BEDE, A HISPERIC ETYMOLOGY, AND EARLY SEA POETRY Alan K, Brown "Tir fourth chapter of Bede's major calendrical aise has a passage which escapes rather startlingly from its context of basic definitions of duodecimal fractions: in quattor [partri vis), quarta pars quadrantis nomen, residuae tres lodrantis accipiunt. Et huius disciplinae regula solvitar quod plerosque turbat imperitos; quia Philippus in exposione beati lob, aeseurn mais Oceani cotidie bis venive describens, adiunxerit hune: unius aaquinoctialis horae dodronte transmis tardis sine intermsione sive die vente sve nocte! ‘The word for a fourth part is quadans, and for the remaining three fourths ic is dedrans. And the rule of this mathe can be used to solve a problem which has been confusing a number of unskillful persons, namely that in his commentary upon Job, while picturing the twice-daily arrival of the Ocean tide, Pailippus has added that it “arrives unfailingly, day or night, later by the passing of the dadrans of an equinoctial lie. mean or standard] hour.” All that is clear from this remark is that unnamed persons have been confused or misled about the use of the word dadrans “three fourths”, and that their difficulty can be cleared up by a mere mention of the proper definition, in the context of a passage quoted from the Philippus commentary upon Job. But what is the difficulty? Bede's editor has suggested tentatively that Philippus is being attacked for having slightly understated che average 1 Charles W, Jones, ed, Bice oes de temas (Cambridge, Mas, 1943, p= 185/35 tat Bede payne upon the cramon eqaton dina” maths ad the ration Titer werd and saenatin 0 ta the inp ae in effec accused of aking Tearing and comon arms20 A. BROWN aily retardation of the tides as three fourths of an hour instead of the slightly more accurate figure of four fifths which Bede himself used? This is an ingenious explanation; however, it is unlikely to be the correct one, since it is not Philippus who is at the focus of Bede's criticism but rather some moderns who through ignorance (impert is sarcastic slight understatement) have failed to understand the word. Even if we were to suppose that these unknown persons had been in- terpreting Philippus’ dadrans as though it referred to a larger fraction than three quarters (and of course the actual tidal retardation is about five sixths of an hour, even larger than Bede's figure), the same ob- jection would apply. And in any case, it is difficult to see why Bede's ‘criticism is injected into a terse chapter on fundamental duodecimal reckoning, instead of being mentioned in his much later chapter dewied epeiially w die des ‘The form and the tone of Bede’s remark show instead that it must be ‘meant to correct some gross contextual error in his contemporaries’ understanding of dedrars. Now, a peculiar homonym of this word, another dodraxs, is found in early Insular Latin writings, where it scems to have the meaning “flood” or “tide” or sometimes “sea” The resem blance of these senses to the content of the Philippus passage quoted by Bede seems unlikely to be an accident, and 1 think that it will seem likely, almost as soon as stated, that Bede had this homonym in mind and meant to show that it was an absurd error. The explanation, though not spelled out, clearly would be that the phrase dodrante trans- miso was misunderstood in its context as meaning that the tide arrives “with the doirans sent across” or better “having crossed” (the most familiar sense of transmittere in contexts where the sea is mentioned), “by the passirg of the dadrans”, so that those unfamiliar with the word could take it to be something that arrives ahead of or with the high or the rising tide. As will be seen, this deduction can be made more precise Whether Bede could really have meant to offer this explanation for the Insular Latin word dedrans, and whether the explanation is at all a 4 Jones, pa 4 Where Bede acualy does auack Philips lor his sours) forthe eror of ating tha the tide arses evenvbere atthe sme tie: ep. 29 (fone, pags and ace na below. 4 These ae thr sess nally deed forte word by meer ete note tha cin of The Hopes Fane Toronto Ponta! lost of Medel Sei 1974) have had acea by the Kindness of the eto of Malad Statin approxima ‘meanings “ood” “ide, “lows” or “water given inthe conmmenay, But [Sion wes the ace "sda wave" supped by the Rend Madea Latin Wort ot fe nh. 6 and 35 and recommended by the present aceBEDE, A HIBPERIC ETYMOLOGY, AND SEA POETRY 21 possible one, are questions that go hand in hand. Ac the same time, since Bede is a supremely gifted and reliable contemporary witness, itis necessary to distinguish sharply between the absurdity of the posited error and the plausibility of the explanation (if itis Bede's) which posits it. The other explanations which have been advanced for the word in recent times — eg, that Insular dadrans really refers to the three- quarters full moon which might somehow be related to a monthly higher tide, or chat it means the sea because the sea was believed to ‘cover three fourths of the earth — are full of doubiful assumptions and stand isolated, tending to cancel each other out. (On the other hand, the etymology suggested by Bede's quoting the Philippus passage, some twelve hundred and fifty years ago, bears a suiking resemblance to a number of explanations that in recent years hhave been advanced for other items