[XIV. LAȜAMON]
[Manuscripts:] i. Cotton Caligula A 9, British Museum (C); on vellum, 216 × 153 mm.; 192 folios in double columns of 32 to 34 lines, written by two scribes in the first quarter of the thirteenth century. It is bound up with another manuscript containing the Owl and the Nightingale and other pieces.
ii. Cotton Otho C 13, British Museum (O); injured in the fire of 1731; on vellum; 145 folios in double columns of 38 lines; written in one hand, of the third quarter of the thirteenth century.
C is by far the better representative of the original, yet O alone not infrequently preserves it in details; though fifty years later than C, it has probably been transmitted through fewer copies than the latter. Mistakes common to both versions have been derived from an intermediate manuscript X. O represents a recension of X, made by a man who was mainly interested in the chronicle of events, a matter-of-fact person who stood in a critical attitude to his exemplar and took no pleasure in simile, epic repetition or descriptive touch. Under his handling, much that is characteristic of the author disappears.
[Facsimiles:] Of C. Madden, i. p. xxxv, and New Palaeographical Society, plate 86. Of O. Madden, i. p. xxxviii.
[Editions:] Madden, Sir Frederic, Laȝamons Brut, London, 1847. Of the present extract: Mätzner, E., Altenglische Sprachproben, i. 19-39; Morris, R., Specimens, 64-86.
[Literature:] Manuscripts and Texts. *Bartels, L., Die Zuverlässigkeit der Handschriften von Laȝamons Brut, Halle, 1913; Seyger, R., Beiträge zu Laȝamons Brut, Halle, 1912; Stratmann, F. H., ES iii. 269; iv. 96, 7; v. 375; Zessack, A., Die beiden Handschriften von Layamons Brut und ihr Verhältnis zu einander, Breslau, 1888. Sources. Brown, A. C. L., Welsh Traditions in Layamon’s Brut. Modern Philology, i. 95-103; Imelmann, R., Laȝamon Versuch über seine Quellen, Berlin, 1906; Krautwald, H., Layamon’s Brut verglichen mit Wace’s Roman de Brut, Breslau, 1887; Wülker, R., Ueber die Quellen Layamons, Paul-Braune, Beiträge, iii. 524-55. Phonology. Bowen, E. W., Open and close ē in Layamon. Anglia, xvi. 380; Lucht, P., Lautlehre der älteren Laȝamonhandschrift, Berlin, 1905; *Luhmann, A., Die Überlieferung von Laȝamons Brut, Halle, 1906; Stratmann, F. H., Das paragogische N in Laȝamon. Anglia, iii. 552, 3. Grammar. Bohnke, M., Die Flexion des Verbums in Laȝamons Brut, Berlin, 1906; Funke, O., Kasus-Syntax bei Orrm und Laȝamon, Wien, 1907; Hoffmann, P., Das grammatische Genus in Laȝamons Brut, Halle, 1909, completed in Morsbachs Studien, xxxvi; Lange, H., Das Zeitwort in . . . Laȝamon’s Brut, Strassburg, 1906; Lichtsinn, P., Der syntaktische Gebrauch des Infinitivs in Laȝamon’s Brut, Kiel, 1913. Vocabulary. Monroe, B. S., French Words in Laȝamon, Modern Philology, iv. 559. Metre. Brandstädter, K., Stabreim und Endreim in Layamons Brut, Kirchhain, 1912; Luick, K., Anglia, Beiblatt, xii. 37, 8; Trautmann, M., Anglia, ii. 153-73; Bartels, as above. Style. Regel, K., Spruch und Bild im Layamon, Anglia, i. 197-251; *Seyger, as above. Antiquarian. Kolbe, M., Schild, Helm und Panzer zur Zeit Laȝamons, Breslau, 1891; Krautwald, as above. B. S. Monroe, in Modern Philology, iv. 559-67, gives a detailed bibliography.
