Codex Sangallensis 878 is a manuscript kept in the library of the Abbey of St. Gall, in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. It dates to the 9th century and probably originates in

Fulda monastery The Abbey of Fulda (; ), from 1221 the Princely Abbey of Fulda () and from 1752 the Prince-Bishopric of Fulda (), was a Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine abbey and Hochstift, ecclesiastical principality centered on Fulda, in the present-day Ger ...

. It contains mainly excerpts of grammatical texts, including the ''Ars minor'' and ''Ars major'' of

Aelius Donatus Aelius Donatus (; fl. mid-fourth century AD) was a Roman grammarian and teacher of rhetoric. He once taught Jerome, an early Christian Church father who is most known for his translation of the Bible into Latin, known as the Latin Vulgate. N ...

, the grammar of Priscian, the ''

Etymologiae (Latin for 'Etymologies'), also known as the ('Origins'), usually abbreviated ''Orig.'', is an etymological encyclopedia compiled by the influential Christian bishop Isidore of Seville () towards the end of his life. Isidore was encouraged t ...

'' of Isidore of Sevilla and the grammar of

Alcuin Alcuin of York (; ; 735 – 19 May 804), also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin, was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Ecgbert of York, Archbishop Ecgbert at Yor ...

. Furthermore, it contains a presentation of the

Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and is the earliest known alphabetic script to systematically write vowels as wel ...

, the

Hebrew alphabet The Hebrew alphabet (, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is a unicase, unicameral abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew language and other Jewish languages, most notably ...

, the

Anglo-Saxon runes Anglo-Saxon runes or Anglo-Frisian runes are runes that were used by the Anglo-Saxons and Medieval Frisians (collectively called Anglo-Frisians) as an alphabet in their native writing system, recording both Old English and Old Frisian (, ᚱ� ...

and the

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n Younger Futhark, the latter in the form of a short

rune poem Rune poems are poems that list the letters of runic alphabets while providing an explanatory poetic stanza for each letter. Four different poems from before the mid-20th century have been preserved: the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem, the Norwegian Rune ...

known as the '' Abecedarium Nordmannicum''. Bischoff (1980) considers the manuscript a personal collection or '' brevarium'' of Walahfrid Strabo, who from 827 was in Fulda as a student of Hrabanus Maurus and from 838 was abbot of the Reichenau Abbey. Hrabanus himself is known to have been interested in runes and he is credited with the treatise ''Hrabani Mauri abbatis fuldensis, de inventione linguarum ab Hebraea usque ad Theodiscam'' ("on the invention of languages, from Hebrew to German"), identifying the Hebrew and Germanic ("Theodish") languages with their respective alphabets.

References

*Bischoff, Bernhard (1980). ''Die südostdeutschen Schreibschulen und Bibliotheken in der Karolingerzeit'', Wiesbaden.

External links

Cod. Sang. 878
(online scan at unifr.ch) Manuscripts in the Abbey library of Saint Gall 9th-century manuscripts German literature Grammar books Runic manuscripts {{Grammar-book-stub