H^. (t H- /)^~ c/aJZeZZ /o/- PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER CELTIC SERIES No. III. Glossary of Mediaeval Welsh Law Sherratt & Hughes Publishers to the University of Manchester Manchester : 34 Cross Street London : 33 Soho Square, W. Agents for the United States Longmans, Green & Co. 443-449 Fourth Avenue, New York A GLOSSARY OF MEDIAEVAL WELSH LAW BASED UPON THE BLACK BOOK OF CHIRK BY TIMOTHY LEWIS, M.A. Assistant Lecturer in Celtic The University College of Wales, Aberystwyth MANCHESTER At the University Press 1913 University of Manchester Publications No. LXXXVII. D ^ 'b-N ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN STRACHAN, LL.D. ADRAWDD EI DDAED AERDRIN NI ALLWN NI ALLAI DALIESSIN. INTRODUCTION The glossary here presented was undertaken at the suggestion of the late Dr. Strachan and his friend, Dr. felt keenly the J. Gwenogvryn Evans, both of whom very inadequacy of existing Dictionaries and the sore need of reliable information concerning the value of a large num- ber of words in Mediaeval Welsh. Apart from Dr. Kuno Meyer's complete glossary to the text of ' Peredur ab Evrauc,' and the short but interesting glossary by Canon Robert Williams to ' Y Seint Greal,' no effort had lately been made to collect material for a lexicon of Mediaeval Welsh and each scholar had to toil for himself. Dr. Gwenogvryn Evans very generously supplied me with an advance copy of his forthcoming facsimile of the ' Black Book of Chirk ' when the original MS. was jealously guarded at Peniarth, and Dr. Strachan did all he could to put me on the right path to win from my text the greatest amount of information and of experience in research. At first, it was intended to rely mainly, if not solely, upon the ' Black Book of Chirk ' for means to establish the value of the words and terms employed in it, and this had already been finished before death so unexpectedly took Dr. Strachan away from us. We realised, however, that this was only beginning the work; and it was decided to extend the scope of it very con- siderably and to treat the text as a part of Mediaeval Welsh literature—seeking to explain some of its many enigmas by means of other texts in prose and poetry, 1 viii INTRODUCTION without disdaining to use even Modern Welsh and collo- quial forms when nothing else availed. The new task, though immeasurably more interesting, has also turned out to be much more difficult than I had foreseen, and in moments of despair, when besieged by- crowding difficulties or exasperated because the lawyers gave more thought to folk-etymology than to law, I often wished I had chosen some other task for my apprentice hand ; for the more difficulties I thought I had solved the more remained to worry me. The need, however, was so great, that even at the risk of blundering oft and badly it was worth the trouble to arrange the words of this earliest vernacular law-text in alphabetical order and bring together as many pertinent quotations as possible from other texts. The Manuscript, as such, I leave to the experienced and learned Editor to describe and appraise. Suffice it to say that for the purpose of this glossary the ' Black 1 Book of Chirk ' means Peniarth MS. 29 with the lacunae filled from the British Museum Addl. MS. 1493 2 which Dr. Evans regards "as a direct transcript, in Dimetian orthography, of Peniarth MS. 29." This Peniarth MS. 29 is written in a bewildering orthography, and I have not been able to devise an hypothesis to account for its peculiarities. If the scribe was a foreigner, as suggested, it is not clear to me how an alien could be such a master of faultless syntax, but on the other hand, how a native could be such a bungler in orthography is beyond my power to explain. His greatest originality is seen in his treatment of ch, th, dd and h—ch is represented by c, cc, ch, ck, gh, h ; th by th, dh, t, d, h, s ; dd by th, dh, dt, t, d, 1. see Report on MSS. in the Welsh Language, I. p. 359. 2. ibid. Vol. II. p. 944. ' — ; INTRODUCTION ix h irrespective of position, and h is used also without any apparent regard for custom, accent, or etymology. Another difficulty that faced me at the outset was, what value to set on the Latin Codices of Welsh Laws, and to what extent they were to be trusted. Dr. Evans had suggested that the Laws were originally codified in Latin 1 ' while the authors of the Welsh People ' infer that the Latin text was a translation. 