When exploring whether Eliwlad could have come from an original Eilwlad, it was necessary to do more than merely consult top Welsh specialists. While they could give their weighty opinions on the possibility of such a metathesis as eli from eil having occurred, I still needed to show that this actually happened in early MSS.
I have just succeeded in doing so.
The line pasted at the top comes from A Glossary of Mediaeval Welsh Law Based Upon the Black Book of Chirk by Timothy Lewis, Manchester University Press, 1913.
In that source, eli is plainly given as an alternate spelling for eil.
The Black Book of Chirk is a very early MS. From https://www.maryjones.us/jce/chirk.html:
"The Black Book of Chirk Y Llyvyr Du or Weun
ca. 1350
Sometimes called "The Chirk Codex" the Black Book is the earliest collection of the Welsh laws codified by Hwyel Dda, the tenth century king of Gwynedd, though it was composed in the thirteenth century, presumably copying from an earlier, lost manuscript. There is a contemporaneous Latin version of the Laws, Peniarth MS 28, which is best known for being one of the few fully-illustrated manuscripts of Wales.
It currently resides at the National Library of Wales."
One caveat from Dr. Simon Rodway:
"I doubt this is an example of miscopying, but rather of scribal carelessness. This MS, Peniarth 29 (The Black Book of Chirk), is notorious for the sloppiness and eccentricity of its scribes. See the detailed discussion by Paul Russell, ‘Scribal (In)competence in Thirteenth-Century North Wales: The Orthography of the Black Book of Chirk (Peniarth MS 29)’, National Library of Wales Journal, 29 (1995‑96), 129‑76."
But, still, we have eli for eil, and this example shows that the right misspelling of the latter could occur.
One caveat from Dr. Simon Rodway:
"I doubt this is an example of miscopying, but rather of scribal carelessness. This MS, Peniarth 29 (The Black Book of Chirk), is notorious for the sloppiness and eccentricity of its scribes. See the detailed discussion by Paul Russell, ‘Scribal (In)competence in Thirteenth-Century North Wales: The Orthography of the Black Book of Chirk (Peniarth MS 29)’, National Library of Wales Journal, 29 (1995‑96), 129‑76."
But, still, we have eli for eil, and this example shows that the right misspelling of the latter could occur.
I have asked the head of MSS. at the National Library of Wales, Dr. Maredudd ap Huw, if he can think of any other examples of eli for eil. Should he be able to produce such results, I will post those here.
I am now putting my research to rest with the following declaration: I'm confident I have finally, after some two and a half decades of searching, "discovered" the historical Arthur of the 6th century.
EXAMPLE TWO FOUND!
In "The Red Book of Hergest" version of CULHWCH AND OLWEN, we find the personal name Eli rendered as Eil. This instance occurs in a listing of Arthur's champions. What should read "Eli and Trachmyr" is instead written "Eil and Trachmyr."
The two images below were taken from -
The Text of the Mabinogion: And Other Welsh Tales from the Red Book of Hergest, John Gwenogvryn Evans, Sir John Rhys, 1887, p. 140 (MS. 842)
https://books.google.com/books?ppis=_e&id=XlEGAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22Red+book+of+hergest%22%2B%22eil%22%2B%22eli%22&q=Eil+%28cf.+Eli%29#v=snippet&q=Eil%20(cf.%20Eli)&f=false
and
https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/inquire/Discover/Search/#/?p=c+1,t+ac%20eil%2C%20a,rsrs+0,rsps+10,fa+,so+ox%3Asort%5Easc,scids+,pid+9bf187bf-f862-4453-bc4f-851f6d3948af,vi+49792518-1334-4f3e-b894-2dcf72eb6c36
I am now putting my research to rest with the following declaration: I'm confident I have finally, after some two and a half decades of searching, "discovered" the historical Arthur of the 6th century.
EXAMPLE TWO FOUND!
In "The Red Book of Hergest" version of CULHWCH AND OLWEN, we find the personal name Eli rendered as Eil. This instance occurs in a listing of Arthur's champions. What should read "Eli and Trachmyr" is instead written "Eil and Trachmyr."
The two images below were taken from -
The Text of the Mabinogion: And Other Welsh Tales from the Red Book of Hergest, John Gwenogvryn Evans, Sir John Rhys, 1887, p. 140 (MS. 842)
https://books.google.com/books?ppis=_e&id=XlEGAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22Red+book+of+hergest%22%2B%22eil%22%2B%22eli%22&q=Eil+%28cf.+Eli%29#v=snippet&q=Eil%20(cf.%20Eli)&f=false
and
https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/inquire/Discover/Search/#/?p=c+1,t+ac%20eil%2C%20a,rsrs+0,rsps+10,fa+,so+ox%3Asort%5Easc,scids+,pid+9bf187bf-f862-4453-bc4f-851f6d3948af,vi+49792518-1334-4f3e-b894-2dcf72eb6c36
For comparison, here is MS. 818 (110, 7 in Evans and Rhys), where Eli is written properly:
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