The Anglo-Norman Source Text of the Middle Welsh Otuel

The purpose of this paper is to refine and advance our understanding of the source of the Middle Welsh Otuel and of the dissemination of this story in northern Europe. The consensus among scholars has been that the Welsh text follows the Anglo-Norman version of the poem. I will show that while this seems to be the case, none of the extant texts was the immediate model of the Welsh translation. It should be noted, however, that it is not my intention to reconstruct a lost Ur-text. Instead, my aim is to compare and analyse key passages that show intertextual relationships and give us a better understanding of the shape of the model employed by the Welsh translator and hence of the translational decisions and strategies implemented. In addition, this study uncovers many affinities between several vernacular versions of the narrative. In this regard I will also argue that the connection between the Middle Welsh and the Old Norse Otuel noted by Williams and proposed by O’Sullivan can be better explained by a shared lost antecedent.