of the so-called Hisperic vocabulary of Insular Latinity. What Wallace M. Lindsay referred to as “that peculiarly Hisperic word (of various spellings) thermopplae “crag” is believed to rest upon a failure to understand the proper name in a certain passage of Orosius’ histories. The late Father Paul Grosjean detected two equally outlandish developments: first, that arca and its various derivatives as used in the Hisperica Famina and by Aldhelm and other Insular writers seem to represent a naive deduction from a phrase (of Jerome's on Matthew 23, ef armaria et arcae habent libras* second, that the amazing Hisperic word gurgustus “fish” can only be the result of a failure to understand gurgustiam piscium of the Vulgate Job 40: 26? (n- deed, since these same words are quoted but not explained in the Philippus commentary, it would be possible that Hisperic dodrans and sgurgustus arose from almost the same passage in the same Bible com- mentary.) ‘Bede's conservative Latin style is usually felt to lie at the opposite pole from the extravagant vocabulary employed by many of his fellow 6 These are the explanations, repetvely ature wo Stowasser by R. Ehvwal IMGHt dts Andi 45 (Bern, apt, p. $26 m. Nave not hid acoso Hiseica Fann commentary ard of FJ- Es Raby Phe Of Bok of Mabe! Latin Vo (Ox fond, saan 43h ut was ce quarters more often mendoned than any other large fracon? artber supgetena: dado “Tine twelfth" hence te nh wave RF Latha, ered Melia tir Wa from Bris nd Ih Saran anon. 2963) “thee quar", hence 3 con econ withthe wiangular ape of the earth). D. Pheer, OU Erg Gass te Bol fot (lay (Oxford, 1970, p80 ‘aul Greieans Conf Calg” Cx 3 (9956) 45-44 49, 68 Fl 6h PL 20.85722 AL Ke BROWN. islanders, anc if he did once use lar as a poetic synonym for “fire”, he probably failed to recognize the Hisperic origin of the false etymology." However, despite his own habitual avoidance of the Insular ornate style, he once praised his near-contemporary Aldhelin as a writer ser- ‘mone nitidws.* The present case would thus be the first in which Bede has been found to animadvert openly against a Hispericism, and itis in- teresting that he appears to attack Insular dedrans not as an obscure inherited word but as an item of living learning. (He himself, with only @ brief acknowledgement of barbarism — placuit appellare —-, adopted. those necessary words of the tidal vocabulary malina and ledo, which some unknown tongue had bestowed on the late Latin of western Europe.!*) The style of the attack, its mixture of anonymity for the per- petrators of the error and of cutting sarcasm for the mistake, is the same which Bade uses elsewhere in dealing with bluuders eomnmniceed by a modem Spaniard, Isidore of Seville,” and in puncturing an Irish com- mentator’s unfortunate comparison between a prophet and a bladder filled with wind." Bede's criticism of Insular dadrans, though expressed so tersely that its point seems to have been missed in modern times, may have found its target among his contemporaries as easily as he seems to have expected; the word is hard to document after his time, whereas some other Hispericisms such as thermopslae descended to the Carolingians. He gives us no new direct indications of what isolated circles can have allowed such outrageous misunderstandings of the commonest writings to become enshrined in words. However, the answer, and a good deal of other information, is at hand in the writings emanating from the Celtic, mostly Irish, snonastic schools and from closely related Anglo-Saxon traditions. Philippus upon Job, a commentary apparently dating in some form ‘or another from the fifth century, was far better known to the early 10 Maric! Life of Guthbr, lineage. Were Jager, Plata 198 Lip. 1983, p Hiss essa 8; dhe apparent praise has promoted the derision een of ib etor (Charles Planner Ia (Oxford, 896 pp. 31215) 2 De tnporan matin, ea. 2 Jone 3 34/4148 ae NOMS. 4 5G. Jones ps 4 PL 95 730: the ratienaiy of tbe commentator is discovered by Beenhar Bisa tee Station Angra due ¥IStgr, 1968, p26. 1§. To judge frm Genius, the author was 2 dap of Jerome's and possibly Gaus a short pase frm te commentary i abuted wo Jerome by Fas of Rie he elon bag repre y he Re: rene Frans, O'S t whone Kae ome tome modded idence Ft the cient extreme confusion and dilferencr of oon involving the pried teks.BEDE, A HSPERIC ETYMOLOGY, AND SEA POETRY 423 Irish and English" than it has been in modern times." It will be necessary therefore to quote more of the context dealing with the tides than Bede needed for his audience. The passage is to Job 38: 16, Numguid ingressus ex profundum maris, et in novisimis abyssi deambulasti? v= Ubi ali dixerunt Numguid ingresas es fontem mars? initium arque Criginem unde ipsum mare quasi de marice emanet* dicere videtur; quod Ocean pererni cursu ac recursu fieri novimus, feruntque hoc atgue confirmant, quod illa immensa effusio maris Oceani per omnium regionum ac patriarum fluvios itura, uno puncto temporis fiat; quam hos tamen scimus" omnium dierum ac noctium alternante successu® per hhoras viginti quattior bis venire, acque unius horae aequinoctialis dodrante transmisso, tardius sine intermissione sive die venire sive nocte, per quinque vero xequinoctiales horas reluo™ aestu violentoque impet sive in opertis™ tantum sive etiam retrusis™ magnorum quoque fluminum ccursibus ad superiora conscendere .. Proinde incredibile ~