Leyden Manuscript

Pierre-Yves Lambert thus describes the place held by Breton in this text (translation from french):Lambert, 1986

Vossianus lat. 96 A has the peculiarity of including Old Breton not in the glosses, but in the main text: it is one of the few documents where the vernacular language is not restricted to secondary use. Nevertheless, Old Breton only intervenes on one page of this bifolio and there it remains subordinate to Latin insofar as it is simply technical words (names of plants, preparations) which are substituted for the corresponding Latin words.

From a literary point of view, Lambert adds:

Leiden's medical fragment is doubtless not typically Breton in the subject: it is a question of ancient or medieval Latin recipes that are constantly being copied in monasteries.

Professor emeritus Hervé Le Bihan from the Breton-Celtic department of Rennes 2 University noted that the origin and date are problably Cornish and the first half of the 10th century, respectively, although the words are closer to Breton.{{Cite web |url=http://www.tresor-breton.bzh/2017/01/22/le-manuscrit-de-leiden/ |title=Le manuscrit de Leyde

|first=Hervé |last=Le Bihan |date=November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250122045039/https://bcd.bzh/becedia/fr/le-manuscrit-de-leyde |archive-date=2025-01-22 |website=tresor-breton.bzh |access-date=6 March 2025 |quote=Récemment, un travail pluridisciplinaire a montré que le manuscrit de Leyde (Leiden, University Library, Cod. Voss. lat. F 96 A) n’est sans doute pas d’origine bretonne, mais d’origine cornique. De plus, il ne daterait pas de la fin du VIIIe siècle, comme on le pensait jusque-là, mais plutôt de la première moitié du xe siècle (Falileyev & alii, 2005, contribution de H. McKee, 88sq). |trans-quote=Recently, a multidisciplinary study has shown that the Leyden Manuscript .. is surely not of Breton, but of Cornish origin. Moreover, it should not date from the eight century as was thought up to than, but rather from the first half of the tenth century.}}

Heather Stuart {{sfn|Stuart|1979|p=239}} found similar or identical manuscript texts, the Laon manuscript Laon 426 folio 117-119,{{Cite web |url=https://portail.biblissima.fr/ark:/43093/mdatab01a7402f85c7f86dc12e1bc540980725f7ef7d3 |website=portail.biblissima.fr/ |publisher=ÉquipEx BIBLISSIMA+, Campus Condorcet, Bâtiment EPCC - Hôtel à projets, 8, cours des Humanités, 93322 Aubervilliers CEDEX |title=Laon. Bibliothèque Suzanne Martinet, Ms. 426 |access-date=7 March 2024}} and Amiens ms. Escalopier 2, folio I-XII.{{Cite web |url=https://initiale.irht.cnrs.fr/codex/6135 |website=initiale.irht.cnrs.fr |title=Manuscrit. Référence Amiens, BM, Lescalopier 002. Codicologie codex ; parchemin ; 252 mm x 210 mm |publisher=Initiale. Catalogue des manuscripts enluminées. Institut de recherche et d'histoire des textes du Centre national de la recherche scientifique - Section des manuscrits enluminés |access-date=7 March 2024}}

File:Medical recipes manuscript fragment (Latin, Breton and Cornish), Leiden VLF 96 A, around 900 - 3 ("Item ad raemedium", cropped).jpg

Some examples of the Breton words found in the manuscript:

{{columns-list |colwidth=12em|

• {{lang|obt|aball}}: apple
• {{lang|obt|barr}}: branch
• {{lang|obt|cæninn}}: leek
• {{lang|obt|cærdinn}}: mountain-ash
• {{lang|obt|cæs}}: search
• {{lang|obt|colænn}}: holly
• {{lang|obt|dar}}: oak
• {{lang|obt|guærn}}: alder tree
• {{lang|obt|hisæl-barr}}: mistletoe
• {{lang|obt|penn}}: head
• {{lang|obt|scau}}: elder tree, sambucus
• {{lang|obt|spern}}: thorn (hawthorn, plum tree)

}}

File:Medical recipes manuscript fragment (Latin, Breton and Cornish), Leiden VLF 96 A, around 900 - 3 ("cæs scau. cæs spern", cropped).jpg

• {{Cite journal |language=fr |first=Pierre-Yves |last=Lambert |authorlink1=Pierre-Yves Lambert |title=Le fragment médical latin et vieux-breton du manuscrit de Leyde, Vossianus lat. f°96 A |journal=Bulletin de la Société archéologique de Finistère |volume=65 |year=1986 |pages=315-327}}
• {{Cite web |url=https://bcd.bzh/becedia/fr/les-origines-de-la-langue-bretonne |title=Les origines de la langue bretonne |first=Hervé |last=Le Bihan |date=November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250122042938/https://bcd.bzh/becedia/fr/les-origines-de-la-langue-bretonne |archive-date=2025-01-22 |website=bcd.bzh |access-date=6 March 2025 |publisher=Bretagne : Bretagne culture diversité - Sevenadurioù breizh |language=fr |quote=Ainsi, le manuscrit de Leyde présenté jusque-là comme le plus ancien manuscrit en breton n’est sans doute pas d’origine bretonne, mais d’origine cornique. De plus il ne daterait pas de la fin du VIIIe siècle mais plutôt de la première moitié du Xe siècle.}}
• {{Cite journal |first=Whitley |last=Stokes |authorlink1=Whitley Stokes (Celtic scholar) |title=A Celtic Leechbook |journal=Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie |year=1897 |pages=14-25 |url=https://archive.org/details/zeitschriftfrce00unkngoog}} This article contains a transcription of the manuscript (pp. 18-21) followed by a glossary (pp. 21–25).
• {{cite journal |first=Heather |last=Stuart |title=A Ninth Century Account of Diets and Dies aegyptiaci |journal=Scriptorium |year=1979 |volume=33 |number=2 |pages=237–244 |doi=10.3406/scrip.1979.1138 |doi-access= |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/scrip_0036-9772_1979_num_33_2_1138}}

• {{Cite journal |title=In Quest of an Ancient Breton Literature |first=Jacques-Yves |last=Mouton |journal=

Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium |volume=30 |date=2010 |pages=148-156 |isbn=9780674062429 |oclc=930807603 |quote=The oldest manuscript in Breton we have is a medical book kept in Leyden in the Netherlands dating back to the eighth century written in Latin and Old Breton which contains seventy names of plants and illnesses - which demonstrates, however, that such an ancient literary tradition once existed in Breton |jstor=41219658}}

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Category:9th-century manuscripts

Category:Breton language

Category:Manuscripts of Leiden University Library

Category:Medical manuscripts