View source for Old Welsh

{{Short description|800s–1100s period of the Welsh language}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Expand Welsh|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Old Welsh
| nativename       = 
| states           = [[Wales]] and western [[England]]
| era              = Evolved into [[Middle Welsh]] about the 12th century
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Celtic languages|Celtic]]
| fam3             = [[Insular Celtic languages|Insular Celtic]]
| fam4             = [[Brittonic languages|Brittonic]]
| fam5             = [[Western Brittonic languages|Western Brittonic]]
| ancestor         = [[Common Brittonic]]
| script           = [[Ogham]], [[Latin script|Latin]]
| iso3             = owl
| glotto           = oldw1241
| glottoname       = Old Welsh
| linglist         = owl
| notice           = IPA
}}

'''Old Welsh''' ({{langx|cy|Hen Gymraeg}}) is the stage of the [[Welsh language]] from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into [[Middle Welsh]].<ref name=Koch1757>Koch, p. 1757.</ref>  The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from [[Common Brittonic]] around 550, has been called "Primitive"<ref name=Koch1757>Koch, p. 1757.</ref> or "Archaic Welsh".<ref>Willis, p. 1</ref>

==Phonology==
The [[phonology]] of Old Welsh is as follows.<ref>{{cite book |last=Willis |first=David |url=https://davidwillis.net/old_and_middle_welsh.pdf |title=The Celtic Languages |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=London |publication-date=2009 |pages=117-60 |chapter=Old and Middle Welsh}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+Consonant phonemes
!
! colspan="2" |[[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="2" |[[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! colspan="2" |[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! colspan="2" |[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! colspan="2" |[[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! colspan="2" |[[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
![[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|m̥|m̥ʰ}}
| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|m}}
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|n̥|n̥ʰ}}
| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|n}}
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|ŋ̊|ŋ̊ʰ}}
| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|ŋ}}
| colspan="2" |
|-
![[Stop consonant|Stop]]
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|p}}
| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|b}}
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|t}}
| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|d}}
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|k}}
| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|ɡ}}
| colspan="2" |
|-
![[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|ɸ}}
| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|β}}
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|θ}}
| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|ð}}
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|s}}
| style="border-left: 0;" |
| style="border-right: 0;" |
| style="border-left: 0;" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | {{IPA link|x}}
| style="border-left: 0;" |
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|h}}
| style="border-left: 0;" |
|-
![[Approximant]]
| style="border-right: 0;" | {{IPA link|w}}
| style="border-left: 0;" |
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | {{IPA link|r̥|r̥ʰ}}
| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|r}}
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|j}}
| style="border-left: 0;" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|-
![[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|l}}
| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|ɬ}}
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Vowel phonemes
! rowspan="1" |
! colspan="1" |[[Front vowel|Front]]
! colspan="1" |[[Central vowel|Central]]
! colspan="1" |[[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}}
|{{IPA link|ɨ}} {{IPA link|ʉ}}
|{{IPA link|u}}
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}}
|({{IPA link|ə}}) ({{IPA link|ɵ}})
|{{IPA link|o}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA link|a}}
|
|}

* Older {{IPAslink|ɔ}} was diphthongized into {{IPA|/aw/}} in (stressed) final syllables, but it was retained elsewhere. Whilst this persisted as a diphthong in Middle Welsh, in Modern Welsh /aw/ has collapsed to {{IPAslink|o}} following the stress shift to the penultimate, except in monosyllables.
* {{IPAblink|ə}} and {{IPAblink|ɵ}} were allophones of {{IPAslink|ɨ}} and {{IPAslink|u}} in unstressed non-final syllables. In Middle Welsh these merged to {{IPA|[ə]}}.
* Old Welsh {{IPA|/ei/}} and {{IPA|/eʉ/}} became {{IPA|/ai/}} and {{IPA|/aɨ/}} in Modern Welsh final syllables, in dialects where /ɨ/ has not merged with /i/.

