GLOSSAEY. 



The following glossary relies almost entirely npoii 

 original authorities ; upon a collation of the manu- 

 script ancient extant glossaries with their printed 

 editions, which have been falsified by ignorant con- 

 jectures ; and upon a careful examination of many 

 Saxon volumes never yet published. No reliance has 

 been placed on modern productions, in the way of 

 dictionaries ; they will be found full of errors.^ Every 

 article either supplies a deficiency or corrects an error ; 

 but our limits will not admit of the insertion of every 

 correction prepared for the press. Corrections wei/e, of 

 course, to be accompanied by their proofs, and this adds 

 to the length of the various articles. Some refer to 

 genders or declensions or terminations, for an exact 

 knowledge of our Oldest English is impossible, as long 

 as students are deceived on these elementary points. 

 The most important printed texts of Saxon works have 

 been collated from beginning to end, letter by letter, 

 with the original manuscripts. The modern editions in 

 particular are, sometimes, very faulty. 



In the names of plants the reader will observe that 

 a name, liowever wrong, is within its own bounds, still 



' See Shrine (Williams and Norgate). 



