The Signs of the Zodiac in Medieval English

When the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1343–1400) situated The Canterbury Tales in early spring, he did so by observing that “the yonge Sonne / Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne” (I.7–8).1 Chaucer will have had a sound metrical reason for preferring the iambic foot of English “the Ram” over anapestic Latin Aries, but there are several more occasions on which he preferred vernacular names for zodiacal signs and constellations over Latin ones where meter is less important, for instance, “Leoun” for Leo in The Canterbury Tales (I.2462), “Scorpioun” for Scorpius in The House of Fame (l. 948), and “Bole” for Taurus in Troilus and Criseyde (II.55).2 The fact that Chaucer was able to use vernacular zodiacal names on a regular basis suggests that his audience would have known what he referred to. Editors of Chaucer's works, on the other hand, gloss the vernacular zodiacal names with their modern, Latinate forms, probably suspecting that Chaucer's English terms may strike present-day audiences as marked. Modern English, after all, prefers Latinate over vernacular zodiacal names. Current usage may make it seem that English never knew otherwise, but in medieval English, as in all Germanic languages, vernacular zodiacal names came into use alongside the Latin ones first introduced through ecclesiastical computus in the early medieval period. What distinguishes English from other Germanic languages is that the latter eventually opted for vernacular terms exclusively, and whereas English was the earliest Germanic language to formulate vernacular names, it never settled on a stable vernacular terminology in the medieval period and reverted almost completely to Latin in the Early Modern period.That the English language had a rich tradition of vernacularizing zodiacal names is borne out by a plethora of sources from between the tenth and sixteenth centuries. One of several anonymous Middle English translations of the astrological Declaraciones abbatis Sancti Albani by Richard of Wallingford (ca. 1292–1336), for instance, features vernacular names for all twelve signs of the zodiac: “Rame,” “Bull,” “Twynlyngys,” “Crabe,” “Lyon,” “Virgyne,” “Belauns,” “Scorpyoun,” “Schoter,” “Capricorne,” “Aquary,” and “Fysches.”3 On the basis of this translation, scientific historian Linda Voigts called the use of vernacular zodiacal names “anomalous,” and concluded that she was “not aware of any other texts with such resolute anglicisation of the zodiacal names.”4 The practice was, however, neither anomalous nor rare in medieval England. In fact, the translation of the Declaraciones is just one of a great many medieval English sources that feature vernacular zodiacal names, making it remarkable that so far no study has been devoted to this topic. With the help of some sixty literary, religious, and scientific sources transmitted in many hundreds of manuscripts, this article brings to light the long and varied 500-year history of vernacular zodiacal names in medieval English, after which it examines the strategies that medieval English authors employed to arrive at a zodiac in the vernacular.When the English introduced to in the early medieval of the of the in the to the such as whereas other such as and on the the of on the of as the at the of in the of in with that of ecclesiastical of that to the of the and the for on a tradition of that several the for the of the and the the of it would for the medieval of the to a in the The through the of the was as a called the The of the that the to the was to a that was to twelve for of constellations In the of a English of are and in of Aries, in of in of constellations are known as the after of through Latin of the zodiacal constellations the of the Latin through in the zodiacal constellations are as of in the but in the Latin for the zodiac as a a more of the zodiac as a of signs with the of in the tenth early medieval ecclesiastical computus a of the signs the of the that in the is scientific texts from the early Middle such as the of of (ca. of the in English as and the zodiacal signs by early medieval English early medieval authors the zodiac in there are sources in which the Latin names in the of the of the in was use of the vernacular in many of and it is in this that the first to zodiacal names in the with of (ca. his English in the early as a on and from scientific in on the of the with a of the zodiacal is and is Aries, is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is it the great of the and of the twelve In it one of the The first of the signs is called Aries, that The that The The that The The that The that / The is that The is that The tenth is that The is that of The is are and in the in the vernacular but terms in which he in The of some of the zodiacal names, such as Aries, but such as and in several to the of the Latin early medieval English in vernacular zodiacal names is of (ca. is a in Latin and English on a computus of his The signs of the zodiac are in the in a of on the of the no to vernacular zodiacal names in the of the one of the has a that the to the in which the Latin zodiacal names are as and One of the sources for this of the is with which vernacular names have in The between the is for where has Early medieval English with the through the so it is that Scorpius with the between and for in in Middle English, that there was no between the of In any making some but that to a from and of zodiacal names in English is in the to a of that texts in Latin and the and their texts to the scientific of but from a in which the vernacular was a feature of a that the of the into of the twelve zodiacal constellations in as is in such In this instance, however, the Latin names in English as and The vernacular names in the of are to in and The is the for which on the of on the one the in the of the of to and in Middle English, of the of as