MS 9/2:16 Text
The text contains an alphabetical list of terms with explanations. This fragment lists words that begin with the letter L. Decorated L initials are repeated on both sides of the leaf, two are flourished in red ink and the other two in blue. A decorated initial precedes the terms with longer definitions. The entries in MS 9/2:16, start with the first three letters, beginning with LIB. The recto contains words such as “liber” (book), “libia” (Libya, a country in North Africa) and “libidinosus” (passionate.)
Etymologiae
Initially, the text was credited as a copy of the Etymologiae (Etymologies) by Isidore of Seville (c. 560-636). The Etymologiae was a popular reference text throughout the Middle Ages. Etymologiae consists of 20 books but it is common to see selected parts copied in medieval manuscripts. Also known as the Origines, Isidore’s encyclopedia focuses on the origin and historical development of words and their meanings.
Elementarium doctrinae rudimentum
Instead, it seems that the fragment is referencing a copy of Papias the Lombard’s Elementarium doctrinae rudimentum (Elementary Introduction to Learning).[2] The Elementarium was written over several years during the 1040s. One of the sources for Elementarium was Isidore’s Etymologiae. Elementarium is in alphabetical order based on the first three letters of a word.
Over a hundred manuscripts of Elementarium survive, according to A Census of Medieval Latin Grammatical Manuscripts by G. L. Bursill-Hall. There are at least four that were written before the fifteenth century. The earliest copy was written in Milan in 1476. Three of these texts are dated to 1485, 1491 and 1496 and are digitized by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Germany.
[2] Yavuz, Kıvılcım N. “Manuscript of the Month: A Previously Unknown Witness to a Medieval Dictionary and the Origins of Librarians.” Inside Spencer: The KSRL Blog, 29 Apr. 2020, https://blogs.lib.ku.edu/spencer/manuscript-of-the-month-a-previously-unknown-witness-to-a-medieval-dictionary-and-the-origins-of-librarians/.