==Texts==
The oldest surviving text entirely in Old Welsh is understood to be that on a gravestone now in [[Tywyn]] – the [[Cadfan Stone]] – thought to date from the 7th century, although more recent scholarship dates it in the 9th century.<ref>Edwards, Nancy. 2013. ''A Corpus of Early Medieval Inscribed Stones and Stone Sculpture in Wales. Vol. III: North Wales''. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, p. 430.</ref> A key body of Old Welsh text also survives in glosses and marginalia from around 900 in the [[Juvencus Manuscript]] and in {{lang|la-x-medieval|[[De raris fabulis]]}}. Some examples of medieval Welsh poems and prose additionally originate from this period, but are found in later [[Manuscript|manuscripts]]; ''[[Y Gododdin]],'' for example, is preserved in [[Middle Welsh]]. A text in Latin and Old Welsh 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.<ref>Encyclopaedia Wales; University of Wales Press; main editor: John Davies; page 577</ref><ref>Medieval Vision: The Visual Culture of Wales. University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 2003, pg. 25.</ref>

===Surrexit Memorandum===
====Text====
Words in '''bold''' are [[Latin]], not Old Welsh.
<blockquote>{{lang|la|'''surexit'''}} {{lang|owl|tutbulc}} {{lang|la|'''filius'''}} {{lang|owl|liuit ha}}{{lang|la|'''gener'''}} {{lang|owl|tutri dierchi tir telih haioid ilau elcu}} {{lang|la|'''filius'''}} {{lang|owl|gelhig haluidt iuguret amgucant pel amtanndi ho diued diprotant}} {{lang|la|'''gener'''}} {{lang|owl|tutri o guir imguodant ir degion guragon tagc rodesit elcu guetig}} {{lang|la|'''equs tres uache, tres uache'''}} {{lang|owl|nouidligi namin ir ni be cas igridu dimedichat guetig hit did braut grefiat guetig nis minn tutbulc hai cenetl in ois oisau}}</blockquote>

====Translation====
<blockquote>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.</blockquote>

====Features====
*The text shows many of the early spelling conventions of Welsh, when the basic Latin alphabet was used to represent the phonology of Old Welsh. At this stage, the use of {{angbr|ll}} to represent the lateral fricative {{IPA|/ɬ/}} and {{angbr|dd}} to represent {{IPA|/ð/}} had not been developed. The Latin letter {{angbr|u}} was used to represent both the consonant /w/ and vowel /u/.
*[[Consonant mutation|Initial mutations]], a major feature of later [[Welsh language|Welsh]], do not appear in orthography at this point.
*Not all language used in the ''Memorandum'' was inherited by later Welsh. The following are words with clear Modern Welsh descendants:

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" 
|-
!scope="col" width="150pt"|Old Welsh
!scope="col" width="150pt"|Modern Welsh
!scope="col" width="150pt"|English
|-
|{{lang|owl|tir}} || {{lang|cy|tir}} || land
|-
|{{lang|owl|lau}} || {{lang|cy|llaw}} || hand
|-
|{{lang|owl|haluidt}} ||{{lang|cy|a llwyth}}|| and (the) tribe
|-
|{{lang|owl|diued}} || {{lang|cy|diwedd}} || end
|-
|{{lang|owl|ir}} || {{lang|cy|yr, y}} || the
|-
|{{lang|owl|nouid}} || {{lang|cy|newydd}} || new
|-
|{{lang|owl|guetig}} || {{lang|cy|wedi}} || after
|-
|{{lang|owl|cas}} || {{lang|cy|cas}} || hatred
|-
|{{lang|owl|hit}} || {{lang|cy|hyd}} || until
|-
|{{lang|owl|did}} || {{lang|cy|dydd}} || day
|-
|{{lang|owl|braut}} || {{lang|cy|brawd}} || judgement
|-
|{{lang|owl|in ois oisou}} || {{lang|cy|yn oes oesoedd}} || for ever and ever
|}

Page 141 (on which the text is written) also has a Latin memorandum above the Old Welsh text. It appears to hold more text written below the main text, and a mysterious section where text appears to have been erased, both of which are partially overwritten with Old English text. No translations or transcripts have yet been offered for this section.

It is unknown why that particular page was used for the glosses, as little or no text appears to have been added to any of the other pages in the [[Lichfield Gospels]]. 

==See also==
* [[British Latin]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

*{{cite book| first=Glanville| last=Price| publisher=Edward Arnold| location=London| title=The Languages of Britain| year=1985| isbn=0-7131-6452-2}}
*{{cite book |last= Koch|first= John T.|title= Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia| publisher= ABC-CLIO|year= 2006}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary category|type=Old Welsh|category=Old Welsh language}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20181117110340/http://people.ds.cam.ac.uk/dwew2/old_and_middle_welsh.pdf Old and Middle Welsh] by David Willis, University of Cambridge

{{Welsh language}}{{Celtic languages}}{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Languages attested from the 7th century]]
[[Category:Medieval languages|Welsh, 1]]
[[Category:History of the Welsh language]]
[[Category:Welsh language]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Europe]]
[[Category:Medieval history of Wales]]


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