In Closing: Amen and Doxology in Anglo-Saxon England

Abstract

In this study we explore the Anglo-Saxon understanding of and translations for ‘amen’ and ‘doxology’ as they are found at the end of homiletic, scriptural and above all, liturgical texts of the period. In some traditions, ‘amen’ is mereley repeated without translation as a closure marker in its own language, while in others it is rendered in several different ways; these are notably a ‘correct’ version using a subjunctive which indicates knowledge of ‘amen’s literal significance, and an ‘incorrect’ form that confuses the vernacular adverbial discourse marker ‘soðlice’ with the closure marker proper. In poetry, both ‘amen’ and any version of a closing doxological formula are frequently amplified, and comparison of these provides a new perception of the way in which Anglo-Saxons apprehended and used traditional liturgical closure markers.

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