The Leyden manuscript (Breton: Dornskrid Leiden) is the name usually given in Breton studies to a four-page leaflet ("bifolio") kept in Leiden University Libraries in the Netherlands. [1] It is a fragment of a Latin medical treatise supposedly dating from the late 8th or 9th century in which two Irish words appear and about thirty Old Breton words. [2]
Pierre-Yves Lambert thus describes the place held by Breton in this text (translation from French): [3]
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. [4]
Heather Stuart [5] found similar or identical manuscript texts, the Laon manuscript Laon 426 folio 117-119, [6] and Amiens ms. Escalopier 2, folio I-XII. [7]
Some examples of the Breton words found in the manuscript:
![Page 3 lines 17-18 , with Breton words underlined:
"p[er].caeruisam.sanat.;
Caes
.
scau
.
caes
spern
.
caes
guaern
caes
.
dar
.
caes
cornucaerni.
caes
colaenn
.
caes
aball
.p[er] caeruisa[m]". Medical recipes manuscript fragment (Latin, Breton and Cornish), Leiden VLF 96 A, around 900 - 3 ("caes scau. caes spern", cropped).jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/Medical_recipes_manuscript_fragment_%28Latin%2C_Breton_and_Cornish%29%2C_Leiden_VLF_96_A%2C_around_900_-_3_%28%22c%C3%A6s_scau._c%C3%A6s_spern%22%2C_cropped%29.jpg/500px-Medical_recipes_manuscript_fragment_%28Latin%2C_Breton_and_Cornish%29%2C_Leiden_VLF_96_A%2C_around_900_-_3_%28%22c%C3%A6s_scau._c%C3%A6s_spern%22%2C_cropped%29.jpg)
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.
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).[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.]
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
