[From Yn Lioar Manninagh Vol 3 pp565/569

LHUYD'S "ARCHAEOLOGIA" AND THE MANX LANGUAGE.

G. W. WOOD, A.K.C.

Edward Lhuyd, the learned Welsh antiquary and keeper of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, published in 1707 his "Archaeologia Britannica, an account of the Languages, Histories and Customs of the Original Inhabitants of Great Britain." This work is referred to in Johnson's Guide to the Isle of Man by J. B. Laughton, B. A., published first in 1842 (vide p. 73). In his remarks on the Manks Language, the author says, "the student of antiquity will find a copious account of the language in Lhuyd's " Archaeologia" an invaluable work which, it is much to be regretted, is seldom found except in public libraries."

Harrison also includes it in his "Bibliotheca Monensis," published by the Manx Society in 1876, and he states that it contains an " Account of the Manx language." How these statements came to be made I cannot imagine ; I certainly find no account of the Manx language, much less a copious one. I do find, however, as an Appendix to an " Essay towards a British Etymologicon" (p. 200, et seq.) a long list of Latin words arranged in alphabetical order with their synonyms in English, Welsh, Cornish, Armoric, Irish, Scotch, Greek, French, German, Manx, etc. I presume this must be taken to represent the "account" referred to. The author of the essay was not, however, Lhuyd, but his friend David Parry, A.B., underkeeper of the Ashmolean Museum, and the Appendix is probably by him also. Although disappointing as an " account" of the Manx language, the vocabulary is nevertheless interesting as being by far the earliest application of the language to philological purposes, and as showing its orthography in those early days as well as its affinity to the other branches of the Celtic tongue. We have of course — thanks to the energy of Mr. A. W. Moore and the skill of Professor Rhys— access to a still earlier orthography, viz., that of the Phillips' Prayer Book (1625-30), and I am not unmindful of the fact that Bishop Wilson's Church Catechism was published in Manx and English the same year as the " Archaeologia."

Considerable use is made of Lhuyd's great work by the Rev. R. Williams in his "Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum," published in 1865, which gives the synonyms in the Celtic dialects including Manx.

It will be seen from a perusal of the vocabulary in the "Archaeologia" that the orthography of 1707 differs considerably from that of modern Manx, which it will be remembered was fixed by the Bible translation of 1771-5

As regards the old Manx of the " Archaeologia," the principal points of interest to be noted appear to be as follows :-

Words which now begin with C were almost invariably spelt with k, in common with the other branches of the Celtic, e.g., Korran for Corran (a sickle), Korp for Corp (body), &c.

The Greek letter X (Chi) was used to represent the sound of gh (guttural) in finals or middles of words, e.g., Klox for Clagh (a stone). 'Tch was used to represent Ch in initials of words, e.g., 'Tchangia for Chengey (a tongue). This approaches the usual Gaelic form of spelling, e.g., Irish Teanga.

Note also the use of w instead of on in Dw for Doo (black), &c. The accompanying Table is arranged from the "Archaeologia," and contains all words for which the old Manx form is given, and shows their synonyms (where supplied in the "Archaeologia") in all the six branches of the Celtic language.

The Table shows at a glance the resemblance of Manx words to their synonyms in Irish and Scotch, and, when allowance is made for the non-pronounciation of the mute consonants which abound in those languages, the resemblance is even greater. In some cases the resemblance runs through the entire Celtic series, indicating derivation from a common origin, often Latin, e.g., Taurus (a bull); Welsh, Taru; Cornish and Armoric, Taro; Irish, Taro; old Manx, Tarw ; modern Manx, Tarroo.

I have added a column giving the modern Manx spelling for the purpose of comparison.

Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received The Editor HTML Transcription © F.Coakley , 2002