The Alphabet of Nemniuus

The Alphabet of Nemniuus in St Dunstan’s Classbook (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Auct. F.4.32, 9th century, fo. 20r)

It's an early 9th century Old Welsh text which gives invented names for the letters of an alphabet based on Anglian runes (see scripts). It survives in a contemporary manuscript of c. 817. The text is primarily of interest in preserving items of Old Welsh vocabulary as letter names, as follows: A alar, ‘boredom, surfeit’ (obsolete in Mod. Welsh) B braut, Mod. brawd ‘brother’ or ‘judgement’ C cusil, Mod. cysul ‘counsel’ < Latin consilium D dexu? E egui[n], Mod. ewin ‘(finger/toe) nail’ or ewyn ‘foam’ F fich ? G guichr, Mod. gwychr, gwychyr ‘violent, fierce, bold’ H huil, Mod. hwyl ‘sail’, also ‘joy’ I [i]echuit, possibly Mod. iechyd ‘health’ or echwydd ‘fresh water’ K kam, Mod. cam ‘step’ or cam ‘crooked, wrong’ L louber, Mod. lleufer ‘light, illumination’ M muin, Mod. mwyn ‘amiable, pleasant’ N nihn? O or, ‘boundary, edge’ P parth, ‘part, region’ Q quith, possibly for guuith, Mod. gŵyth ‘wrath, fighting, conquered’ R rat, Mod. rhad ‘a grant, something given generously’ S surg? T traus, Mod. traws ‘ridge, roof beam’ U uir, Mod. ŵyr ‘grandson’ X ieil, possibly the plural of iâl ‘glade, clearing’ Y oyr, Mod. oer ‘cold’ Z zeirc, perhaps for seirch ‘rigging, battle harness’ Æ arm, Mod. arf ‘weapons, armour’ < Latin arma ET estiaul, ‘seated’? EU egui[n], as under E above

AU aur, Mod. awr ‘gold’ < Latin aurum or ‘hour, time’ < Latin hōra.

The alphabet’s author Nemniuus has been identified with the Nennius or Ninnius to whom the compilation of Historia Brittonum is sometimes attributed.

Source: Koch, John T. (editor). Celtic Culture; a historical encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, Inc. Santa Barbara:2006, v. 4, p. 1352.

The Alphabet of Nemniuus in St Dunstan’s Classbook (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Auct. F.4.32, 9th century, fo. 20r)