a from a with in the early the of vernacular zodiacal names the earliest for a zodiac in English, in any The English terms from a period in in which the vernacular was a to Latin in scientific The of the vernacular in early medieval is by the authors of the as this to the to and the just in but more so with to the and English is to have the of English as a language for several this has by been the fact that the use of English in some of over period of for the in and the of vernacular and never and had completely after the scientific rare in the vernacular the the vernacular texts from all of transmitted in and it is in this period that vernacular zodiacal names their in between literary, religious, and scientific are in light of and present-day on the of In of and scientific texts are as to from the of by far the that are to The a on for instance, is as a scientific but some Middle English such as the of the by (ca. and The of which is a of the to the is to In the that literary, religious, and scientific are that and that are from on the literary, religious, and scientific of the vernacular zodiac will in the the in the of the which may as a a and a scientific medieval English authors and zodiacal names, in the is rare for all signs of the zodiac to introduced in the vernacular in a but it is for one several signs to out to the of a was by the of a in the to use the Middle English of and other The of the vernacular zodiac into of and some rare of the are in which a in the such as a a of a is the to in the to the of in the of by the was in cours / by / and and is more however, for to as the of are with and of the of a in a spring, the in Aries, for instance, of of a was one of the first to the of in the but he was the English to have to the probably in and of Chaucer's use of some in of a to his / the In into was in the / of the which called is In for the of In of the was in In The of from is to of his into of In The of was the Ram / of and into In is in the of The Canterbury Tales he that Sonne / In had his cours a to he to the by of the such as and with of the the of the with into the vernacular of his as the of zodiacal in by of as in The of by (ca. in and the of was probably by of the alongside vernacular zodiacal at the of a are to the and it no that many other to the The in the had cours / the his In the of the / the several vernacular zodiacal names into his The of and introduced the of as the that was in / the the of a by was Ram / in into the of the The and the that his of so / the / in the was and that of the The of by was the of the / In the of all are just a of vernacular as which make the of in in scientific are in the the zodiac a a in the such as a a are with the of is in feature alongside that the as is in with the that at and but almost through the of in the for and to in which in Aries, and the / to is a of that the on a in spring, the after the and the in with just the of light from the of the is the of of in which with light / with in a that is for a of other the the are in and a in The of the by some the over the at the and all at in in in the in the the the in the of the his to the of a in the in scientific texts with the of the and the zodiacal the are situated in their astrological that in the zodiacal signs which and where their astrological on the is as in The a however, it is for all to in their at the this to a of in the of the of the astrological of the what his will In a The by of with a in which the at the / the the of by several this to in the of is a for a that the of through is in of where in the in the and and / in of introduced that the zodiac in sources is a to the of a by the by the of by light on the of of the through astrological at the of a such as the of a and the a Canterbury a and the in which the is on the other hand, the of in early of other to the astrological that the has on and what will the of sources out one a zodiacal but a is probably reason to zodiacal names in the first texts from the and have a vernacular in the (ca. a zodiac in the of over the zodiacal names in which in English as of which a / in his as with a on and and which / In a / the and is from of a of the in some it “the of the twelve in that the of the zodiacal signs more from the scientific of the from the of for instance, and / in the The other signs are as “Lyon,” “Aquary,” and from the anonymous of to In this the to the that from the of of the The zodiacal signs are introduced as she the and the the and the and the the the is from The of by In the of a to a of for the in which of the zodiacal and and and by in the zodiac is introduced in the of a and In a the of the and their are the zodiac: twelve the in twelve of the there this in as in a the the the of the the and the the the the and the a a zodiac is and to it is in the vernacular in The of and the of and In to a a zodiac the of a the zodiac introduced in texts a in that it the on the In this the zodiac is the that twelve in the of the in the of is that the authors on scientific sources for their of the The of The of for instance, and probably the of for is from the of as with a on and the for and to as the and and “the of the for his of are to and to the in their use in to in the is a in is in no by the fact that it was as a of on the of the The zodiac in sources in which are their are that the of between the and the the in sources the of the through the zodiac and at the the of the through as the of the early on the and at as a of “the Sonne his cours out of of in to of and out of of in to of In this anonymous of the on the by Richard (ca. in terms is the through the zodiac as it is the of as is the as the and of and the as the and of in The of to the zodiacal signs in the the which is by after his from the “Virgyne,” to by the of at which the of use of the but all twelve in The of the a translation of by In of this the the of the with When arrive at the zodiacal the Sonne his cours