3 TACK
ANNEX
OF
CORNISH GRAMMAR
BY
EDWIN NORRIS.
O X F O 11 D :
\T THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, il.DCCC.LTX.
SKETCH
OF
CORNISH GRAMMAR
BY
EDWIN NORRIS.
OXFORD:
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. M.DCCC.LIX.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
LETTERS 3
ARTICLES 12
SUBSTANTIVES 12
ADJECTIVES 22
NUMBERS 23
PRONOUNS 26
VERBS 41
IRREGULARS 66
ADVERBS 73
PREPOSITIONS 80
CONJUNCTIONS 86
CONSTRUCTION 89
2047388
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
THE following Grammatical Sketch of the Corn- ish language is made up of the observations jotted down by the Compiler, whilst engaged in preparing a translation of the three ancient Cornish Dramas entitled Ordinalia, contained in a Manuscript belong- ing to the Bodleian Library. After a considerable portion of that work was printed off, he was induced to arrange his notes in some order, for the purpose of adding them to the book as an appendix, and by doing this he found himself empowered to see fur- ther into the structure of the language than he anticipated, and to understand many passages which he had left as unintelligible ; he discovered regularity in many cases where he had supposed that all was disorder, and found that much of the apparent confusion arose from the entire absence of any system of orthography.
From the way in which this essay was compiled, it is obvious that all illustrations of rules given in it are drawn from the work alluded to, except only in the very few cases where the Mount Cal- vary has furnished data for completing the evi- dence which the Ordinalia would have left imper- fect. It is also a consequence of this way of pro- ceeding that a form or a construction of frequent occurrence is often elucidated by a single example, while a rarer case will be furnished with several instances hi proof, perhaps all that the compiler could find; in the former case there could be no
2
reason for hesitation, and consequently no motive for accumulating evidence ; in the latter, infre- quency produced doubt, which could not be re- moved without collating all the cases in point.
It is necessary to bear in mind that, during the whole work of translation, the process was tentative. The translator fully acknowledges the valuable aid he has received from the grammar of Lhuyd and the vocabulary compiled by Tonkin, which appeared under the name of Pryce ; without them he could have done nothing ; but he must say that his suspicion of the accuracy of these aids, of the vocabulary especially, was continually on the increase ; and that until he had found a word j usti- fied by frequent repetition and obvious congruity, he never felt confident in the value affixed to it, unless it were corroborated by Welsh or Armoric analogy.
The Grammar was more satisfactory, but it was chiefly based on the practice of Cornish as spoken in Lhuyd's day, a dialect which had lost much of the character of the old language in which the best monuments were written ; it was also slightly mo- dified by the habit of the author, who unconsciously deviated now and then into the forms of his native Welsh.
After these observations, the compiler believes he may offer this Essay as a useful help to a reader of Cornish ; he is quite conscious that it is incomplete, but he trusts that what is included in it will not be found inaccurate.
SKETCH OF COKNISH GEAMMAR
§.1. LETTERS.
The orthography of the manuscripts is so irre- gular, that it is quite impracticable, in a gram- matical essay, to follow it into all its varieties ; we find every word of any length written in half a dozen forms, such as diuath, deweth, dyweth, devyth, dyvyth, diweth, &c. &c. ; and so short a word as kig is found under the forms of kyg, kyc, kic, cyk, and probably more. It appears advisable in this sketch to keep to one form only, and the one selected will be that which most commonly occurs ; if this be doubtful, then the form most analogous to the Welsh or Breton. The writer of the Dramas was guided merely by his ear, which was variable, and in addition to this, he was un- decided whether he should follow the English or Welsh sounds of the letters. Very frequently too the handwriting is uncertain ; and nothing but a knowledge of the language will enable a reader to distinguish between c and t, u and n, b and v, and some others.
For this reason it seems most expedient first to give a list of the sounds of the language, and then to shew how they are expressed in the manu- scripts; to adopt, as above stated, one form only, but in quotations, to follow the original spelling in all its variety.
§.2. Vowels.
The vowel sounds were a, e, i, o, u, and aw. The last was like our a in ' all,' a sound hardly B 2
4 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
known in most European tongues ; the others as in Italian.
A, as in 'father/ is always made by a in the MS. E, as in e there/ always by e. I, as our ee, is gene- rally written y, rarely i, and now and then e, espe- cially in the pronoun my, which is often written me, no doubt from the influence of English ortho- graphy ; in this grammar y is used. 0 and u are generally so written. Aw is, I think, always written o.
Lhuyd, who wrote when the language was spoken, adopted a turned upside down to express the sound of aw ; he thus wrote mnz where we find mos. We have hos, O 132, "a duck," which he would have written hvz ; it is hoet in the ancient vocabulary, and those who spelled the word by ear wrote hawz; see Pryce, voc. hoet. It does not appear that aw and o were etymologically distinguished, any more than the vowels in the English words fall and hot ; and as in the majority of cases it would now be difficult to decide which sound was used, no attempt is made here to represent it by a distinct character.
§. 3. The vowels are liable to a modification which the Germans, after Grimm, call " umlaut ;" a change which brings the different syllables of a word into harmony with each other. It is defined as an inflection of a, o, and w, in the radical syl- lable of a word, caused by the influence or attrac- tion of an i or u in a subsequent servile syllable expressed or understood ; a becoming e, o becom- ing o, (the French eu] and u becoming u (the French u). It is such an influence which makes fed out of f ado in Latin, &ndfeet, men, and elder, out of foot, man, old, in English. In Cornish this law was strictly observed, though the unsettled or- thography produced much irregularity in its ex-
VOWELS. 5
pression. I think the following rule will conveni- ently shew its practical operation : — whenever a word with a or e for its final vowel (and sometimes the influence reaches a preceding vowel) receives by grammatical change the addition of a syllable whose vowel is i (y) or eu, the a becomes e or y, and the e becomes y : thus from car, " to love," is made kyrys, " loved," R 892, and kyrreugh, " ye love," O 543 ; from taw, "to be silent/' comes teweugh, " be ye silent," E, 669, and tywyn, " we are silent," R 2527 : from gwel, " to see," gwylsyn, " we saw," E, 807 : from guas, " a lad," guesyon, "lads," D 1299. The letter e, in fact, is neutral, and may stand either for a or y : thus we find kerry, D 2240, kyrry, O 537, or kyry, D 1289, " thou mayest love ;" lavaraf, 07, or levaraf, 0 1653, " I say." Even English words receive the same modifications; as from handle, D 3194, we have hyndlyf, R 1531. 0 and u sometimes re- main unaltered, but are more commonly changed to e; as from danfon, " to send," danfeneugh, " send," Ri%594; from torr, " to break," der&, "will break," O 2 1 84 ; from cous, " to speak," keus, "speaks," 01676; from curene, " to crown," D 2064, we find kerenys, 0 2381, kerunys, O 2391, and kurenys in a variant reading of 0 2374 ; the difficulty of distinguishing e from o in the manuscript will not let me cite koroneugh of O 2347 as a still further change ; arluth, "lord," makes in the plural arlythy, D 1900.
A termination in a does not change a root with a vowel y; from pys, " to pray," we have pysaf, " I pray," 0 1390 ; but losco from lesky occurs in R 130-
a In some former state of the language this form must have had a final »',• it still remains in the Irish verb.
CORNISH GRAMMAR.
§.4. Consonants.
The consonantal sounds are 6, d, th (as in ' the'), f, g hard, g soft, h, k, I, m, n, p, r, s, sh, ch, t, th (as in 'think'), v, w, wh, z. Of these sounds b, d,f h, I, m, n, p, r, s, t, are written in the MSS. regu- larly with the letters above given.
Th, as in the English ' the,' is always so written in the manuscript of the Ordinalia. It is the aspirate form of d, and in "Welsh is made by dd ; in the British Museum MS. of Mount Calvary, and in the Bodleian MS. of the Creation, written in 1611, it is made by a character not unlike 3 ; those who wrote Cornish in its last days repre- sented the sound by dh, and in the very ancient Cornish vocabulary the same combination is used ; for example, in the word medhec, " a physician." The Armoric equivalent is 0. I would have written dh in this grammar, if I had always been sure of distinguishing the two sounds of th, but as this is not the case, I write th; a mistake seems of less consequence when indicated by a mere dot ; and moreover this form is a smaller departure from the orthography of the Ordinalia. But I have no doubt that I have often omitted the dot when it ought to be inserted.
G, as in ' gold,' is so written in the MSS. Lhuyd used the Saxon 5 to distinguish this sound from the following. It is now and then irregularly employed as an initial instead of d, as in geyth, "a day," 039, instead of dyth, O 49.
6r soft, as in ' gentle,1 is not a genuine Cornish letter, but a simple corruption of s ; we thus find pygy, " to pray," and gage, " to leave," instead of
CONSONANTS. 7
pysy and gase. It is like the vulgarism of squeege for squeeze. Lhuyd sometimes used dzh for this sound, a clumsy but accurate representation. I have no occasion to mention the sound in this essay.
H is etymologically equivalent to the Welsh ch ; it is the aspirate form of k. Colon, " heart," be- comes holon, O 2135, and cowethes, "a compan- ion," becomes howethes, 0 113. When final, it is almost always made by gh, as in levereugh, " you say,11 D 781, the Welsh lafarwch.
K is made in the MSS., as in English, by c be- fore consonants and a, o, and w, and by k before e, i, and y. Thus car, " he loves," caradow, " be- loved,11 O 1114, kerry, "thou lovest,11 O 2142; cref, " strong,11 D 2539, O 2222. Now and then we find irregularities in this usage ; as in cemeres for kemeres, 0 1123; krev for cref, 0 687 ; cen for ken, D 1994.
