Old Welsh

800s–1100s period of the Welsh language

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Welsh.  (March 2022) Click [show] for important translation instructions.

*   * Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
* Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
* You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is `Content in this edit is translated from the existing Welsh Wikipedia article at [[:cy:Hen Gymraeg]]; see its history for attribution.`
* You may also add the template `{{Translated|cy|Hen Gymraeg}}` to the talk page.
* For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

|

Old Welsh

Native to| Wales and western England
Era| Evolved into Middle Welsh about the 12th century

Language family

Indo-European

* Celtic
* Insular Celtic
* Brittonic
* Western Brittonic
* Old Welsh

Early form

Common Brittonic

Writing system

| Ogham, Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3| `owl`

Linguist List

| `owl`
Glottolog| `oldw1241` Old Welsh
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Old Welsh (Welsh: Hen Gymraeg) is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.[1] The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic around 550, has been called "Primitive"[1] or "Archaic Welsh".[2]

## Phonology

[edit]

The phonology of Old Welsh is as follows.[3]

Consonant phonemes  | Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal

|
|
|
|
|
|

Nasal | m̥ʰ | m |  | n̥ʰ | n |  | ŋ̊ʰ | ŋ |
Stop | p | b |  | t | d |  | k | ɡ |
Fricative | ɸ | β | θ | ð | s |  |  |  | x |  | h |
Approximant | w |  |  | r̥ʰ | r | j |  |  |
Lateral |  |  | l | ɬ |  |  |
Vowel phonemes  | Front | Central | Back

|
|
|

Close | i | ɨ ʉ | u
Mid | e | (ə) (ɵ)  | o
Open |  | a |

* Older /ɔ/ was diphthongized into /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 /o/ following the stress shift to the penultimate, except in monosyllables.
* [ə] and [ɵ] were allophones of /ɨ/ and /u/ in unstressed non-final syllables. In Middle Welsh these merged to [ə].
* Old Welsh /ei/ and /eʉ/ became /ai/ and /aɨ/ in Modern Welsh final syllables, in dialects where /ɨ/ has not merged with /i/.

## Texts

[edit]

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.[4] A key body of Old Welsh text also survives in glosses and marginalia from around 900 in the Juvencus Manuscript and in De raris fabulis. Some examples of medieval Welsh poems and prose additionally originate from this period, but are found in later 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.[5][6]

### Surrexit Memorandum

[edit]

#### Text

[edit]

Words in bold 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

[edit]

> 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

[edit]

* 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 ⟨ll⟩ to represent the lateral fricative /ɬ/ and ⟨dd⟩ to represent /ð/ had not been developed. The Latin letter ⟨u⟩ was used to represent both the consonant /w/ and vowel /u/.
* Initial mutations, a major feature of later 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:

Old Welsh  | Modern Welsh  | English

|
|

tir | tir | land
lau | llaw | hand
haluidt | a llwyth | and (the) tribe
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

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

[edit]

* British Latin

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Koch, p. 1757.
2. ^ Willis, p. 1
3. ^ Willis, David (2009). "Old and Middle Welsh". The Celtic Languages (PDF). London: Routledge. pp. 117–60.
4. ^ 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.
5. ^ Encyclopaedia Wales; University of Wales Press; main editor: John Davies; page 577
6. ^ Medieval Vision: The Visual Culture of Wales. University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 2003, pg. 25.

* Price, Glanville (1985). The Languages of Britain. London: Edward Arnold. ISBN 0-7131-6452-2.
* Koch, John T. (2006). Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO.