in all the the signs are in but by are but there are the Sonne is so as he of of his The in other are just the of the but of the that and the that “Virgyne,” for instance, is a in which “the Sonne of and is the he in the of his Aries, however, is a that “the with a and he and at and The of the the of the and on on a that the use of the zodiac as a by the of the with the of the so by into a that the zodiacal signs to in The is of and it the and to make a between the In the of The of the this so for the and for it in the the to as the he the The English in for and the with the zodiacal names in scientific the of and in scientific the of and that are with such as the of on and features that are such as the of the through the as a has been from the of of in the in the of the as a of into a the and and a of the with at The transmitted and through the the the to as a that on the In with a of as one of the texts called the the zodiacal this that had a of a on of and for many and over scientific texts from medieval of with the zodiac and many more the zodiac in Latin zodiacal names are preferred in some scientific sources zodiacal names at all, it is to a and The of the a for the of by the for instance, features all zodiacal constellations in but in the astrological on the of has Latin names for all and English “Scorpioun” and The translation of the for the of (ca. has Latin names and “Capricorne,” and In Chaucer's on the and in the translation of the astrological for by Richard of zodiacal names are in alongside “Capricorne,” and the for Latin zodiacal names in scientific vernacular names from the of the The many and texts with the astrological of the zodiacal for instance, to zodiacal names, some of which are such as for Aries, for for and for The use of vernacular zodiacal signs is in with the use of vernacular in medieval at there are so many scientific texts with vernacular zodiacal names, the is but to some of scientific sources that zodiacal in the to zodiacal signs in a great of scientific In the transmitted for instance, the and at Sonne is in In the of a translation of the the of a is of in of In the a translation of the in by the (ca. the of and by a with of a in the is in In of The of a translation of the by (ca. and are in a of the of the In a translation of the by the it is to the the / The of in some scientific texts have to zodiacal other sources have a more of the vernacular One such is the of that was into and into many In some of the for instance, the are by the in which but by a from Sonne to of in in and in zodiacal names are in with may the is in neither was to out the is in in in of the the to by the of their is of a was of and of with that in of and The of vernacular zodiacal names in the is in a on a of of the of the in names. was for to what in “Lyon,” other scientific sources for vernacular zodiacal names are the translations of In his translation of the of (ca. a of vernacular zodiacal names in Latin that the are in the the of to and to in with a into and zodiacal in the of which all signs are In the of translation by for In his translation of the by Latin zodiacal names the on the zodiacal and and zodiacal names to the signs their names, for instance, as a is and so Sonne in of and and so of The other signs are and for vernacular zodiacal names is The of and a that the the The zodiac features in the In to the the names of the and zodiacal constellations are in but in more of the of the zodiacal English are to Latin zodiacal names, as a and “Lyon,” of a and that are to vernacular zodiacal names. The of a for instance, on between the zodiac and the at the such as and that but at the on of the of zodiacal In the of a vernacular zodiacal for instance, the of a and is to and is to the of and is to and is to What was by the zodiacal a was and what would in the for instance, was the was in a such as a with such as which is but is as which a was in make the between a and a with the help of zodiacal signs a in vernacular to the of for instance, the of on the zodiacal signs which one was In the of the the zodiac is introduced “the and and and and the and is but zodiacal transmitted in in the medieval period. are one of the sources for the vernacular zodiac in Middle texts in but many transmitted in the of which of vernacular zodiacal on zodiacal to the in of the twelve signs of the The zodiacal constellations of but for zodiacal that to of the twelve signs a of of the zodiacal a and the a to the in the of just over for a of a of from the and of of a and the of to for and on between the of the signs that the was in and the The names of the signs in zodiacal a great of in to such as Ram for and for names for instance, and for for in a for and out of a and of for English a on the in to that of a of and and a of into between and scientific sources of in which the with from the and the When scientific the zodiacal it is with in The signs have that feature in many vernacular scientific The and The of help a a as in the the of of a as in the to of the as in the translations of may to a as in the to as in the zodiacal to as in the and and to to where to what to as in zodiacal In to and scientific the of the zodiac to the but the of vernacular zodiacal names in Middle a of for medieval English to zodiacal names in their in the vernacular from English to for instance, the is in in a zodiacal of for instance, the in “the in The probably as the practice in medieval by the of vernacular texts with Latin zodiacal names. The latter was in medieval that and but is scientific a for to zodiacal names in Latin in a vernacular a of texts in Middle English vernacular zodiacal religious, and scientific zodiacal names in English, but there was no of their some of which a for seem In his translation of the for instance, as his translation of the has have a of is a Germanic whereas is a from What is of for is for the medieval Latin in a zodiacal on the of as the of the