There appears to be a trace of the Welsh aspi- rate II, if I am right in supposing Behethlen, 0 2588, to be Bohellan ; to this I was led by the equivalent Beheath-land, given in Pryce's list of Cornish villages ; thl might be an attempt to re- present the peculiar sound of the Welsh II.
No trace appears of the curious change of m and n to bm and tin, the latter of which is so com- mon in names of places in Cornwall, and in the more recent MS. of the ' Creation/ It must have crept in between 1450 and 1600, though it may have existed in speaking at an earlier date.
The sound of s was probably like that of the English s, varying to that of z when between vowels, as in ' rose.1 It is this last sound which I sup- pose to be occasionally corrupted to g, as mentioned before. Sh occurs in English words only, and is
8 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
written sch or sh ; see sheft, O 2494, schapys, 0 2562.
7%, as in ' think,' is always so written in this Grammar ; it is the aspirate form of t, as th is of d. The frequent use of th instead of s shews that the sound was not so definite as in English ; we have grath, 0 6, instead of gras, " grace ; fath for the English face, 0 1412; cowys, R 405, and cowyth, R 410 ; sacrifyth, O 1519, and sacryfys, O 1493. I11 Natharet, D 301, for Nazareth, the th is probably intended. The equivalent sound has become a pure sibilant in Armoric, and is written z.
Ch is an English sound, and is used in words borrowed from English, as chacys, "chased," 0 706; cherite, "charity," 0 1782; cher, "cheer." D 1824; chyf, "chief," 0 2331. The sound must have occurred in one genuine Celtic word chy, " a house," which is written with a t in all other Celtic languages. Ty is found in the ancient vo- cabulary, but I think chy everywhere else. In D 334, if ow thy be the true reading, we have a genuine case of ty with the proper mutation ; but the dimculty of distinguishing c from t renders it uncertain. Ch frequently occurs in the ancient vocabulary where k is intended.
The sound of v is generally represented by that letter, but it is also found not unfrequently ex- pressed by/", as in Welsh ; unmistakeable instances of this &re fenygough, "ye bless," D 2646 ; fynnaf, " I will," D 2496 ; ynfras, " greatly," R 1098.
W appears to have had the English sound ; it is not unfrequently confounded with u, particularly after g.
Wh represents the Welsh chw, but it is often confounded with w ; as in ivhylly, D 2101, wylly, O 745, " thou mayest see."
MUTATIONS OF CONSONANTS. 9
The consonantal sound of y is made usually by i, and sometimes by a character frequently read z, but certainly sounded y. We have such a character in old English MSS., where we find zoung, zear, sou ; it is often so printed in transcripts, but the propriety of so transcribing is doubtful.
Z is not written, but is represented by s, as men- tioned before. In one case alone have I found it, 0 2358 ; see the note on that line.
§. 5. Mutations of Consonants.
In all the Celtic languages, many of the conso- nants at the beginning of a word suffer changes according to fixed rules, under certain grammatical or euphonic conditions. In most of these changes the Cornish coincides with the Welsh, in a few it is more like the Armoric ; the fourth form, or nasal change of the Welsh, is unknown. The surds p, k, and t, have each two mutations, or three forms ; the sonants b, g, and d have one mutation, or two forms a ; m has the same change as 6. The other letters are not subject to change.
The writers on Welsh grammar have given vari- ous names to these several forms : what one writer calls the soft form another calls light ; the same is named aspirate by one and nasal by the other. I therefore propose to call the radical letter the first, and the two mutations, the second and the third forms, as all are agreed upon the order in which they come. When I wish to designate the form which ought to follow any given word, I shall occa-
a The sonants have a second mutation, which will be no- ticed presently ; but it is a return to the surd form, and is not of the nature of the other changes. I would call it negative.
10 CORNISH GRAMMAE.
sionally put a little numeral over the word by way of abbreviation ; writing for example oiv3, " my," and y2, " his," to shew that the initial consonant of the words following these possessive pronouns must take the respective forms which the figures point out.
The changes of the surd letters are precisely those of the so-called tenues to mediae and aspiratae in Greek grammar ; as TT, [3, <$>, &c. In Cornish these are p, b,f; &, g, h; t, d, th. In the sonant letters the one change is to what we may call the aspirate sonant : b becomes v (bh), d becomes th (dli), and g might have been, by analogy, made gh, with a guttural sound, perhaps like that of the Greek digamma ; but as gh was already employed for the aspirate of c when final, and as moreover the aspirate gh has in most languages shewn a ten- dency to disappear, the g in this state is either left out altogether, or changed to w, and more rarely to wht as in D 2156. In the same instances the Welsh omits the g, and the Bretons write c'h, un- less a w follow the g} in which case g is omitted, as in "Welsh. M, like b, becomes v. In the sonant letters the third form is like the first.
In accordance with the above described muta- tions, we may form the following table : —
i 2 3
P B F
K G H
T D Th
B V B
G W, or nothing G
D Th D
M V M
The cases of mutation will appear in the gram- mar, but a few examples are here given : —
MUTATION OF CONSONANTS. 11
Ou3fehas (pehas), " my sins," 0 2257 ; y2 das (tas), " his father," 0 2740 ; y2 vam (mam), " his mother," 0 2740; agd* threys (treys), "their feet," 0 760; ow3 banneth, "my blessing,"" O 2168 ; y2 volnogeth (bolnogetli), " his will,'1 0 2352; the11 wovyn (govyri), " to ask/' D 2667 ; the ase (gase), " to leave," D 2035. Once I find ch changed to g : the gy (chy), " thy house," 0 1018.
The sonants 6, g, d, are also subject to take the surd forms of p, k, t ; this initial mutation is un- known to the Welsh tongue, but it is found in Armoric ; Zeuss has named it provection. I mark the words with ° which produce this change. Ex- amples are, ow querthe (guerthe), " selling," D 1520; a pe (be), "if it were," R 1662 ; ou tos (dos), " coming," O 1 65 1 ; mar kruge (gruge], " if I do,"D 875 ; yn ta (da), " well," D 1905. We have the singular form ou fysky (guysky), " striking," 0 1685.
In Cornish, as in Welsh and Armoric, the f suffers no change. It seems however that in the latest days of the existence of the language, a mutation was made like that of b and m. Lhuyd mentions an vordh, " the way," from forth, p. 241, as well as a more peculiar change to h in the oblique case, as a'n hloh, " of the child," from floh, p. 242. I have not seen a trace of such mutations in the manuscript.
In the Armoric, s is regularly changed to z. I have found only one case of the change ; it occurs in 0 2358.
Observe generally that the mutations are often neglected in the manuscripts, and nothing must be concluded from their absence. This is also the case with ancient Welsh, Breton, and Irish writings, though the practice is now to insert them regularly
12 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
in every instance. It is most probable that they were always used in speaking, however the writer may have neglected to spell in accordance with the pronunciation.
§. 6. ARTICLES.
The definite Article is an (en) for all numbers and genders ; as, an myghtern, " the king," R 104; an venen, " the woman," 0516; anporthoiv, "the gates," R 98. When it is in connection with a preceding word ending with a vowel, the article usually loses its own vowel, and the n is added to the preceding word. In this work the n is divided by an apostrophe, which is not found in the manu- scripts.
The article has no inflection, but the cases are made by prepositions: as en tas ha'n map ha'n spyrys, " the Father and the Son and the Spirit," 0 4 : an mor ha'n tyryow, " the sea and the lands," O 26 : tJie'n tas, " to the Father," D 626 : a'n nef, "from the heaven," O 1319: war an kunys, "upon the wood," 0 1333: the'n dor, "to the ground," O 1448.
The indefinite article is un for both genders ; it is rarely used. Ex. un map, "a son," 0 639; worth un venen, " to a woman," 0 419.
§. 7. SUBSTANTIVES.
In Cornish, as in the other Celtic languages, a substantive is either masculine or feminine : the chief, though not the only grammatical distinction, between masculine and feminine, is the change of
SUBSTANTIVES. 13
an initial consonant, when mutable, to one of the second class, in a feminine substantive of the sin- gular number. Examples are : un venen (beneri), "a woman," 0 419 ; an venen, 0516; an dre (tre), "the town," 0 2282; an wethen (gwethen), "the tree," O 201; an bous (pous), "the robe," R 1921-4. The same change distinguishes the gender of an adjective used substantively ; as, an casadow, m. 0 2119; an gasadow, f. 0 2691, " the hated person."
Males and females have sometimes names of dif- ferent origin, as den, " a man," benen, " a woman ;" in many cases the name of the female differs from that of the male by the addition of es ; as arluth, "lord," D 1957, arlothes, "lady," 1)1965; py- stryor, "a wizard," D 1767, pestryores, "a witch," O 2668 ; cowyth, " a male companion," O 2043, cowethes, " a female companion," 0 92 ; maw , " a boy/' D 1794, mowes, "a girl/' D 1876.
§. 8. Plural
The plural number has many forms ; one of the commonest ends in ow : the Welsh au, Breton ou. A few examples follow :—
tassow, fathers, O 1409 from tas, O i.
dornow, hands, 01390 .. dorn, R 2178.
roow, gifts, O 2314, 2598 . . ro, O 2467.
fosow, walls, O 2320 .. fos, O 2281.
scovornow, ears, D 1361 . . scoforn, D 1144.
