Old Welsh

Old Welsh
Hen Gymraeg
Native to Wales
Era Evolved into Middle Welsh about the 12th century
Early forms
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3 owl
Linguist list
owl
Glottolog oldw1239[1]

Old Welsh (Welsh: Hen Gymraeg) is the label attached to the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.[2] The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic around 550, has been called "Primitive"[2] or "Archaic Welsh".[3]

Many poems and some prose have been preserved from this period, although some are in later manuscripts, for example the text of y Gododdin. The oldest surviving text entirely in Old Welsh is probably that on a gravestone now in Tywyn church, thought to date from the 7th century. A text in the Lichfield Gospels called the Surrexit Memorandum is thought to have been written in the early 8th century but may be a copy of a text from the 6th or 7th centuries.[4][5]

Old Welsh texts

Surrexit Memorandum

Text

Words in italics are Latin, not Old Welsh.

surexit tutbulc filius liuit hagener tutri dierchi tir telih haioid ilau elcu filius gelhig haluidt iuguret amgucant pel amtanndi ho diued diprotant gener tutri o guir imguodant ir degion guragon tagc rodesit elcu guetig equs tres uache, tres uache nouidligi namin ir ni be cas igridu dimedichat guetig hit did braut grefiat guetig nis minn tutbulc hai cenetl in ois oisau

Translation

Tudfwlch son of Llywyd and son-in-law of Tudri arose to claim the land of Telych, which was in the hand of Elgu son of Gelli and the tribe of Idwared. They disputed long about it; in the end they disjudge Tudri's son-in-law by law. The goodmen said to each other 'Let us make peace'. Elgu gave afterwards a horse, three cows, three cows newly calved, in order that there might not be hatred between them from the ruling afterwards till the Day of Judgement. Tudfwlch and his kin will not want it for ever and ever.

Features

Old Welsh Modern Welsh English
tir tir land
lau llaw hand
diued diwedd end
ir yr, y the
nouid newydd new
guetig wedi after
cas cas hatred
hit hyd until
did dydd day
braut brawd judgement
in ois oisou yn oes oesoedd for ever and ever

It is also unknown why the particular page was used for the glosses as little or no text appears to have been added to any other of the Lichfield Gospels. It is possible that the page was chosen to conceal the later added information.

See also

References

  1. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Old Welsh". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Koch, p. 1757.
  3. Willis, p. 1
  4. Encyclopaedia Wales; University of Wales Press; main editor: John Davies; page 577
  5. Medieval Vision: The Visual Culture of Wales. University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 2003, pg. 25.

External links

For a list of words relating to Old Welsh, see the Old Welsh language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.