Reflexive pronouns in the Lindisfarne glosses
Old English uses personal pronouns, demonstratives, and limited null subject for reference to previously mentioned
nouns. It uses personal pronouns reflexively and pronouns modified by ‘self’ identical in form with an intensive. This use of a
pronoun modified by self has been attributed to British Celtic influence. Other changes in the pronominal system
have been attributed to Scandinavian influence, e.g. the introduction of the third person plural pronoun they.
This paper looks at the use of the specially marked reflexives in the glosses to the Lindisfarne Gospels, a northern text where
both British Celtic and Scandinavian influence may be relevant. It provides lists of all of the self-marked forms
and shows, for instance, that Matthew and Mark have reflexives based on an accusative/dative pronoun followed by
self and they don’t have this form as an intensifier. British Celtic of this period has an intensifier but
has no special reflexives and has lost case endings, so the Lindisfarne language is unlike British Celtic. Luke and John have
intensives and reflexives, with ‘self’ modifying case-marked pronouns, again unlike British Celtic. In addition to contributing to
the debate on external origins, the paper adds to the authorship debate by comparing the use of reflexives in the different
gospels.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Reflexives and intensifiers in Latin, Celtic, and Old English
- 3.Northumbrian and Mercian reflexives and intensifiers
- 4.‘Self’ in Lindisfarne
- 5.Grammatical functions
- 6.Weak or strong and person preference?
- 7.Discussion and conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
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2020.
Reduced forms in the nominal morphology of the Lindisfarne Gospel Gloss. A case of accusative/dative syncretism?.
Folia Linguistica 54:s41-s1
► pp. 37 ff.
Kiss, Katalin É. & Nikolett Mus
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