Icentrow, nails, D 2698 . . kenter, D 2676.
dewow, gods, O 2692 . . deu, O 2564.
lyfryow, books, D 78, 101 . . levyr, D 1157.
enevow, souls, D 144 . . enef, D 1753.
trevow, towns, D 132 . . ire (Welsh, tref.)
tyryow, lands O 26 . . tyr, D 392.
14 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
A very common termination for plurals of per- sonal words is ion : Welsh ion, Breton ien. These generally change the final vowel : —
Mebyon, sons, O 1038 from map, R 933. guesyon, fellows, D 1299 . . guas, R 1824. yethewon, Jews, D 2013 . . yethow, D 2003.
^} marrouggyon, do. Oi039/
Some adjectives used as substantives take the same form : —
kefyon, wise persons, D 10261 f , Q
cufyon, .......... Dio75/
gueryon, true men, D 1305 from guyr, R 977.
Also some common nouns : —
prevyon, reptiles, O 1160. govegyon, sorrows, D 1062. empynyon, brains, D 2120. marthogyon, wonders, O 2546.
We have also laddron, "thieves," D 2255, from lader, D 1174.
Many plurals end in y : this form is also found in Welsh and Armoric, but not so frequently : —
ysyly, limbs, D 1733.
esely . . O 2735.
mowysy, maids, D 944. mowes, D 1876.
anfugy, sins ? 01473. anfus, D 1501.
profugy, prophets, D 1480. pro/us, D 1465.
servysy, servants, O 235.
guythysy, guards, O 2038.
arlythy, lords D 1900. arluth, D 393.
mestrygy, masters Diyii.-, ^^ D fi mestrigi, . . D 1047. J
In some words the plural is the stem, and the singular adds the syllable en, which is here an indi- vidualizing particle.
SUBSTANTIVES. 15
delen, a leaf, deyl, leaves, O 254 ; also dylyow, O 777. gryghonen, a spark, D 2717, guryghon, sparks, D 2101. guelen, a rod, O 1444, gueel, rods, O 1957. guethen, a tree, O 186, gueyth, trees, O 28. luhesen, a flash of lightning, R 293, luhes, lightnings, R296.
In Armoric, nouns denoting the condition of men, as well as names of animals, form their plural by- adding ed. In Cornish the d has become s as usual, and more rarely th : —
eleth, angels, R 190 from el, R 787.
myrhes, daughters, O 1038 "1 i, r\ *
* l>. myrgh,Q2lz6. myrghes, D 2639 J
benenes, women, O 2247 . . benen, O 256.
JfeAes, children, O 1036 j flogh)OSo6.
flehas, O 1031 ; fleghas, D 1924 J
abesteleth, apostles, R 893.
bredereth, brethren, 0714"! ,, ~
' * }-. . broder, O 525. brudereth, .... D 1430 J
puskes, fishes, O 43 . . pyslc, O 139.
bestes, beasts, 0312 .. best, O 798.
syllyes, eels, O 136.
Many words have plurals formed by a change of vowel only ; this is evidently the umlaut, the Cor- nish application of which is described in §. 3. Thus we have
trys, D 835, treys, D 2937, feet, from trous, D 860,
tros, D 2781.
meyn, stones, D 62 from men, D 3211.
breder, brothers, R 1163 . . broder, O 525. deves, sheep, O 1065 . . daves, O 127.
mergh, horses, 61065 .. margh, O 124. tel, holes, D 3174 . . tol, D 3170.
escarn, bones, 0*743! o^corn, R 2598. yscarn, D 3173-*
Some end in n : —
kuen, dogs, R 172 from ky, R 2026.
lysten, cloths, O 808.
hynwyn, names O 135 from hanow, R 1669.
16 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
Words from the English generally take s in the plural : —
persons, O no, persons.
onours, D 1627, honours.
scryptours, D 1673, scriptures.
doctours, D 1626, doctors.
syres, D 1471, sirs.
skorgys, whyppys, D 2056, scourges, whips.
chaynys, D 2060, chains.
§.9. What the Welsh and Breton grammarians call the dual number, viz. a compound of the nu- meral with the noun, used only in the case of parts of the body which are double, is common in Cornish. Example: — dyulef, D 2375, dule, D 2163, "the hands," from luef. " hand," D 2755 5 dywscoth, D 3068, duscoth, D 2583, " the shoulders," from scouth, D 658; dywvregh, D 3 159, "the arms,'' from break, D 2753 ; dewlagas, " the eyes," D. 396 ; dewlyn, 61196, deuglyn, D. 247, "the knees,'1 &c. &c.
When such parts of the body are mentioned as belonging to more than one person, a plural is used, as dornow, " hands,11 D 1390 ; also lagasow, R 1492, " the eyes" of two men.
§. 10. Cases.
With the exception of the genitive, all the cases are formed, as in English, by prepositions ; as, the vyghtern David, " to king David," 0 1929 ; yn Araby, *' in Arabia,11 O 1930 ; a'n pen, " from the head," D 1743; a dre, "from home,1' 02172; the'n tas, "to the father,11 O 2619.
The genitive of attribution, such as might be rendered by an adjective, is, I think, usually made by a2 ; as, Arluth a ras, " Lord of grace," R 767, i. e. gracious Lord ; Tas a nef, " Father of heaven,11
SUBSTANTIVES. 17
" heavenly Father ;" myghtern a gallos, " king of power," R 834, powerful king. This is also the form of an ablative case ; as, a'y thywle, " from his hands," 03153. But the ordinary genitive is made by apposition only, always following the chief sub- stantive ; as, myghtern yethewon, " King of the Jews," D 1 998 ; mob den, " Son of man," 0 1 950 ; coys Penryn, " wood of Penryn," 0 2589 ; taves den, " tongue of man," O 767. Sometimes the genitive suffers a mutation for no reason that I am aware of, as, pen vys (mys), " the end of a month," D 1646 ; pen vyghterneth (myghterneth], "head of royalty," R 3 13.
I think I have been in error in printing the genitive with the article a'n instead of an. I did not at first see the difference between the genitive of attribution and the ordinary genitive, and there- fore put a'n indiscriminately ; I now should write deu <£n nef, " God of the heaven," 0 480, i. e. " heavenly God," but cusil an tas, " counsel of the father," O 188.
§. 1 1 . One of the most interesting peculiarities of the Cornish language, which distinguishes it from the cognate Welsh and Armoric and connects it with the Gaelic dialects, is the possession of a really inflected genitive case formed by internal vocalic change, of precisely the same nature as the Irish genitive. It is true that I find no example of this genitive in the ancient Manuscripts, but it cer- tainly existed in the modern Cornish a century and half ago, when Lhuyd wrote his Archaeologia Britannica. The passage shewing this case is found at p. 242, and I quote it here :
" They used formerly, and do yet in several words, a variation of vowel (whether the first or the only one) in the genitive case, &c.
18 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
" Particularly a, I find changed into e ; as Mark, A horse ; Ren verh, Horse mane ; Buzl verh, Horse dung ; and e into i, y, or ey : as Merh, A daughter ; An vyrh, Of the daughter ; Pen, A head ; Er dha byn, Against thee, q. d. On thy head ; And Er agas pyn huy, Against you ; Huel, Work ; Mein hueyl, Work stones, or stones for Building ; Kres, The midst ; In Tcreys an dre, In the midst of the Town."
Now this is precisely the Gaelic genitive, as found in the oldest Irish relics, and in the language now spoken ; pyn, genitive of pen, is equivalent in form and meaning to cinn, genitive of ceann ; mark, genitive merh, is like clann, genitive clainn ; Jcres, genitive kreys, is equal to ean, genitive ein.
In the compound preposition erbyn(hom er peri), " against,"" a trace of this change is found even in Welsh, though the Welsh grammarians do not notice it. Lhuyd was led to the discovery of the nature of this compound preposition by finding its parts separated in the Cornish manuscripts, and a governed pronoun inserted between them, though he says nothing of its analogy to his own language, or to Irish. A Cornish man would say erbyn haf, " against summer," O 31, as it is in Welsh; but he would say er owfyn, " against me," R 1919, 2573 ; er the byn, " against thee,11 O 1350 ; er y byn, " against him," D 232 ; er agan pyn, " against us," D 1663 ; er agas pyn, " against you," D 1 80 ; and er agafyn, " against them/' P. 96. 4, with the re- gular initial changes, shewing the nature of the substantive.
The ancient Irish is perfectly analogous, though the modern dialect does not appear to have retained it so closely ; ar chenn, literally " to the head," means " in front of," or " against ;" ar mo chiunn, is "be-
SUBSTANTIVES. 19
fore me ;" ar a chiunn, "before him ;" ar ar chiunn, "before us," &c. &c. See Zeuss, pp. 577 and 618.
I have dwelled on this genitive at greater length than might seem called for, because it is the only trace of a declension in the Cymric class of lan- guages, and is decidedly opposed to the theory that cases were developed in Gaelic after the separation of the two families ; it impugns also the classification which denies to the Cymric the character of an Indo-germanic tongue, on the grounds of the sup- posed non-development of declension.
A substantive preceding another in the genitive case never takes the article: as map deu, "the Son of God," D 1951 ; both ow thas (tas), " the will of my Father," R 157 ; gos ow holon (colon], " the blood of my heart," R 1 66 ; gorfen beys, " the end of the world," D 1704.
§. 12. The dative case is formed by the12, or the with the second form ; as the dre (tre), " to town," O 906 ; the gyk (%&), " to flesh ;" the ways (goys), " to blood," O 66.
The ablative also takes the second form, as a vaghtyth (maghtyth), " from a virgin," D 3027.
