Rebuilding the Tower of Babel:

Ælfric of Eynsham is one of the most paradoxical figures of Old English literature, espe-cially in terms of his theory and practice of translating the Bible. In his frequently quoted preface to Genesis, Ælfric writes, “Nu þincð me, leof, þæt þæt weorc is swiðe pleolic me oððe ænigum men to underbeginnenne ” (Now it seems to me, sir, that that work [of translation] is very dangerous for me or any other person to undertake), and in the same preface he later claims, “ic ne dearr ne ic nelle nane boc æfter ðisre of Ledene on Englisc awendan ” (I neither dare nor desire to translate any book after this one from Latin into English).2 For Ælfric, translation is dangerous because readers who lack Latin and therefore have no access to the exegeses and commentaries of the Church Fathers may misunderstand Scripture, at the risk of their salvation. Similar statements of reluctance regarding translation appear elsewhere in Ælfric’s corpus. In his Latin preface to the Lives of Saints, he asserts with reference to English,“Nec tamen plura promitto me scrip-turum hac lingua, quia nec conuenit huic sermocinationi plura inseri ” (Yet I promise not to write more in this tongue because it is not fitting that more is transplanted int