Historical Linguistics and Palaeography, two inseparable tools to teach History of the English language (original) (raw)

Palaeography is the study of ancient and medieval handwriting, and it focuses on the establishment of “patterns in the development of characteristic letter forms and abbreviations” (Lowe, 2006: 134). Historical Linguistics studies the diachronic evolution that languages endure. Hence, these two disciplines complement each other and provide the required tools and means to establish the date of different manuscripts. However, it is possible to state that Palaeography has been traditionally associated to History, whereas Historical Linguistics is related to Linguistics. Linguists tend to lack the skills that historians possess to transcribe and analyse ancient scripts, whereas historians usually do not have the knowledge required to study the graphemes and spellings that are relevant to date a manuscript. Therefore, this paper aims to narrow down the date of production of the Pseudo-Hippocrates’ Treatise on Zodiacal Influence (ff. 98r-104r) contained in GUL, MS Hunter 513. A transcription and detailed analysis of the main features of the handwriting of the text will be carried out and followed by a thorough inquiry of the chief characteristics of the Middle English language