The vocative preceded by a personal pronoun or by «, takes also the second form : as, a vap (map), "O son," 01336; a vam (mam), "0 mother," D 2949 ; ty venen (beneri), " thou woman," R 917 ; ty vaow (maoui), "thou boy," O 2317.
§. 13. Derivation of Substantives.
Abstract substantives are derived from adjectives by adding ter after a surd consonant, and der after other letters :
20 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
Ex. dader, goodness, D 1296 from da, good.
guyrder, truth, 61732 .. guyr, true.
ffuander, weakness, D 2618 . . guan, weak.
yender, coldness, D 1223 . . yen, cold.
ffolowder, brilliancy, O 1413 . . golow, light. tekter, beauty, D 33 . . lek, beautiful.
whekter, sweetness, O 359 . . whek, sweet.
uthekter, horror, D 2653 . . uthyk, frightful, R 2340, uthek, O 798. melder, sweetness, R 457 . . mel, honey.
Adjectives in s, anciently ending with t, recover the t in becoming substantives ; as,
caletter, hardness, O 1524, from coles, hard, O 1525,
0927. goscotter, shelter, O 361, is the probable reading from
ffuskys, O 356, the Welsh gwasgod. ponvolter, trouble, O 363, from ponvos, R 1327, but
these two examples are hardly regular, the roots
having rather the value of substantives.
Other abstract substantives take eth or neth&, but their simpler form is more commonly a sub- stantive : —
guyryoneth, truth, D 2029 from guyryon, true men.
cosoleth, rest, 01725 .. cosel, O 2073. skentuleth, wisdom, D 1809. bolungeth, will, D 2053.
myghterneth, royalty, R 313 • • myghtern, a king.
folneth, folly, R 961 . . fol, R 953, a fool.
gokyneth, stupidity, D 1808 .. ffoky, O 1 73, a fool.
muscoffhneth, madness, D 1990 .. muscok, crazed, 0961.
gowegneth, falsehood, R 906 . . gowek, a liar, R 55.
roweth, bounty, O 884 . . ro, a gift, O 2467.
Abstract substantives derived from verbs com- monly end in ans : —
a Welsh and Armoric analogy would require eth, but Lhuyd wrote always eth. See his Grammar, p. 240.
SUBSTANTIVES. 21
crygyans, belief, D 1813 from crygy.
yyvyans, forgiveness, D 1816 .. gafa. dysquythyans, declaration, O 1733 .. dysqmthya. gorthyans, worship, 01738 .. gorthe.
bewnans, life, O 848 "1 7, . v
Y . . oewe, to Lve. bewnens, . . O 701 J
mernans, death, O 1522 . . maruel.
sylwans, salvation, O 1958 . . sylwel.
sylwyans, .. R 2611.
trystyns, sadness, D 1023.
Arlottes, "a lordship," D 1614, is from arluth, " a lord ;" wythres, " a work," or thing made, O 1069, 1853, from wyth, "the doing," 0 2572, D 3029, is analogous to the Welsh gwaith and gweithred.
A substantive signifying a doer is sometimes made by adding or to a verb or noun, as tyor, " a tiler," O 2486, from ty, " to cover," O 2475. See also pystryor, "a wizard," D 1767, from pystry, "sorcery," D 1765.
In the ancient vocabulary several such names of agency end in iad or iat. Similar forms become in the dramas guy thy as, " a keeper," 0 692 ; syl- vyas. "a saviour," D 252, R 307.
We have a termination va in powesva, " rest," 0145; cofva, "remembrance," D 827, and dy- wethva, "end," D 728.
It may be given as a rule without exception, that words ending with t 6r d in Welsh or Breton, do, if they exist in Cornish, turn t or d to s ; and this whether genuine Celtic, or borrowed from Latin or English ; as, nans, *' a valley ;" goys, " blood ;" gwyls, " grass ;" guyns, " wind ;" ros, " net ;" pons, " bridge ;" tas, " father ;" spyrys, " spirit," corresponding with nant, gwaed, gwellt, gwynt, rhwyd, pont, tad, yspryd.
CORNISH GRAMMAR.
§.14. ADJECTIVES.
The adjective usually follows the substantive, and if the latter be a feminine singular, the ad- jective takes the second form, when the initial is mutable. Examples are, " gobar bras, " great re- ward,1' R 672; mor ruyth, " red sea,11 O 1622; merkyl tek, " fair miracle," O 1450 ; luef gleih (cleth), " left hand," D 2747 ; cusyl tha {da), " good advice,11 O 2802 ; benen vas (mas), " good woman," R 1697. In guyr vres, " true judgment," D 5 15, and guyr gos, " true blood," D 1506, the adjective precedes.
According to Lhuyd, p. 243, an adjective with y for its vowel was made feminine by changing y to e ; as, guyn, m. guen, f. " white ;" melyn, m. tne- len, f. "yellow." I do not know sufficiently the genders of nouns, and adjectives are not of very frequent occurrence, so that I have not noticed the change ; but it is consistent with Welsh Grammar.
The comparative and superlative degrees both end in a (e) without distinction ; as, brasa, " great- er," from bras, D 793 ; uhella, " highest," D 2189, from uhel, 0 805; or lelle, "more faith- ful," 0 i in, from lei. The finals ch and f(m), which make a difference between the degrees in Welsh and Armoric, have disappeared in Cornish, though in the last days of its existence Lhuyd added an apostrophe or h to shew the comparative. The adjective in these stages appears to come rather before than after the substantive. Example: — Uhella arloth, " most high Lord." D 2189 ; gokye den, "most foolish man," Ri454; lacka mester, "a worse master,11 D 2275 ; lelle ethen, "more
NUMBERS. 23
faithful bird," 0 1 1 1 1 ; tekke alter, " a fairer altar," O 1177 ; brasa gallos, " greatest power," D 793 ; guel guyn, " better wine," 0 1914 ; but we find also ffuyn guella, " best wine," 0 1904 ; dyllas guella, " best clothes," D 256.
" Than" after a comparative is made by ys, es, or ages. Example : — whekke ys mel, " sweeter than honey," R 144 ; moy es spencer, " greater than a butler," D 802 ; teke ages kyns, " fairer than be- fore," D 348.
Some comparatives appear to have no root ex- tant ; as, guel or guella, " better ;" gueth, " worse," R 2026, and perhaps guetha, 01130; moy, O 1414 ; mogha, D 510 ; moghya, 0513; moghye, D 514, " more or most," and perhaps a few more.
Adjectives are often made from substantives by the addition of ek or yk. Examples are : —
gallosek, R 752, powerful, from gallos, O 1214.
ounek, D 2158, fearful, .. oun, O 1452.
lowenek, R 1333, joyful, . . lowene, D 574.
marthusek R 1176, wonderful, .. marthys, O 756.
morethek, D 3187, mournful, . . moreth, O 358.
ponfosyk, R 1256, troubled, . . ponfos, R 1327.
anfusyk, R 1520, mischievous, . . an/us, D 1501. wJiansek, D 37, desirous, . . whans, O 1806.
dyscrygyk, R 1369, incredulous, from the verb crygy, to believe.
§.15. NUMBERS.
The following list of cardinal numbers is partly from the Manuscripts, and where no authority is cited, from the list published by Pryce ; the words between brackets are intended as corrections of
24 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
the loose forms given in Pryce's list, made by the analogies of Welsh and Armoric.
1. un, D. 160, 446, with a substantive. onan, O 3. onon, R 1403, alone.
2. deu, D 2577. dyw, O 1690. dew, R 315.
3. try, m. R 374, 870.
tyr, f. O 828. tyyr, f. O 1729. ter, f. D 147.
4. peswar, m. R 563. pedyr, f. O 772.
5. pymp, D 505. pym, R 867.
6. wAe, D 351.
7. sey£A, O 599. sy£A, R 2494.
8. eath, (eyth.)
9. naw, R 661.
10. dek, D 574.
11. ednack, (unnek.)
12. dewthek, D 228.
13. tardhak, trethek.
14. puzwarthack, (peswar thek.)
15. pymthek, P. 228, i.
1 6. huettag, whettak, (whethek.)
17. seitag, (seytek.)
1 8. caffl^r, (eythek.)
19. nawnzack, (naunthek.)
20. iganz, (ugens.)
21. wonnan war iganz, (onan war ugens.)
30. dek warnugens, D sg^. dek warnugans, 01554.
40. e?ew ugens, D 45. rfew hugens, R 2437.
46. rfew w^rews ^a wAe, D 351.
50. rf$7 fea duganz, (dek ha deugans) or hauler cans, O 957.
60. £n iganz, (try ugens}, P 227, 3.
70. (?ry M^rens Aa deA:.)
80. padgwar iganz, (peswar ugens.)
90. padgwar iganz ha dek, (peswar ugens ha dek) 100. cans, D 506. can, R 515. 200. dew cans, O 657. 300. try cans, D 536. trey hans, O 1996.
fry hans, O 955. 500. pymp cans, D 505. 700. si/JA cans, R 2494. 900. naw cans, C. p. 142.
NUMBERS. 25
1000. myl, D 212. R 348.
dek can, D 574. 5000. pymp myl, P 227, 2. 7000. syth myl, R 2494. 100,000. cans vyl, O 1614. 1,000,000. myl vyl, R 132. mylyon, R 2258.
It will be observed that the awkward composition of numbers between ten and fifteen used in Welsh is avoided in Cornish as it is in Armoric ; though it is retained in numbers above twenty. The sin- gular Welsh mode of making the numbers between fifteen and twenty is unknown here. The Cornish has retained the distinction of genders in the nu- merals three and four, but in " two" it seems to have been lost, though retained in Welsh and Armoric.
