The quest for Anchiton

[MarcoP]

In the IX century manuscript that I referenced above Bede says like this:

Nec mirum hoc de sanctuario et interioribus templi et altari thymiamatis credere, cum etiam amiton ligni genus est. vel ligni habens inse simulitudinem, quanto plus arserit, tanto mundius inveniatur.

Note that there is a period (not a comma) after "est" and before "vel".

So what would this phrase mean (please help!)?

I am not a palaeographer but, in my experience, punctuation in medieval manuscripts is neither consistent nor reliable. Punctuation must mostly be inferred from the syntactical structure of a sentence and I don't believe a Latin sentence can start with "vel". Also, Cod.Sang.266 seems to mark the beginning of sentences with upper-case letters and "vel" is lower-case. In general, given the difficulty of transcribing ancient texts, I tend to rely on scholarly editions, when available. As I said above, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. seems OK to me. 

   

1844 Transcription: Nec mirum hoc de sanctuario et interioribus templi, et altari thymiamatis credere, cum etiam ami[an]ton*, [quod] ligni genus est, vel ligni habens [in se] similitudinem, quanto plus arserit, tanto mundius inveniatur.

* corrupted in the Sang manuscript

I would largely confirm my previous translation: It is not strange to believe this about the sanctuary and the interior of the temple and the incense altar, since also asbestos, which is a kind of wood, or something having [in itself] a similarity to wood, the more it burnt, the cleaner it is found.

I am sorry, but I don't believe there is more I can contribute. I see that "De Tabernaculo" has been translated into English by Arthur G. Holder (Liverpool University Press). Unless Helmut feels like sharing his opinion, the best way to get a more reliable translation is visiting a good library.

PS: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (late XII Century, Normandie). It doesn't seem to add anything new, though.