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De saltu lunae

  • Latin
  • prose
Latin computistical treatise on the saltus lunae, a lunar ‘leap’ day which is omitted in calculations to bring the solar and lunar calendars back into alignment. In manuscripts, it is attributed to Columbanus, but his authorship seems unlikely as the text favours a Roman Easter reckoning, being based on the 19-year cycle of Dionysius Exiguus.
First words (prose)
  • De lunari motatione dictaturo non aliunde mihi sumendum videtur exordium
Manuscripts
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 250
pp. 112–114
rubric: ‘Sanctus Columbanus haec de saltu lunae ait’
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS Clm 14569
ff. 26r–28r
rubric: ‘Lectio S. Columbani de saltu lunae’
Zürich, Zentralbibliothek, MS Car. C 176 4, ff. 145r-240v [s. x/xi]
ff. 174v–175v
Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, MS Ac. 132 cover
Destroyed.
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS Clm 10270
ff. 12v–13r
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 459
pp. 125–126
Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, MS Ludwig XII 5
ff. 110v–114v
Previously Malibu, Getty Museum, MS Ludwig XIII.5.
Zürich, Zentralbibliothek, MS Car. C 176 4, ff. 145r-240v [s. x/xi]
f. 217r–v
Language
  • Latin
Date
8th or 9th century (Krusch, Ó Cróinín).
Form
prose (primary)
Textual relationships

The text appears to be cited in the tract De lunae cursu in the Bobbio computus (early 9th century).(1)n. 1 As observed by Arno Borst in an unpublished edition of Notker’s computus. See Immo Warntjes, ‘Seventh-century Ireland: the cradle of medieval science?’ in Music and the stars... (2013). Notker Labeo (d. 1022) cites the work in his computus, where he attributes it to Columbanus. Ó Cróinín mentions another citation in Paris, BNF, MS lat. 2183, f. 115r, “in a miscellany comprising material mostly of Irish origin”.

Classification

Sources

Notes

1.
As observed by Arno Borst in an unpublished edition of Notker’s computus. See Immo Warntjes, ‘Seventh-century Ireland: the cradle of medieval science?’ in Music and the stars... (2013).

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] [tr.] Walker, G. S. M. [ed.], Sancti Columbani opera, Scriptores Latini Hiberniae, 2, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1957.
CELT – Epistulae (text): <link> CELT – Epistulae (translation): <link>
212–215 (text and translation); lxiii (introduction) Based on St. Gallen MS 250, with variants from Munich Clm 14569. This text is reprinted in PL Suppl. 5, 1609-1610.
[ed.] Meier, Gabriel, Jahresbericht über die Lehr- und Erziehungs-Anstalt des Benediktiner-Stiftes Maria-Einsiedeln für 1886-7, Einsiedeln, 1887.
30 (Appendix) Based on St. Gallen MS 250.

Secondary sources (select)

Warntjes, Immo, “Seventh-century Ireland: the cradle of medieval science?”, in: Mary Kelly, and Charles Doherty (eds), Music and the stars: mathematics in medieval Ireland, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2013. 44–72.
Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí, “The computistical works of Columbanus”, in: Michael Lapidge (ed.), Columbanus: studies on the Latin writings, 17, Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1997. 264–270.
269
web page identifiers
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
February 2020, last updated: June 2023
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