We have the plural of myl in the Creation, p. 54, moy es millyow a bynsow, " more than thousands of pounds."
Substantives following the numerals are put in the singular number ; as, naw ahveth, " nine keys/' II 66 1 ; deu ladar, "two thieves," D 2577; dew ugens dyth, "forty days,'1 O 1027.
When numbers are compounded, the substantive is placed after the first ; as, dew ugens blythen ha whe, "forty and six years/' D 351.
Ordinal numbers, after the earlier ones, are formed by adding ves to the cardinals; ves is clearly the Armoric ved and Welsh fed; it may have been a corruption of guyth, "a time/' in Welsh gwaith.
ist. kensa, D 795. 2nd. secund, O 17.
nessa in Pryce's list.
3rd. tresse, O 25. trege, R 339. tryge, R 452. 4th. peswere, O 33. pyswere, D 2851. 5th. pympes, O 41.
26 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
6th. whefes, O 49. 7th. seythves, O 144. 8th. eathas, (eythves.) pth. nawas. loth, degves, O 426.
All the rest have vas in the lists ; the analogy of the Welsh and Armoric, and the seythves of the MS. for seithvas of the list, show ves to be the true form.
§. 16. PERSONAL PRONOUNS.
Personal pronouns may be practically considered as indeclinable ; it is true that some of them have two forms, but the second of these is not so much that of an accusative case, as a changed form re- quired by position in respect to its regimen ; in the same way the French moi and toi are not so much the accusative cases of je and tu, as the forms used when they are less closely connected with a verb than those called exclusively nominatives ; it is true that je and tu are nominatives, and that moi and toi are generally accusatives ; but these are also sometimes nominatives, and this is the case with Cornish personal pronouns. These two forms I would name the first and second states. When personal pronouns follow certain particles ending with vowels, they are abbreviated and otherwise altered ; this I would call a third state : when con- nected with a preposition, they are also abbre- viated, but in a different way, which may be termed
PRONOUNS. 27
a fourth state. It will be more intelligible if all the forms be put together in a table, to which it will be convenient to add the possessive pronoun, because the strictly personal pronouns sometimes put on the possessive form.
|
i |
2 |
3 |
4 |
possess. |
|
|
I |
my, me |
vy |
'M |
'/,'• |
ow;3 |
|
Thou |
ty |
sy,gy |
'd, 'th |
's |
Me2 |
|
He |
ef |
ef,e |
'n |
'o |
y2 |
|
She |
hy |
hy,y |
's |
'y |
y* |
|
We |
ny |
ny |
'n |
'n |
agan |
|
You |
why |
why |
's |
'ugh |
agas |
|
They |
y |
y |
's |
'e |
agas |
When a personal pronoun is used alone, or when it is the subject of a verb, it is put in the first state: as,
my a vyn, I will, O 2283.
me re goskes, I have slept, R 511.
ha my ynno ef, and I in him, R 2387.
ty yu, thou art, R 751.
a ty lacob, O thou James, R 1007.
ty re wruk, thou hast done, O 2243.
ty ha'th wrek, thee and thy wife, D 685.
ef a vyn, he will, O 2427.
ef hag ol, he and all, D 636.
hy a torse, she would break, O 2174.
ny a'n tregh, we will cut it, O 2533.
why a'n pren, you shall pay it, R 621.
why losels, you rogues, D 2589.
y a'n guanas, they pierced him, R 1117.
Hy sometimes stands for the neuter, where in English we should use ' it ;' as, kyns hy bos nos, " before it be night," O 2769.
When the personal pronouns come after verbs, they take the second state ; in most of the following examples they come after imperatives : as,
gas vy, let me, O 2703. guyth vy, preserve me, R 1564.
C 2
28 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
the naghe gy, to deny thee, R 1156.
kychough ef, catch him, D 1007.
gorreugh ef, put him, R 2077.
synsew e, hold him, D 1086.
lath e, kill him, D 2356.
hertheugh hy, thrust her, R 2295.
lath ny, kill us, O 972.
na blamyowg ny, do not blame us, R 649.
ffor y, put them, O 334.
gura y, make them, D 2674.
In the following examples they follow verbs used as conditionals or subjunctives, or they are used by way of emphasis, or perhaps merely from the neces- sities of metre : as,
ny welafvy, I do not see, R 1962.
ma thyllyfvy, that I go, R 182.
may fy the gy, that thou mayest be, O 1327.
prag y whruste sy, why didst thou? O 277.
may tebbro ef, that he may eat, O 200.
bysmay cothe hy, until she fall, O 2718.
fat el wrussyn ny, how that we did, R 1341.
dun ny, let us go, O 2325.
ny wreugh why, ye do not, O 317.
may fewg why, that ye may be, O 1163.
may fens y, that they may be, O 1833.
may fans y, that they may be, O 2424.
When the personal pronoun is the object of a verb in the indicative or subjunctive mood, in which case the verb is usually preceded by a particle ending with a vowel, the pronoun is abbreviated as in the third column, and affixed to the particle, making one word with it. In this book the particle is separated from the pronoun by an apostrophe for the guidance of the reader, as is done in Welsh, though no such division is found in the Manuscripts. Examples : —
del y'm kyrry, as thou lovest me, O 2403. aban y'm sawyas, since he healed me, O 1774.
PRONOUNS. 29
me a'th cusyl, I advise thee, R 1130.
my a'dpys, I pray thee, O 2521.
an laddron a'n dyalas, the thieves mocked him, R 1426.
ha re'n dros, and hast brought him, O 282.
my ny'n guylys, I did not see him, D 1286.
my a's guy sk, I will strike her, O 2709.
my a's henow, I name her, O 1 14.
hag a'n doro, and will bring us, O 225.
re'n sawye, may it save us, O 1088.
mar a's guel, if he see you, D 1003.
my a's gueres, I will cure you, O 2017.
me a's ygor, I will open them, R 638.
mar ny's cafaf, if I find them not, R 647.
homma re's holhas, she has washed them, D 520.
There is an indeterminateness about the pronouns in this state, n signifying " him" as well as " us," and s belonging to three different persons ; this has probably led writers in most cases to take the possessive forms, either directly or with some modi- fication, in the first and second persons plural ; as, ef a gan formyas, " he created us," R 2430 ; a gan gruk, "who made us all," R 1975; y gen lowenhas, " he gladdened us," R 1444 ; my a gas pys, " I pray you," O 2346 ; re ges bo, " be it on you," 0 2585 ; ma gys byth, " that there be to you," 0 348.
When a personal pronoun comes before a verb as its complement, without such particle as is men- tioned in the preceding paragraph, it takes the form of the possessive. Examples : —
re ruk ow tholle (tolle), hath deceived me, O 286.
the rewardye my a ra, I will reward thee, O 2310.
me ny fynnaf y grygy (crygy\ I will not believe it, R
1047.
greugh y tenne, do ye drag him, R 2232. worth hy thempte (temple), to tempt her, O 303. hyfrenne (prenne), to take it, R 2234. worth agan dry alemma, for carrying us hence, R 151.
30 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
ef a ruk agan dyfen, he did forbid us, O 182. agan cuthe guren, let us cover ourselves, O 254. pan wruge ages danvon, when I did send you, 0913. war beyn agas bos lethys, on pain that you be killed,
O 2556.
my a vyn aga threhy (trehy), I will cut them, O 1735. ago guelas o trueth, to see them was pitiful, R 899.
These pronouns may in fact be considered as possessives, coming as they do before infinitives, which are really verbal nouns.
§.17. Pronouns with Prepositions.
Many prepositions coalesce with the pronouns which they govern, forming with them one word. In this case some euphonic artifice is used to unite the two elements into a well-sounding compound : a consonant is doubled or omitted, or a syllable is added, and the vowels undergo the changes de- scribed in §.3. I give here examples of the various modes ; and it will be seen that the pronouns are represented in these compounds by the following letters: m or/, "me;" s, "thee;" o, "him;" y, "her;" n, "us;" ugh, "you;" e, "them," as given in the fourth column of the table in the pre- ceding section.
The prepositions exemplified are yn, " in ;" rag, " for, before ;" dre, " by, through ;" gans, " by, with;" war, "upon;" a, "from;" the, "to;" orth or worth, "towards."
yn, in. rag, for, before.
ynnof, in me, R 707. ragof, for me, O 139.
ynnos, in thee, R 757. ragos, for thee, O 260.
ynno, in him, D 2157. ragtho, for him, R 1251.
ynny, in her, D 2164. ragthy, for her.
ynnon, in us, R 1321. ragon, for us, D 174.
PRONOUNS.
31
ynnough, in you.
ynne, in them, O 2457.
dre, by, through.
drethof, by me, O 134. dr ethos, by thee, R 2220. dretho, by him, R 1756. dry thy, by her, O 1668. drethon, by us. drethough, by you. drethe, by them, O 1958.
ragough, for you, D 27. ragthe, for them, O 2456.
ro^ras in O 1723, 1724, D 265, &c. has certainly no- thing to do with ray, but is contracted from re agas.
gans, by, with.
genef, by or with me, O 2192. genes, . . with thee, O 2169. ganso, . . with him, R 744. gynsy, . , with her, O 2764. genen, . . with us, O 2378. geneugh,,. with you, R 1797. ganse, .. with them, O 1613.
gynef, D 564. gynen, Ri347- genaf, O 672. genogh, D 184. gynes, D 191. gansse, 01373.
war, upon.
warnaf, upon me, O 1344. warnas, upon thee, O 1015. warnotho, upon him, O 1539. warnethy, upon her, O 775. warnan, upon us, O 1700. warnough, upon you, R 1535. warnethe, upon them, D 2686.
warnogh, D 2626.
thym,
thys,
thotho,
thethy,
thyn,
theugh,
thethe,
the, to.
