The Old Welsh glosses on Martianus Capella reconsidered: an edition, commentary and analysis

Abstract

This thesis consists of a detailed edition of the Old Welsh glosses on Martianus Capella, including a close palaeographical study of the glossators' hands. Moreover, the modern scholarly tradition on these glosses is explored in order to establish a firmer understanding of the manuscript and its various scribes. The edition also includes discussions on a broad variety of philological and historical linguistic matters which arose in editing the glosses. Finally, four broader themes, taking account of the entire corpus of these glosses, were investigated in some detail. These themes include a study of the accents that mark the vernacular glosses in this manuscript, the peculiar adjective-noun word order employed by the main glossator, the main glossator's competence in Latin, and whether his practices resemble those of the Old Irish glossators and might therefore reflect more generally Insular traits.