Old English in Switzerland

Conference keynote address by Dr Annina Seiler (Universität Zürich)

Swiss libraries preserve some eighteen manuscripts containing Old English. These texts attest to links between Britain and Switzerland at very different times: some Old English texts were brought to Switzerland in the modern era, while others have been in Switzerland since the early Middle Ages. This talk focuses on the early relations between Anglo-Saxon England and Swiss monastic centres, notably St. Gallen, Schaffhausen and Einsiedeln. It presents three case studies: biblical glosses from the Canterbury school, Old English names of the months and Bede’s Death Song, whose earliest surviving copy is in a manuscript from St. Gallen. The talk explores how these texts ended up in Switzerland and what speakers of Old High German made of Old English texts.

Annina Seiler currently works on a research project entitled ‘Glossaries: Lexicography in the English Middle Ages’, in which she investigates glossaries and dictionaries from the early Anglo-Saxon period to the end of the Middle Ages. She is particularly interested in the role of English in medieval lexicography and its relation to other languages, most notably Latin and French. Her general research interests include: History of the English language, Old and Middle English language and literature, the West Germanic languages, orality and literacy in the Middle Ages, the functions of writing and the connections between roman and runic script, the history of linguistic thought.

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