L’impiego di englisc nella prosa alfrediana: uno studio preliminare della prefazione alla versione della Cura pastoralis

The well-known preface to the Old English version of Gregory’s Pastoral Care is traditionally considered as a key text to understand the plan of translations of ‘those books most necessary for all men to know’ made at the end of the ninth century by King Alfred the Great. This paper aims at an overall investigation of this text in order to trace the specific use of the word englisc and related terms in the preface itself as well as in other texts included in the Alfredian plan of cultural reforms.