O 2286. R 1473. O 2500. O 2755. R 1483. D 2500. O 1824.
a, from, of.
ahanaf, from me, ahanas, from thee, anotho, from him, anethy, from her, ahanan, from us, ahanough, from you, annethe, from them,
ahanes, O 406. annotho, O 200. annethy, O 218.
dym, D 741, to me. dys, O 1969, to thee. dotho, R 1445, to him. dethy, D 2202, to her. dyn, R 2361, to us. deugh, to you.
dethe, R 2600, to them.
D 306. R 1408. R743. 0923. O 1101. R 1500. 0 1952.
thyugh, O 2399, theygh, D 4; thy, D 2246, dy, D 124.
32 CORXISH GRAMMAR.
worth, orth, at, to, against.
worthy/, O 170. orthyf, O 2524, to me.
worthys, R 1570. orthys, to thee.
worto, O 222. orto, R 1343, to him.
worty, O 293, 03069. orfy, O 2173, to her.
worthy n, R 1211. orthyn, O 212, to us.
worthough, R 1171. ortheugh, R 195, to you.
toorfe, O 2476. orte, to them.
Some of these forms receive an additional syl- lable, either by way of emphasis, or for filling up a line ; we have thymmo, 0 2256, or thymo, 0 2333, "to me;" thyso, 0 2433, or dyso, 0 2191, "to thee ;" thynny, " to us," R 626. Sometimes the pronoun is repeated in the second state, as thymmo vy, R 446 ; thyso gy, O 2246 ; dyso sy, O 842 ; ynno ef, R 2387 ; worty hy} 0 269 ; thynny ny, R 568 ; theugwhy why, 02209; annethe y, O 1952.
§.18. Possessive Pronouns.
These pronouns are placed in the last column of the table in p. 27, but are repeated here for con- venience : — ow*, " my ;" the11, " thy ;" y*-, " his ;" y3, " her ;" agan, " our ;" agas, " your ;" ago?, " their ;" and the pronoun of the second state may or may not follow the noun.
ou thermyn (termyn), my time, O 2344.
owferyl (peryl) vy, my peril, O 197.
the vap (map), thy son, O 2341.
y gorf (corf), his body, O 2367.
y voth (both) ef, his will, O 483.
y feghas (peghas), her sins, D 528.
hy huth (cuth) hy, her affliction, O 297.
agan lef, our voice, O 2027.
agan arluth ny, our Lord, R 1655.
agen ehen, our class, O 2066.
PRONOUNS. 33
agas myghtern, your king, O 2348. agys crygyans, your belief, R 2389. ages ancow, your death, R 612. ages guyth why, your keeping, R 651. aga threys (treys}, their feet, O 760.
The possessive, like the personal pronouns, com- bine with certain prepositions : chiefly a, " of " or " from ;" yn, " in/' and the, " to ;" also with the conjunction ha, "and;" ow is then changed to m, making thu'm, " to my/' (distinct from thym, " to me/') y'm, "in my;" a'm, "of my;" ha'm, "and my." The, " thy/' throws away the vowel in the same cases; the other possessives, beginning with vowels, suffer no change, except that agas and agan may lose the initial vowel. I do not know whether agan, "of our," agas, "of your," should be so written, or a gan, a gas; they should be joined perhaps in the ordinary genitive, which requires no preposition, and divided where a means rather " out of" or " from." See p. 1 6.
Thum gulas, to my country, R 879.
y'm colon, in my heart, R 760.
a'm offryn, of my offering, O 530.
a'm cleves, of my malady, O 2631.
ha'm gorty, and my husband, O 181.
the'th corf, to thy body, R 487.
a'dpehosow, of thy sins, O 2259.
y'th tour, in thy palace, O 2389.
ha'th vaw (maw), and thy boy, D 2236.
a'y passon, of his passion, R 759.
th'y wleth (guleth), to his kingdom, O 2370.
th'y thyskyblon (dyskyblon), to his disciples, R 794.
ha'y volnogeth (bolnogeth), and his will, O 2352.
ha'y avalow, and its fruits, O 176.
th'agan dysyr, to our desire, R 1206.
d'agan arluth, to our lord, O 2580.
y gen lyfryow, in our books, R 2411.
a gys company, of your company, D 868.
y ges golok, into your sight, R 1861.
°3
34 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
war gasflehes, on your children, D 2643. h'agas myghtern, and your king, O 2348. Vaga hynwyn, and their names, O 35.
A possessive followed by Jionan (honon) becomes the more intense personality which we render by " myself, himself," &c. I do not think it is ever the reflected pronoun.
my a vyn mos ow hon^n, I will go myself, D 87.
ow colon ow honan, my heart of myself, or my own
heart, R 2042. the honan, thyself, O 1455. the honyn, thyself, O 345. y honan, himself, R 2065, 2073. agan honan, ourselves, O 16. agas honon, yourselves, D 545. ages honan, yourselves, R 642.
§. 19. Demonstratives.
The adjectival demonstrative pronouns are ma (me) and na (ne), suffixed to the substantive they refer to. I have, in the text, divided them from their substantives with a hyphen, but in the Manu- script they are written in one word. There is no distinction between singular and plural. Example :
yn bys-ma, in this world, O 1886. an guel-ma, these rods, O 1739. yn ur-na, in that hour, D 1899. yn wlas-na, in that country, R 2461. yn uur-ne, in that hour, D 1372.
Sometimes Teeth is added, to make the demon- strative more definite, as,
an keth den-ma, this very man, D 1590. an keth deu-na, that same God, O 1485. an keth re-na, those very (persons), O 1879.
Sometimes the m is doubled, as in dremme, "this town/' O 2284; dremma, "these places," 0 2771 ;
PRONOUNS. 35
chymma, D 66 j, chemma, R 1397, " this house j" and a lemma, " from this place," 0 446. Alemma, " from this place/' and alena, " from that place/' are in frequent use as adverbs, meaning " hence" and " thence."
The substantive demonstratives distinguish the masculine from the feminine : —
hem or hemma, m. horn or homma, f., this. hen or henna, m. hon or honna, f., that.
Examples —
hem yu marth, this is a miracle, R 654.
me a dyp bos hemma, I swear this is, R 2508.
homma keffrys, this (woman) also, D 519.
hen yu ffuyr, that is true, R 977.
y volnogeth yu henna, his will is that, O 2352.
hon yu cusylfyn, that is fine advice, O 2041.
guyr vres yu honna, a true judgment is that, D 515.
honna yw ol the vlamye, she is all to blame, O 266.
§. 20. Interrogative Pronouns.
The Interrogative Pronouns are all resolvable to py and pa, " who/' " what."
pan vernans, what (is) the death ? R 2047. —pa + an.
pa han pleyt, what (is) the plight ? R 2058.
pandra wylly, what dost thou see ? O 801. =pa + an + dra.
pendra wreth, what wilt thou do ? R 203.
py nyl a mogha sengys, which one was most bound t
Dgio. py gymmys hys, what amount of length ? O 2104.
When the pronoun ' who ' comes without addition, it appears to be rendered by pyu, or pyw, either in the nominative or the accusative, as,
pyu a ylta gy bones, who canst thou be ? R 2511. pyw a whyleugh, whom seek ye ? D 1109.
36 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
but generally pyu is equivalent to py yu, " who is," as,
pyu myghtern a lowene, who is the King of joy ? R 106. pyu henna, who is that ? R 2487.
The addition of pynag makes the pronoun inde- finite : —
py penag vo, whatever it be, O 1154. pe penag vo, whatever it be, O 662. py le penag, whatever place, D 1551. pyu penagh a len grysso, whoever faithfully believes, R 2466.
This receives sometimes the addition of ol, " all."
py penag ol a sconyo, whoever may object, O 2388. py penag ol a wharf o, whatever may happen, R 671.
When the p is doubled, as in puppenagol, peppenagol, I think the first syllable is pup or peb, "all."
Now and then pynag comes alone, as,
pynag a wharf o an cas, whatever may be the case, 0 1698.
pynag afo, whatever it be, R 2000.
pynak vo lettrys py lek, whoever he be, lettered or lay,
D68t. penag a wryllyf amme, whomsoever I shall kiss, D 1084.
§. 21. Relative Pronouns.
The Relative Pronoun is represented by a and nep (neb] ; as,
a fue genys, who was born, D 1652.
a wruk Moyses the planse, which Moyses did plant,
O 1946.
tas a wruk nef, the Father who made heaven, O 1785. Urry nep o marrek len, Uriah, who was a trusty knight,
O 2338.
neb a glewsys, whom thou didst hear, O 224. the nep yu toy ow colon, thou who art the joy of my heart,
R456.
PRONOUNS. 37
Nep often includes the antecedent, like the Latin qui : —
neb yu moghya, he who is greatest, D 792.
ha nep na'n gruk, and he who has not done it, R 158.
When the relative is in the accusative case, or is governed by a preposition, a personal pronoun in the required case is sometimes put after the verb, as in the Semitic languages : " whom I saw" is made " who I saw him ;" " to whom I spoke," " who I spoke to him :" as,
a thanfonas e, whom he sent, D 1692.
py gansse, by whom, D 1373 (i. e. who by them).
The relative is often omitted, as in English :
ou thus us gene, my people who are with me, D 1122. the vap Ysac yw the ioy, thy son Isaac, who is thy joy,
o 1374-
yn le na fue den bythqueth, in a place where man never was, D 3135.