[Phonology:] (1) of C. Oral a is a, fare 176, habben 189, but færeð 43, færen 45, hæfuest 50; uerden 48 is from fēran. a before nasals is normally o, comp 120, moni 93 (5 times), but whanene 31, whænnenen 27, þenne 182, muni 113; a before lengthening groups is o, hond 201, imong 141, but and 9 &c., andswerden 11 (6), answarede 51 (4), angles 34. æ is a (48), e (20), æ (16), after 179, æfter 186, bad 241, bed 298, hafde 212 (7), hæfde 233 (3), hehde (for hefde) 69, wes 8 (5), wæs 78, nes 104 (3), heleðes 248, sætterdæi 75. e is normally e, bereð 44, sellic 267 (often elsewhere seollic), speken 12; before lengthening groups, ende, uelde 211, hende 273; but æ is common, spækeð 159, ænde 34, 109, fæld 209, hændest 95, hændeliche 99; Hængest 89 (8) is the common form; a occurs in fareð 276 (ferian), ualde 203, þa 15, 39, 68, u in sugge 52, suggeð 167; eo in heoreð 58 (if from herian): bærnan gives berneð 108, forbærnan, forbærnen 165, ærnan, ærneð 108, mengan, mæingde 292, beside mengde C 15530 (Morsbach, § 107, anm. 3). i is i, blisse 146, wille 25, but u in nulle 191, nuste 264, us 62, wulle 25, and the pres. forms of willan; before lengthening groups i, child 44, þinge 61. o is o, folc 36, hope 58, but durste 137, dursten 158; on is mostly an or o, once æn 211; before lengthening groups o, bord 215, wolde 20 (4), wolden 19, 192, but walden 12, 42. u is u, burh 173, cumen 137, iwune 117, but ilomp 122, sonedæi 75; before lengthening groups u, funde 298, murnede 293. y is normally u, cume 118, wunne 188, but kime 263, kineborne 168, kineliche 173, kinelond 56, 192; before lengthening groups u, guldene 257, vmbe 36: king 139 is the regular form, but kenge 94.
ā is regularly a, hali 66, ihaten 34, but æ in bræd 218, bræ[d]ne 209, mære 42, særi 103; before two consonants a, hatte 32, ladlic 294, madmes 134, but hæhte 59 (7). ǣ1 is æ, bilæfuen 24, hæðene 8 (3), sæ 2, spræde 210, or e, bitechen 191, breden 250, stenene 222, but a in bitache 173, haðene 295 (possibly Scandinavian), ea in leare 150; before two consonants æ, ælche 129, æuer 44, læfdi 74, lædden 259, næuere 176, or a, alc 51, alchen 280, auere 7, nauere 23, vnwraste 80, wraððe 150, but e in arerde 223, elchen 21. ǣ2 is æ, æten 251, dæde 197, þræd 218, or e, deden 96, vnimete 254, but eo in weore 8, weoren 2 (9), neoren 138, and a in mare 223; before two consonants, þærfore 175, setten 250. ē is e, greten 144, ueden 190, but heo 73, þæ 63, 231; before two consonants, imetten 18, lette 283, but igrætten 18 (r. w. imetten), iuædde 100. ī is i, bliðe 24, 116, swiðe 2, fiftene 36, but bluðeliche 282, swuðe 129. ō is o, com 113, godne 49, most 110, but neoðeles 83. ū is u, bute 176, runen 148, 159, but ronenen 156. ȳ is u, biclused 177, cudðe 98, iscrudde 100, but forþi 48, 66, þa 8, 184.
ea before r + cons. is a, ȝare 224, iȝarked 238, 240, and æ, hærm 8, 295, kærf 217; the i-umlaut is seen in awariede 81, and, before a lengthening group, in ferde 85. ea before l + cons. is regularly a, al 37, and the numerous forms of eall, scat 189, but hælf 117, helue 129; before lengthening groups, a, alde 28, anwalde 83, athalden 20, halden 150 &c., walden 71, but athælde 83, hælden 13, holden 143, olden 187: the i-umlaut is a before lengthening groups, aldeste 29, halde 290, iuald 109, but æ in ælderen 193, ælderne 69. eo before r + cons. is eo, feor 160, heorte 288, but hærcne 147, werpeð 37; before lengthening groups, ȝeorne 288: the wur group has u, iwurðe 90, wurðliche 190, wurðscipe 71. The i-umlaut before lengthening groups is seen in ȝirnde 206, sturne 120, but deorne 148: wiersa is wurse 81, 291. eo before l + cons. is eo in seolf 81 &c. eo, the å-umlaut of e, is seen in feole 119, weoli 60; eo, u- and å-umlaut of i, in cleopien 249 and its forms, heore 37 &c., seoluer 88, seoððen 96, 97, seoueðe 64, but hennen 160, iluued 22, and without umlaut, niðer 82. ea after palatals is a, scal 38, æ, ȝæf 134, e, ȝef 133, 299, and before nasal o, scome 86. ie after ġ is e, biȝeten 87, ȝeuen 88, and i, biȝite 172, ȝif 201, ȝiuen 297: after sc, æ in schæren 216. ȝef, conj., is ȝif 10 &c. eo after ġ is u, ȝunge 160, ȝungen 187: geond is ȝeond 209. eo after sc is seen in scolde 241, scolden 45, scullen 24, 39, 68. heom is heom 9; eom, am 175, æm 24, 263, næm 176.