Lost copy of seventh-century poem in Old English discovered at Rome library

"The Rome copy is significant because it contains the Old English version in the main body of the text, reflecting the language's growing status in the ninth century."

"The absence of the poem would have been felt by the readers, I think, and so that's why it goes in."

"The poem is punctuated with a full stop after every word, which shows that word spacing was a relatively new invention."

"It is part of the early development of ways of dividing words and shows text starting to come towards the presentation of English that we know today."

A manuscript containing Caedmon's Hymn, the earliest surviving poem in English, was discovered in Rome by scholars from Trinity College Dublin. This ninth-century Old English version, transcribed by a monk in northern Italy, is significant as it reflects the growing status of the English language. The manuscript is the third oldest surviving text of the poem, with previous versions in Latin. The poem's unique punctuation indicates early developments in word spacing, marking a transition towards modern English presentation.

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