2 Reverence for authority paralysed me. After a while I could not withstand the growing conviction that the Latin Laws as we have them are a patchwork, and in parts demonstrably translations from the Welsh. This is not the place for an exhaustive treatment of this subject but one or two points may be noted. In defining the perquisites of the court janitor the text says e lludyn a del yr porth kudha [e portkaur] beuuyt 26. 6. This is not a chance gratuity, but a fixed part of his wages which was his by right of law. Out of every herd of swine brought in after a raid he was to have one which he could lift by the bristle as high as his hip so likewise he is to have one cwtta from every herd of cattle driven in after a successful raid. ' But if cwtta meant bobtailed ' as it generally does, I imagine that the janitor would often be without his share, unless he entered into a conspiracy with one of the raiders to improve upon niggard nature. One of the translators thought, not unnaturally, that the word cwtta could only mean 'bobtailed,' or 'tail-less' and translated it 'sine 3 cauda ; another knew better and translated it as 'ultimum.' 4 Another word which points unmistakeably the same 1. The Welsh People. Appendix D. 2. ibid. 3. Ancient Laws, II. 765. vi. 4. ibid II. 762. vii. x INTRODUCTION way is enhorob (see under hanerhob). According to Dr. Pughe this word means 'a flitch of bacon.' Aneurin 1 Owen translates it so in the Ancient Laws and 2 the translation is confirmed in ' Mediaeval Law.' But according to the tale of Math son of Mathonwy in the Red Book, the term means a ' pig.' The Latin Laws give ' ' the two meanings of ' a flitch of bacon and a three year old pig ' {see glossary). The word was perhaps confined to the dialect of Dyved and the translator who translated ' it as perna salsa ' attempted what appeared to him a literal translation. Several other instances will be found in the glossary shewing that the Latin Laws are in part, at any rate, a translation and a mosaic. There was another difficulty that beset me at every step, how far was I justified in pitting reasonable scepti- cism against the definition of obscure words by lawyers who had a lurking sympathy with folk-etymology. There are abundant instances of this in the glossary, but let two suffice. The word briduw is used often to describe the most solemn oath known at the time. In some late codices long definitions are given, and it is almost impos- sible to avoid the conclusion as expressed in the glossary of " Mediaeval Law," p. 328, that " the term seems to be simply bri Duw, dignity of God." I have little doubt, however, that it was, at first, meant to describe a solemn l oath taken pro Deo' Another instructive instance is the treatment of the expression maen dros iaen. It has ' always, I believe, been translated a stone over ice ' and there is a late text which seems to support this ; but in the light of the quotations brought together in the glossary it will be seen that nothing could be further from it. I hope 1. Ancient Laws, I. 198. 2. pp. 56. 20 and 207.12. '; INTRODUCTION xi to find some means of fixing more definitely the import of maen and iaen but I believe that maen means ' lord and that maenawl is a compound of it meaning the ' land under dominion of a lord.' This process of delusion is well shown in the series addaw mab addaw maen quoted under maen. Long definitions are given of many a word in scattered texts, investing the delusion with MS. authority and sending it forth on its career of deceit. In spite of all these pitfalls the 'Black Book of Chirk' contains an immense amount of invaluable information and by the time it is exhausted much of the social history of Early Wales will have been re-written. One instance out of many may be cited as witness to its value in this respect. As far as I am aware, no one has published a serious study of the military organisation of Early Wales and one may echo the words of Eugene O'Curry about the Military Education of Early Ireland when he says " There is less of direct information on this subject to be found amongst the wreck of ancient national records which have come down to us, than could be wished ; and that much of what has been confidently taken for granted . belongs to the domain not of fact, but of mere assumption." 1 The Gododin—that early song of mead and might—says a great deal of armies and war but its rich vocabulary affords little definite information upon the subject.