The purpose of the present work is to make etymological and semasiological researches into the terms for Latin virgo, virginitas and puella which were employed by the Anglo-Saxon glossators of the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Rushworth Gospels, and by the translator of the West-Saxon Gospels. The Old English words used to express those concepts in those glosses and translation were hehstald, hehstaldhad, hehstaltnisse, fæmne, fæmnhad, and mæden.
As Aldhelm's De Virnigitate, copies of which contain lots of interlinear glosses, aptly illustrates, the theme of virgin or virginity was very popular among the Anglo-Saxons. The present research is conducted with due consideration for the study of the use of those Old English words in all the Anglo-Saxon literature which are registered in A Microfiche Concordance to Old English. As far as the Latin source is traceable, it has been studied and used as a factor in judging the sense of the word.
By a profound study of all the relevant instances registered in the MCOE, and by comparing terminological features in the Anglo-Saxon Gospels with those in the other literature, the following conclusions are drawn. It seems that choice of words as the terms for those concepts is a matter of an "individual" or a "school", as well as that of dialect. Aldred, the glossator of the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Durham Ritual, was responsible for the sense "virgin" of the word hehstald, a variant form of hagosteald, originally referring to a male person. He drew a sharp distinction between hehstald, hehstaldhad, hehstaldnis, the terms for virgo or virginitas, and mæden, the term for puella. Farman, one of the two glossators of the Rushworth Gospels chose fæmne for Latin virgo, and Owun, who has been supposed to have followed the Lindisfarne gloss, glossed virgo by hehstald but he also used fæfne, a variant of fæmne. The translator of the West-Saxon Gospels consistently employed fæmne and fæmnhad as the terms for virgo and virginitas, and mæden for puella. He is also unique in his terminological consistency.
本論は、アングロサクソン時代に書かれた、リンディスファーン福音書(The Lindisfarne Gospels)、ラシュワース福音書(The Rushworth Gospels), そしてウェスト・サクソン福音書（The West-Saxon Gospels）における、古英語行間注及び翻訳語についての語源学的、語義発達論的研究である。対象とした語彙領域は、ラテン語のvirgo, virginitas, 及びpuellaに相当するものとして用いられた古英語の単語に関するもので、hehstald, hehstaldhad, hehstaldnis, fæmne, fæmnhad, mædenといった語を中心に調査をおこなった。上記の福音書における訳語の選択の背景を知るために、アングロ・サクソン時代の他の文献における用法の調査も行った。また、ラテン語の典拠との照合もできうる限り行った。
その結果、上記の福音書の注釈者たちや、翻訳者は、一貫して独自の訳語を選択していることが判明した。