Dea Miriam,
There is an English translation of the Old English text on sign
language entitled the Monasteriales Indicia. It was composed
in the tenth century by Benedictine monks.
See:
Debby Banham, Monasteriales Indicia: The Anglo-Saxon Monastic Sign
Language (Middlesex, England: Anglo Saxon Books, 1991). ISBN
0-9516209-4-0
Here is one example of how to sign in a monastery if you should need
to 'tell' anyone that eel is the main course to be served in the
refectory:
'The sign for eel is that one moves one's right hand, and then puts it
on one's left arm, with the left hand stretched out, and strokes across
it with one's right hand, as if one were cutting it, just as one does to
eels when one wants to stick them on a spit.' p. 36-37.
Yours,
Carolyn
Dr Carolyn Muessig
Department of Theology and Religious Studies
University of Bristol
Bristol BS8 1TB
UK
phone: +44(0)117-928-8168
fax: +44(0)117-929-7850
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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