Cottonian
9.9
Relating to Sir Robert Cotton's famous collection of manuscripts
- adjective
:
cottoniano
- 33 See Report to the House of Commons by a Committee appointed to inquire into the loss, which the Cottonian Library sustained through the fire at Westminster on the 23rd of October, 1731.
Examples
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The Cottonian manuscripts provide invaluable insights into early British history.
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Scholars study Cottonian works to better understand the political climate of the 17th century.
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Several Cottonian texts were displayed in the museum's special exhibition last summer.
Surface Forms
Cottonian positive
Morphology
Cottonian = Cotton (semi-transparent) = Cotton + ian
The morphological formation 'Cotton' + '-ian' is regular, but the sense referring to Sir Robert Cotton or his library requires specific historical knowledge.
Etymology
Cottonian comes from the last name Cotton, after Sir Robert Cotton who collected many old books and papers. So a Cottonian thing is 'connected with' his library, especially manuscripts from that famous collection.
