ABSTRACT
Augustine, Jerome, Bede, Gregory, Smaragdus, and Haymo, the exegetical authorities acknowledged by Ælfric in the Latin preface to the Catholic Homilies, used etymologies as one of their techniques for penetrating the words of the biblical text in order to arrive at their spiritual essence. With the philosophical and linguistic assumptions, it is easy to understand that etymologies were exploited in Christian exegesis and teaching. It was accepted that biblical names were in the category "secundum naturam" since they were God-given or at least divinely sanctioned, and it had the advantage of harmonizing closely with the general interpretative process that was employed. Ælfric stood firmly within this tradition and made frequent use of etymologies in his exegetical homilies. Etynology does not satisfy the modern lexicographer or philologist but an Anglo-Saxon writer realizes that this interest was one of the aspects of Ælfric's approach to certain kinds of teaching that set him apart from most other vernacular homilists.