which is that is from the The of that there was no of zodiacal names in medieval strategies to arrive at a vernacular strategies from translation and from to in zodiacal all zodiacal names in the medieval English texts for this in and in employed was that of translation with a vernacular for the of zodiacal names, for that to the English from was as Ram / but Middle English had a of in the of and and which was into the in some Taurus / was as / a of to first in the astrological of of Leo was as / Scorpius and / to have a in their there may have been a between and in medieval of the in that did which was for Scorpius and was a for any was as / as / of the of Latin and to the / was as / the more the signs but was as / / was as / / was to on the a is no translation for in English, and medieval seem to have with the of by the many that gloss at all, it into more to the fact that is some of and for in other Germanic languages, was rare in English, and is first in a with the astrological of the zodiacal in a from in the medieval was to zodiacal names from names are from such as for Aries, for and for for for and for and and for is to however, a Latinate zodiacal in English was from The practice of vernacularizing Latin by in was in medieval and English, making it to and are from from zodiacal names that may from Latin are for for and and for Scorpius and with Latinate zodiacal names is to at all in English are of which is a in medieval vernacular scientific at by zodiacal names in but English for instance, is in is what in English, and it was in the medieval for instance, of a is on on a is in a “the that In there is a between the Latin zodiacal and vernacular of the is and one languages are are however, which it is to a Latin zodiacal from a Latinate for instance, in is in of a in is a between and vernacular but the Latin a between Latin names and Latinate all zodiacal names that Latin such as that had such as is for In a zodiacal for it is that the is in In this Latin names with it is to is a Latin a with the Middle English is in texts that the of is The of of by (ca. for instance, that in the Sonne in / is a Latin but a in English with The for in in had his in the of by In and of the on the other hand, with is a Latin / this / in the Sonne in some zodiacal names that from it is came from Latin through are at and to zodiacal names is by in what of zodiacal constellations from the of in zodiacal zodiacal a of the and the and with great in and in and of which the of the zodiac is but one as features in the of and other what would from the Latin zodiacal a for Aries, a for a for and a for that to vernacular zodiacal names that may at first is a in on of the many vernacular names on was as a of and of the of a and a and of and the of and for of the in the of the names of on and the vernacular for probably referred to the fact that in the as other on of their was as a a of which to the vernacular which a in his as of that the between and was just a In fact, a and may a a a a a a which the vernacular was a a with a which to the names with his and with a on was to as a in a which to the English names in and in a is a in a and from which in the of which / In a / the names on the the on the of on the which to and and of of out of a out of a with of and out of a is as a of the vernacular strategies of and zodiacal names, and names from zodiacal medieval English to arrive at a vernacular zodiac but with On a from a translation of for Leo to for and zodiacal names into English in more one is more in scientific texts in and In some of the more vernacular zodiacal names, such as and for Aries, for and for in a for and for are to scientific that there was less of a on to zodiacal names in the vernacular scientific authors and may in to the authors Chaucer and use of as was by and in may have had at their a zodiacal terminology that had a of are several translations of for instance, all of which zodiacal names in the at The for The the many translations of zodiacal and texts with the of the and the zodiacal a scientific such as zodiacal names in several for instance, and in his translation of and in the translation of the The however, to to of literary, religious, and scientific but to that medieval English authors had a of strategies at their to zodiacal names, and that strategies to sixty texts in many hundreds of that the use of vernacular zodiacal names was far from anomalous in medieval the tenth and sixteenth English a vernacular zodiacal terminology that was but that was and to zodiacal names in vernacular literary, religious, and scientific The fact that the vernacular zodiac was for and in of that it was just a for Latin names, but that was a and of zodiacal in terms that will have been is no a English had vernacular zodiacal it it English is the Germanic language to no have vernacular zodiacal names in that Ram for in in for The zodiacal names of English are Latin which have been over period of use in vernacular Latin zodiacal names in medieval English, but the study has that in Middle English, in zodiacal names with great English eventually Latin zodiacal names to such that Middle English was on a of a vernacular it to reason that the of vernacular zodiacal names the of vernacular zodiacal names may but a will have been that early to Latin names over vernacular the of a vernacular terminology that in The first of vernacular zodiacal names in the of the by which was by in and in the sixteenth early of vernacular zodiacal names in feature in The of of first in and many in the sixteenth and centuries. In fact, of the more zodiacal names, for in and and for in The of are first in Early Modern works, with and preferred Latin zodiacal names in a vernacular of and many the Early Modern such as of The of and the English translation of the by may have in vernacular zodiacal names eventually so in English that Chaucer's

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