}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.text}
\usepackage[normalem]{ulem}
\usepackage{hyperref}
%\usepackage{gb4e}
\hypersetup{colorlinks,linkcolor=,urlcolor=burgundy}
\setbeamerfont{quote}{shape=\upshape,family=\rmfamily}
\setbeamercolor{part title}{fg=burgundy}
\newcommand*\circled[1]{\tikz[baseline=(char.base)]{
\node[shape=circle,draw,inner sep=0pt] (char) {#1};}}
\usepackage{changepage}
\newcommand{\hideFromPandoc}[1]{#1}
\hideFromPandoc{
\let\Begin\begin
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}
```
---
# The _Dictionary of Old English_ Corpus
## 3060 "Texts"
--- ------------------------- --------------------- ------
A Poetry 177,480 words 6%
B Prose 2,128,781 words 70%
C Glosses 699,606 words 23%
D Glossaries 26,598 words .88%
E Runes 346 words .01%
F Inscriptions 331 words .01%
**Total** **3,033,142 words**
**Incl. foreign words** **3,791,645 words**
--- ------------------------- --------------------- ------
: [DOEC statistics](https://tapor.library.utoronto.ca/doecorpus/wordcount.html) for the 2009 release
# Corpus Emphases
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Metric Works/Authors/Genres
--------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------
Most copies Psalters (1 copy) and psalter glosses (14\* copies); Ælfric's _Grammar_ (14 copies)
Most productive named Ælfric (c. 512,500 OE words in DOEC, or c. 17 percent of the total corpus)
author
Most populous genres Charters (mostly bounds; c. 1100 items in DOEC);\newline
Homilies (c. 125 works of Ælfric's in multiple copies, plus c. 350 copies of non-Ælfric texts);\newline
Saints' lives
Longest works _Ecclesiastical History of the English People_ (80,521 OE words);\newline
_Pastoral Care_ (67,835 OE words);\newline
_History of the World Against the Pagans_ (51,110 OE words);\newline
E _Chronicle_ (47,166 OE words);\newline
_Consolation of Philosophy_ (47,155 OE words [prose])
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
: Standout works, authors, and genres by various metrics
# Poetry: The Four "Poetic Codices"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manuscript Poetic Content Type Poetic Works
--------------- ----------------------- --------------------------------------------------
MS Junius 11 "Biblical" poetry _Genesis A_, _Genesis B_, _Exodus_, _Daniel_, _Christ and Satan_
Exeter Book Riddles; lyrics; c. 95 riddles and e.g. _Christ_, _Guthlac_, _The
saints' lives; Wanderer_, _The Seafarer_, _Soul and Body II_,
religious allegory; _The Lord's Prayer I_, _The Whale_, _The Panther_,
wisdom poetry; _The Wife's Lament_, _The Ruin_
religious poetry; misc.
Vercelli Book Homilies; religious _Andreas_, _The Fates of the Apostles_, _Soul and
poetry Body I_, _The Dream of the Rood_, _Elene_, and a
homiletic fragment
Nowell Codex ? "Monster" poetry _Beowulf_, _Judith_
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
: The poetic codices
# Poetry: Outside the Four "Poetic Codices"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MS Context Content Type Titles
--------------- ----------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Chronicles Historiography _The Battle of Brunanburh_, _The Capture of the
Five Boroughs_, _The Coronation of King Edgar_,
_The Death of King Edgar_, _The Death of Prince
Alfred_, _The Death of King Edward the Confessor_
Bede Praise/creation _Cædmon's Hymn_
Inscriptions Religious poetry _The Dream of the Rood_
Fragments Epic; historiography; _The Battle of Maldon_, _Waldere_, _The Finnsburh
wisdom poetry Fragment_, _Solomon and Saturn_
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
: Poetry outside the poetic codices
# Poetry by Genre
- Biblical paraphrase: *Genesis A*, (*Genesis B*,) *Exodus*, *Daniel*,
*Azarias*, Psalms 51--150, *Judith*(, *Christ and Satan* pt 3)
- Biblically inspired and religious narrative: *Genesis B*, *Christ*,
*Christ and Satan*, *Dream of the Rood*, *Fates of the Apostles*,
*Judgement Day I*, *II*, *Soul and Body*
- Saints' lives: *Andreas*, *Elene*, *Guthlac*, *Juliana*
- Religious allegory: *The Phoenix*, *The Whale*, *The Panther*
- Devotional: Psalms 51--150, hymns, and prayers (*Christ*, *The
Descent into Hell*)
- Heroic: *Beowulf*, *Finnesburh Fragment*, *Waldere*, *Deor*,
*Widsith*, *The Battle of Brunanburh*, *The Battle of Maldon*
- Riddles, wisdom poetry, charms
- Lyric and elegy: *The Wanderer*, *The Seafarer*, *The Wife's
Lament*, *The Ruin*, *Wulf and Eadwacer*, *The Husband's Message*
# Prose by Genre
- Homilies
- Laws (secular and ecclesiastical)
- Charters and records
- Saints' lives: *Dialogues* books 1--3, _Martyrology_, _Guthlac_, Ælfric
- Biblical translation and paraphrase: Hexateuch, Psalms, Gospels, OT selections
- Learning: *Soliloquies*, *Boethius*, computistics, Ælfric's
*Grammar*
- Historiography: Orosius, Bede, *Anglo-Saxon Chronicle*
- Precepts: *Pastoral Care*, *Benedictine Rule*, *Rule of Chrodegang*, _Letter to the Monks of Eynsham_
- Liturgy and catechesis: directions, prayers, creeds
- Medical texts, recipes, charms, prognostics
- Dialogues: *Solomon and Saturn*, *Adrian and Ritheus*
- Marvels: *Wonders of the East*, *Letter of Alexander to Aristotle*
- Romance: *Apollonius of Tyre*
- Letters, tracts, and admonitions
- Notes and scribbles
# Where Can I Access Old English Poetry?
## In Translation
- [Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library series](http://domedieval.org/) (facing-page translation)
- Craig Williamson, _The Complete Old English Poems_
-
## In the Original
- [Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library series](http://domedieval.org/) (facing-page translation)
- G. P. Krapp and E. V. K. Dobbie, _Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records_ (6 vols)
-
- Individual critical editions in the SEP library
## Audio
-
# Where Can I Access Old English Prose?
## Print
- [Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library series](http://domedieval.org/) (facing-page translation)
- Individual critical editions in the SEP library, TA shelfmarks
## Audio
-
#
\centering
[langeslag.uni-goettingen.de](http://langeslag.uni-goettingen.de)
\vspace*{12mm}
## Bibliography