Nep is also an indefinite pronoun : — yn nep f os, in any wall, O 2458.
See also nep peyth a oel a vercy, " some of the oil of mercy/' 0327; nebes, in D 208, 495, is pro- bably a mere contraction of nep peyth.
Myns may be considered as a relative pronoun, including in itself the antecedent * all,' like our word ' whatever.'
keusyns den myns a vynno, let a man say all that he will,
R 2448.
hag ol myns o, and every thing that was, R 127. myns yu guyryon, whoever are innocent, R 763. rak kuthe myns us formyys, to cover all that is created,
O 22.
ty a fyth mens a vynny, thou shalt have whatever thou wilt, D 590.
j kymmys, " as many as/' or " whoso-
38 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
ever,11 the Armoric kement and Welsh cymmaint, is frequently used :
kemmys re wruk both ow thas, as many as have done the
will of my father, R 157. Jcemmys na greysa, whoever believes not, R 176.
It is used as a substantive in py gymmys hys, "what amount of length/1 0 2104.
Kynyver is like kemmys : — kynyver peyn us yn beys, " any punishment there is in the world," R 2055 ; kynyver best us yn tyr, " as many beasts as are in the world/' 0 1215 ; see O 1029.
Suel is another relative rarely used ; the "Welsh sawl. I find only one case of its employment : py suel a vynnyth, " whatever thou wilt/' D 592.
It is possible that sul a the'n nef'm R 136,, (sul for suel,} which I have made " going up to heaven," may be " who is going to heaven." In Mount Cal- vary suel is used at least three times: in 2. i.a and 79. 2, where we have suell a vynno, it means " he who ;" in 119. 4, suel a ivresse, " that which.11
§. 22. Miscellaneous Pronouns,
The following have been observed in going over the text, but it is not believed that these are all.
"The one" and "the other/' when opposed, are sometimes made by nyl and gyle : — an nyl a delle pymp cans, ha hanter cans y gyle, " the one owed five hundred, and a half hundred the other/' D 504, 506 ; me a gylm an nyl, ha me a gylm y gyle, " I will bind the one, and I will bind the other/' D 2785, 2788.
a Misprinted cuell, which misled Zeuss.
PRONOUNS. 39
Sometimes "the other" is made by aral, in plural erel: — an nyl torn y fyth re hyr, tres aral re got, " at one hand it is too long, by the other too short/' O 2548, 2549.
Aral is always used with a substantive :
ioseph ha tus erel, Joseph and other persons, R.3- en thyu grous erel, the two other crosses, D 2820. pie kefyr dyu grous aral, where may two other crosses be found, D 2576.
In this last example aral may be put in the sin- gular for the sake of the rhyme ; this would be ad- missible in consequence of the singular form of the preceding word after a numeral ; as also in lyes pro/us aral, "many other prophets," R 1485.
In Armoric. eben is used for " the other," when feminine ; and I believe the following lines contain cases of a similar pronoun in Cornish : —
My a dyl tol rak hybeen, " I will bore a hole for the other," D 2749, follows a line by another speaker, me a teyl tol rag an nyl, " I will bore a hole for the one," D 2743. As the allusion is to the feminine noun luef, "the hand," there cannot be much doubt in the case.
In why drehevough ybeyn, "you raise the other," D 2826, the case is not so sure, because the allu- sion may be either to the man or the cross ; both are mentioned, but crous is a feminine noun.
In the third case, ty a theg a neyl pen, cachaf yben, " thou carry one end, I will seize the other," 0 2816, pen is masculine ; so that either the Corn- ish does not follow the Armoric, or the last clause will awkwardly mean " I will seize its end.""
The word ken, which is usually a conjunction, as in D 481, is also used for ( other ;' as,
nag us ken deu agesos, there is no other God than thou, R 2477-
40 CORXISH GRAMMAR,
a wylsta ken, dost them see any other thing, O 795- the ken pow, to another country, R 2218. yn ken lyw, in another colour, R 2534.
"Any" is made by nep, which is placed before the substantive it refers to ; as, yn nep maner, in any way, R 497. yn neb gulas, in any land, O 1120. yn nep f os, in any wall, O 2458.
" Any " may also be made by by th, placed after the substantive ; as,
den vyth, O 2457, or dwfyth, any man, D 1481. trumeth vyth, any mercy, O 1650.
mar quren fiogh vyth denythy, if we do any children pro- duce, O 390.
01 added to byth makes it more indefinite, as,
den byth ol, any man whatever, R2i69- onan vyth ol, any one of them, O 1697. mar pyth drok vyth ol gureys, if any evil is done, O 601.
Pup, " all," is used alone, or with a substantive ; and sometimes with the addition of ol : — yn pup tra, in all things, O 2354. guetyeugh pup y worthye, take care all to worship it, O
2555.
pup den ol, all men, O 1043, D 1905. war pep ol marnas ty, over all but thee, O 948. gans pup ol, by every body, R 1096. pup huny, every one, O 969, 2017.
01 is used in the same way : gulan yu ol, all are clean, D 864. ol the chy, all thy house, O 2340. arluth dres ol an bys-ma, lord above all this world, 01683.
Kettep, " every :"
marow vethyn kettep pen, dead we shall be every head,
O 1655.
yn kettep pen, every head, D 762. kettep onan, every one, D 2821.
VERBS. 41
Lyes, lues, "many," is used with a substantive singular : —
yn lyes le, in many places, D 749.
ynno lues trygva, in it many dwellings, O 951.
lyes prof us oral, many other prophets, R 1485.
Re is like a substantive, meaning "persons" or " things :"
an re-ma yu oberys, these (things) are made, O 15. cafus re me a vyn, take those (persons) I will, R 184. an Jceth re-na, these same (men), O 1897. the wruthyl gans an re-na, to do with them, D 182.
§. 23. VERBS.
The Cornish verb, in conjugation, in forms, and in the number and use of its tenses, approaches more nearly to the Armoric than to the Welsh verb, though some of its forms are more like those of the latter dialect.
Every verb may be conjugated in three different modes ; in the first, which I call the Inflected con- jugation, every tense and person has its own form, as in Latin and Greek, and it is equally rare to find a personal pronoun used as it is in those languages ; it is not done unless emphasis be required ; as, my ny gresaf, " I will not believe (if you do), R 904.
The present tense of the verb care, " to love," is in this mode of conjugating made, caraf, keryth, car, keryn, carough, carans.
In the second mode, which Breton grammarians call the Impersonal conjugation, the third person
42 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
singular is taken for the whole tense, and the persons are distinguished by the added pronoun, as in English and French. The present tense is thus, my a gar, ty a gar, ef a gar, ny a gar, why a gar, y a gar ; car becomes gar by the influence of the affirmative a2, used when the subject precedes the verb.
In the third mode, which may be conveniently called the Compound conjugation, the auxiliary " to do" accompanies the verb to be conjugated, precisely in the same manner as is done in the English, " I do love/' &c. The sole difference is, that the Cornish extends this addition of the auxi- liary verb to cases where we do not use it ; saying not only " I do love" and " I did love," but also " I will do love." The first tense would thus be generally, my a wra care, " I do love," ty a wra care, " thou dost love ;" and if used personally, which is less frequently done, guraf care, gureth care, &c.
There can be no doubt that these various modes show a corruption in the language, which the more classical Welsh would disdain ; but it appears prac- tically to have conferred facilities in the expres- sion of certain modifications of meaning, akin to those we find in English from the use of ' might/ ' could/ ' would/ ' should/ &c., which the stiffer forms of Latin, or even German, would hardly ad- mit of.
§. 24. We may here notice what are called by Zeuss the verbal particles, y2, a2, and re"-. Y and a are used only in affirmative sentences, and the chief difference I find between them is that a is used where the nominative case precedes the verb, as in me a wra [gura], " I will do," R 1755 ; efa
TENSES. 43
vynse (mynse), " he would have wished," 0 2224 ; urry afyth (byth) lethys, " Uriah shall be killed," O 2 1 23 ; and y where the nominative either follows or is omitted ; as, y fyen lethys, " I should be killed," 0 2120; y ma moyses pel gyltys, " Moses is gone far," 0 1682.
I did not discover until a good deal of the work was printed, that yth, which frequently occurs, is a mere euphonic change of y before a vowel : see yth argliaf, " I command," 6381; yth ymwanas, " he stabbed himself," R 2065 ; yth emwyskys, " he smote himself," R 2067 ; yth of, " I will go," R 2400, &c. &c. In ythanwaf (=yth hanwaf,) O 123, and ytheuel, 0 19, an h is omitted; see yth heuel, R 2491. In like manner the participal ow3 (see below, in the participles,) may become owth before a vowel, as in outh emloth, D 2509, owth ysethe, D 2342, outh ymwethe, ("craving," from the "Welsh ymhwedd) R 1170, owth egery, "open- ing," D 2999 ; and the conjecture hazarded in the note on D 932 will be well founded. As in the case of y, there is the omission of h in outhenwel (=outh henwel), 0 2729.
The use of the particle re will be given under the Third tense
§.25. Tenses.
There are five tenses, analogous in form, though slightly differing in value, to those of Welsh and Armoric verbs. I distinguish them by numbers, to avoid any ambiguity which might attend the vary- ing practice of writers on Celtic grammar. No distinct division of moods is made here, because many of the forms are used as indicatives as well as subjunctives.
