The Medieval Church · c. 992–1002
The Grammar and Glossary
Ælfric of Eynsham · c. 955 – c. 1010
What it is
Latin grammar explained in English for boys who had none, with a glossary of some three thousand words grouped by subject — parts of the body, birds, tools, church furnishings — and a preface saying he wrote it because the teaching had decayed.
Why it lasted
The first grammar of Latin written in any European vernacular, which required inventing English words for grammatical ideas. It was still being used to teach in the twelfth century, when the language it was written in had become hard.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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