Cylchgronau Cymru

FOURTH SERIES.—No. XIII. JANUARY, 1873. , THE OLD-WELSH GLOSSES ON MAKTIANUS CAPELLA. The library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, pos¬ sesses a folio MS. of Martiarms Minneus (? Minneius) Fe¬ lix Capella De Nuptiis Philologiac et Mercurii, formerly marked N. 17, but now MS. 153. The MS. at present contains 86 leaves (leaf 68 is gone). It belongs to the eighth century, is written in double columns, and is copiously glossed in Latin. Amongst the Latin glosses Mr. Bradshaw, librarian of the University Library. Cambridge, lately discovered the following Old-Welsh glosses. He transcribed them, and generously gave me a copy of his transcript. During my recent visit to Europe I compared this, letter by letter, with the ori¬ ginal codex, and found that Mr. Bradshaw had done his work with the priceless accuracy of an accomplished palaeographer. The Welsh glosses (which are all in a hand of the eighth century) begin in the second column of the recto of fo. 1, and some are found in each of the first fifteen folios. They recommence in the first column of the recto of fo. 38, and continue down to the verso of fo. 51. They then recommence at fo. 57 b, a, and end on the verso of fo. 66. Like the Kymric glosses on the Cambridge Codex of Juvencus (Beitr., iv, 385-430), they are copiously accentuated ;l but, unlike these and 1 These accents sometimes occur over consonants, and never sig¬ nify production of vowels. Z. 165. Rather they seem used to shew that the words over which they are placed are not Latin. 4th ser., vol. iv. 1