## External links

[edit]

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

* Old and Middle Welsh by David Willis, University of Cambridge

* v
* t
* e

Welsh language

History|

* Common Brittonic
* Old Welsh
* Middle Welsh
* Modern Welsh
* Treachery of the Blue Books
* Welsh Not

Linguistics|

* Grammar
* Phonology
* Morphology
* colloquial
* literary
* Syntax
* Numerals
* Singulative number
* Orthography
* Welsh Braille
* Ỽ
* Y with loop
* Dictionaries
* Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru
* Welsh Academy English–Welsh Dictionary
* Toponymy
* outside Wales
* in the United States
* on road signage
* in English
* Exonyms

Literature|

* Authors
* Medieval Welsh literature
* Welsh mythology
* Welsh Triads
* Mabinogion
* Welsh-medium education
* Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin
* Wlpan
* Bible translations into Welsh
* Comics
* Magazines
* Newspapers
* Novels
* Poetry

Demographics|

* Welsh-speaking population
* Y Fro Gymraeg
* by county or county borough in Wales
* Landsker Line
* Y Wladfa
* Welsh Tract (historical)
* Surnames
* Politicians
* Other occupations

Media|

* Programming
* S4C
* timeline
* BBC Radio Cymru
* Cymru 2
* Capital Cymru
* Golwg
* Golwg360
* Maes-e
* Tafod y Ddraig
* Y Cymro
* Barn

Music and festivals|

* Celtic Media Festival
* National Eisteddfod of Wales
* Urdd National Eisteddfod
* Sesiwn Fawr Dolgellau
* Shwmae Sumae Day
* Tafwyl
* Y Selar Awards
* Welsh Language Music Day
* Welsh Learner of the Year
* Nant Gwrtheyrn
* Films

Dialects|

* Dyfedeg (south-western)
* Gwenhwyseg (south-eastern)
* Gwyndodeg (north-western)
* Cofi
* Powyseg (north/central-eastern)

* Patagonian Welsh

Governance|

* Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
* Welsh Language Commissioner
* Welsh Language Board (defunct)

Groups|

* Arfor
* Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol
* Cymdeithas y Dysgwyr
* Cymreigyddion y Fenni
* Welsh Language Society
* Cymuned
* Dyfodol i'r Iaith
* Menter Iaith
* Mudiad Adfer
* Urdd Gobaith Cymru
* Association of Welsh Translators and Interpreters
* Wales Interpretation and Translation Service
* Crachach

Legislation|

* Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542
* Welsh Courts Act 1942
* Welsh Language Act 1967
* Welsh Language Act 1993
* Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011
* National Assembly for Wales (Official Languages) Act 2012
* Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Act 2025

* Language
* Wales

* v
* t
* e

Celtic languages

Reconstructed|

* Proto-Celtic

Hispano-Celtic|

* Celtiberian
* Gallaecian

Nuclear Celtic|

| Insular Celtic|

| Brittonic
(Brythonic)|

| Reconstructed|

* Common Brittonic

|

Southwestern Brittonic|

* Breton
* Cornish

Western Brittonic|

* Cumbric
* Welsh
* Old Welsh
* Middle Welsh

Pictish|

* Pictish

Goidelic|

* Classical Gaelic
* Irish
* Primitive Irish
* Old Irish
* Middle Irish
* Early Modern Irish/Classical Gaelic
* Manx
* Scottish Gaelic
* Galwegian Gaelic

* Galatian
* Gaulish
* Cisalpine Gaulish
* Lepontic
* Noric

Unknown|

* Ancient Belgian? (possibly hypothetical)
* Camunic? (possibly related to Rhaetic or pre-Indo-European)
* Ligurian? (possibly independent or pre-Indo-European)
* Lusitanian? (possibly Italic)
* Rhaetic? (possibly Tyrsenian)
* Tartessian? (possibly Paleo-Hispanic)

Mixed|

* Beurla Reagaird
* Shelta

Celtic-speaking areas|

* Lower Brittany (Brittany)
* Y Wladfa (Chubut Province, Argentina; Welsh)
* Gaeltacht (Ireland)
* Cape Breton Island (Nova Scotia; Scottish Gaelic)
* Gàidhealtachd (Scotland)
* Y Fro Gymraeg (Wales)

Immersive education|

* Diwan (Breton)
* Skol Veythrin Karenza (Cornish)
* Gaelscoil (Irish)
* Bunscoill Ghaelgagh (Manx)
* Scottish Gaelic-medium education
* Welsh-medium education

Italics indicate extinct or ancestor languages

Authority control databases

National|

* United States
* Israel

Other|

* Yale LUX

This Indo-European languages-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

This Wales-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

This article related to the history of Wales is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template