Archive of Celtic-Latin Literature (ACLL-1)
Royal Irish Academy Archive of Celtic-Latin Literature (RIA-ACLL) on CD-ROM
In the early Middle Ages, literate men in and from the Celtic periphery of
Europe (Ireland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and Scotland) wrote many and
varied Latin works constituting what can now be seen as a distinctive
literature, whose unusual vocabulary, grammar and phrasing (let alone
subject-matter) made it into what has been called 'one of the most curious
and interesting phenomena of medieval philology'. In an attempt to codify
this usage, the Royal Irish Academy has for the past dozen years been working
actively towards producing a Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic
Sources (RIA-DMLCS)--part of a Europe-wide movement to publish
lexicons of the medieval Latin of specific national areas.
From the outset DMLCS has been computer-based, having as a second
objective the establishment of a permanent electronic database containing the
whole CORPUS of Celtic-Latin literature from the period 400-1200 A.D. (about
1300 separate texts, varying from fragmentary inscriptions to learned treatises
hundreds of pages long). This database, held in the Queen's University,
Belfast, is richly marked up--for proper nouns, non-Latin words, categories
or quotation, etc.--so as to be of maximum use to the lexicographer. But it
was always envisaged that, as its construction proceeded, the archive would
come to be of value to scholars in other disciplines as well--to the editor of
texts, the researcher into geographical or chronological distribution of usages,
the historian interested in the transmission of ideas or texts, the linguist, the
philologist, and to many others. The question was how to make it available to
them.
That question is now to be answered with the launch of the Royal Irish
Academy Archive of Celtic-Latin Literature (RIA-ACLL) on CD-ROM, in
collaboration with Brepols. The Celtic origin of the texts will complement the
(largely Continental) domain of CLCLT (Cetedoc Library of Christian Latin
Texts), and together the two publications will constitute a pan-European
electronic library of patristic and medieval Latin material. The functional
design developed by Cetedoc at Louvain-la-Neuve and used by CLIENT has
been taken up and is common to both, facilitating their use in tandem. ACLL
will be published from the DMLCS database in a series of three consecutive
editions, comprising:
- A first, preliminary edition, containing all the material so far processed to
DMLCS standard (this extensive selection is representative of the authors,
nationalities, periods and genres in the Celtic-Latin domain).
- A second, developed edition, to be issued once five million words of text
have been entered, marked up and checked to DMLCS standard.
- A third, definitive edition, to appear when the database has reached the
maximum feasible size (that is, all accessible Celtic-Latin texts processed to
standard).
As with the CLCLT, each new edition will be available to existing subscribers
on a replacement basis.
Included in the first CD-ROM edition of the archive:
BRITISH AUTHORS: Gildas - Asser - Rhygyfarch -
leuan ap Sulien - Euben (Owain) - Caradog of Llancarfan - John of Cornwall - Gerald of Wales
(Giraldus Cambrensis). Plus scholastic texts - saints' lives - the
Historia Brittonum - Annals of Margam and Neath - canons and penitentials -
Latin text of the Welsh laws charters.
AUTHORS IN IRELAND: St Patrick - Cummian - Colman
Augustinus Hibernicus - Comianus Longus - Virgilius Maro Grammaticus - Aileran
sapiens - Tírechán - Cogitosus - Muirchú moccu
Macthéni - Adomnán - Malsachanus - Dub Innse - Conchubranus -
Patrick of Dublin - Máel-Isu úa Brolcháin - Gilbert
(Gilla-Easpuic) of Limerick - John Comyn et al. Plus hisperic texts
- theological works from ss. vii/viii - over eighty saints' lives liturgical,
legislative and penitential works - episcopal acta inscriptions.
IRISH PEREGRINI ON THE
CONTINENT: Columbanus (Luxeuil/Bobbio) - Cellanus (Péronne) -
Frigulus - Sedulius senior - Virgil (Salzburg) - Josephus Scottus - Columbanus
(?Saint-Trond) - Dungal (Saint- Denis/Pavia) - Dicuil - Clemens Scottus - Cruindmáel -
Muiredach (Auxerre/Metz) - Sedulius Scottus - Dubthach mac Máel-Tuile - Martinus
Hiberniensis (Laon) - Donatus Scottus (Fiesole) - John Scottus Eriugena -
Electus Scottigena (Liège) - Colmán - Dunchad (Rheims) - Malcalan
(Laon) - Dermatius (Diarmait) - Marcus (Regensburg). Plus anonymous verses and
letters - theological and liturgical works from ss. viii-x.
BRETON AUTHORS: Licinius et al. - Clemens of
Landévennec - Bili - Ratvili Wrmonoc - Lios Monocus - Robert of Arbrissel -
Peter Abaelard. Plus the Dies Dominica, the Libri Romanorum et
Francorum (Canones Wallici), and a dozen saints' lives.
SCOTTISH AUTHORS: William of Glasgow - Adam
Scottus of Dryburgh - Jocelin of Furness - Ralph of Melrose. Plus lives of SS. Regulus, Kentigern
and Servanus - liturgical, historical and legislative texts - royal and
episcopal charters and acta.
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Last Updated: 06/15/96
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