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The Épinal-Erfurt Glossary is a Latin-Old English glossary that was probably composed in Canterbury in the late seventh century during the time of Archbishop Theodore and Abbot Hadrian. Its oldest representative, the Épinal manuscript, was most recently dated to ca. 700 C.E. The glossary contains approximately 3,300 entries, about one third of which have Old English glosses. Greek also figures prominently in the lemmata, and there are even a few glosses that are Greek. Hebrew biblical names are found with their interpretations. There is a handful of words that are Old Irish, but the precise number has not been determined. Most of the glossary is arranged in A-order with AB-additions. The looser organization permits words related by class or language to be grouped in batches, a possibility not available in glossaries arranged in strict AB-order. The principal sources are earlier glossaries; however, there is evidence to show that the compiler or compilers inserted entries from books held locally.
The aim of the project is to produce the first critical edition of the Épinal-Erfurt Glossary in its entirety. The project will be carried out in two phases: (1) an online edition and translation published letter by letter; (2) a printed commentary that will include discussion of the sources and the forms of both the Latin lemmata (including the Greek derivatives) and the Old English glosses. The work is being carried out at the Dictionary of Old English Project at the University of Toronto and is hosted on its website.