44 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
The First tense is used for present or future time. The termination of the first person was of in the three languages, though the Bretons now write arm. The Welsh use this tense almost always as a future, expressing the present by a periphrasis : the Bretons keep to the present time, and use the Fifth tense as a future ; in Cornish it is most com- monly used for present time : the frequent use of the Compound conjugation enabled the Cornishman to make a separate future, though he still continued to use the First tense for future time occasionally. Taking the verb care, " to love," as our example, the present tense is —
caraf, keryth, car: keryn, carough, carons.
The Second tense is the imperfect of Welsh and Breton grammarians ; Zeuss named it the secondary present. It is sometimes used as an indicative, sometimes as an optative or subjunctive, a potential Or a conditional. This vagueness is unnecessary in Cornish, because the Compound conjugation gives a fair conditional ; but the Cornish writers neverthe- less retained the variety of meaning occasionally with the simple form, and even confounded it with the Fourth tense. The first person ends with en in Cornish, enn in Arrnoric, and wn in Welsh. The whole tense is made —
caren, cares, care (cara) : caren, careugh, carens.
The Third tense is the Preterite, and its use is the same in the three languages. The first person ends in ys in Cornish, ais in Welsh, and iz in Armoric. The whole tense is —
kerys, kersys, caras : kersyn, carsough, carsons(ans).
The Fourth tense is named the Preterpluperfect in Welsh and Armoric ; Zeuss called it the second- ary perfect. Its use in those languages is in ac-
TENSES. 45
cordance with its name, but it is more commonly employed as a subjunctive or conditional. In Corn- ish, so far as I have observed, it is used as a con- ditional only, and it is frequently confounded with the second tense. The first person in Cornish ends with sen, in Welsh with swn, in Armoric zenn. The whole tense is —
carsen, curses, carse : carsen, carseugh, carsens.
The Fifth tense is a subjunctive present or future in Cornish, and in Welsh, I believe, rather future than present ; in Armoric it is the Future indica- tive. The respective terminations of the first person are yf, wyf, if (inn}. The plural of this tense is often confounded with that of the Second tense, and it will be seen generally that there is a good deal of irregularity in the inflections, which makes the paradigm given rather theoretically than practically exact. The whole tense is —
kyryf, kyry, caro : kyryn, kyreugh, carons.
The Imperative is —
car, cares or carens : caren, careugh, carens.
The infinitive takes many forms ; sometimes it is the simple root, sometimes a vowel is added to the root, and sometimes el, es, &c. In the example given here, the termination is e, as care.
The active participle is made by prefixing ow°, changing a sonant initial to its surd form ; as in Armoric, where o talea, " delaying," is from dalea, " to delay."
The passive participle ends in ys, as kyrys.
The passive verb ends in er or yr, which by Welsh analogy should designate the present and future tenses ; but I find no difference in their use ; er is far more frequent than yr; the past tense ends in as, and a conditional is found in ser.
46 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
§. 26. As the above enumeration differs in some degree from the plan of Lhuyd, I shall give several examples of each form used, when there is any doubt.
I. Tense. First person : — gowegneth ny garaf (caraf), "I do not love falsehood," R 906; lava- raf theugli newothow, " I will tell you news/' R 894. In this person /is sometimes omitted for the sake of rhyme ; as, ny vynna, " I will not," 0 1330 ; a wela, " I see/' 0 1396 : lavara, " I say/' O 1645, D i.
Second person : — ny geusyth (keusyth, from cous], " thou dost not speak/' D 2181 ; ny a'n tregh del levereth, " we will cut it as thou sayest,"
0 2533 ; ny'm guelyth arte, " thou shalt not see me again," 0 244.
Lhuyd makes i the termination ; but this is the sub- junctive.
Third person : — neb may fe moghya geffys, a gar (car] moghye, " he who is forgiven most, loves most," D 513 ; mar kyf carynnyas y tryg, "if he finds carrion he will stay/' O 1103, 4.
It is seen by these examples that some verbs make no change in this form, as car; while others, as kyf from caf, are subject to the rule of §. 3, notwithstanding the absence of a final i, which is quite lost in the Cymric dialects, though it existed in the old Irish, as cairi, " he loves."
First person plural : — ny gemeryn (kemeryn) nep lowene, " we take not any pleasure," R 2365 ; amen pigyn, " Amen, we pray," D 1 99 ; leveryn
01 thotho, "we will all say to him," D 2880.
Lhuyd makes this termination on.
Second person plural : — ny wothough (gothough]
TENSES. 47
ow gorthyby, "ye knew not how to answer me," D 1484 ; prag yth hembrenkygh, " why do ye lead ? D 204.
Lhuyd ends this in oh.
Third person plural : — ny wothons (gothons) py nyl a wrons, " they know not what they do," D 2774 ; ny'n cresons ef neffre, " they will never believe it," O 1440. Lhuyd writes am.
II. Tense. First person ; Indicative : — ny wo- thyen (gothyeii) man, " I did not know at all," R 2559 ; byth ny wylyn (guylyri), I did not see any thing," R 434.
Subjunctive: a's dysken, "if I take it off," R 1941 ; a quellen (guelleii) wyth, "if I could see once," 0 685 ; py le penag y's kyffyn, "wherever I find a place," D 1551.
Conditional : ru'm fay a'n caffen, " by my faith I would take him," R 289.
Second person; Indicative: — nywothas (gotTias), "thou didst not know," D 2181 ; why lyes, "thou wast seeking," R 1680.
Subjunctive, &c. : a trycJces yn tre, " if thou hadst stayed at home," Ri38i; (confusion of tense) ny wothes (gothes) wheth, " thou mayest not know yet," D 848 ; beys vynytha y ivharthes (guar- thes), "for ever thou wouldst laugh," 0 153. See also D 2862, 2864, for conditionals ending in ys.
Third person : — hacre mernans ny gaffe den, " a more cruel death a man may not find," R 2074 ; byth wel cusyl a lavarre, " any better advice who can tell," R 422 ; ru'm gorre ttiy wlas, " may he bring me to his country," 0 53 2 ; py ptas y thy lie, " where he may go," D 635 ; kyn y'n carra,
48 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
"though he may love him," R 1897 ; pan dre- menna an bys-ma, "when this life may pass, O 875 ; me a'n gafse a menne gelwel, " I would for- give him if he would ask," D 1816; war Uiesu me a cryas thymmo gafe, "I cried to Jesus that he would forgive me," R noo; golow na wella (guella), "that he may not see light," R 2003.
First person plural : — na wrellen buthy, " that we be not drowned," 0 1048 ; bys venytha na sor- ren, "nor should we be troubled for ever," O 220.
Such forms as wreny, D 190, and veny, D 604, are probably orthographical variations of wren ny and ven ny.
Second person plural: — mas y'm gorthebeugh, " unless ye answer me," R 47 ; pysough na en- treugh yn temptacyon, "pray that ye enter not into temptation," D 1059.
Third person plural : — avorow thifs may teffens, " that they come to thee to-morrow," 0 2417 ; me a vynse a talfens, " I would they were worth," D 211.
I believe this is the tense which Lhuyd makes mai huel- lam, huellaz, huello, huellan, huelloh, huellanz, with the exception of huello.
III. Tense. First person : — ol an tekter a wylys (guylys), "all the beauty that I saw," 0766; worto y keusys, " I spoke to him," R 897 ; y vyrys y wolyow, '' I saw his wounds," R 898.
Second person : — tersys an bara, " thou didst break the bread," R 1318 ; mab deu o neb a wyl- sys (gylsys], "the Son of God it was whom thou sawest," O 809.
Lhuyd makes this termination yst, which is Welsh rather than Cornish ; the Armoric agrees with the Cornish in the insertion of a sibilant.
TENSES. 49
Third person : — clewas agan lef, " he heard our voice," 0 2027 ; un marrek an lathas, " a horse- man slew him/' 0 2226.
I am inclined to think that dorrasa, in pan dorrasa an aval, " when he plucked the apple," O 879, is a subjunctive form of this tense, as in the irregulars wruge and thuhe.
First person plural : — leveryn del wylsyn (guyl- syii) ny, " let us speak as we saw/' R 807 ; an corf a worsyn (gorsyri) yn beth, " the body which we placed in the tomb/' R 49.
Second person plural : — an onor a wrussough (grussougli) thy'mmo, " the honour which you did to me/' 0312; corf a worseugh (gorseugh] why, "the body which you placed," R 43.
Third person plural : — -pan y'n lathsons, " when they killed him," D 3098 ; ny torsans chy, " they did not break the house/' R 662.
The addition of the word re2, corresponding with the old Welsh ry, re, now seldom, if ever, used, (see Williams's Dosparth, &c. Llandovery, 1856, pp. 130,131, and Zeuss, p. 420,) turns this tense into the preterperfect, and was of frequent use in Cornish :— -
ef re gollas an plas, he hath lost the place, O 420.
an sarf re ruk ou tholle, the serpent hath deceived me,
O286.
my re wruk prenne, I have redeemed, R 2622. hy re gafes, she has found, O 1143.
Re is also frequently found with the third person singular of the Second or Fifth tense, in the impera- tive or optative sense ; as, re'n kergho an dewolow, " let the devils fetch him," R, 2277 ; re wronntyo, "let him grant," 0 1726; re bo, "let him be/r R 2417; re by gorthys, "be he worshipped," R
50 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
2523; ru'm gorre, "may he bring me,55 0532. It often occurs in the phrase ragas bo, for re agas bo, and once, O 1724, in ragas guytho. In O 2585 it is written re ges bo. The verb eth, " he went/5 takes s after re: see re seth, D 1027,
IV. Tense. First person : — guelas ow map y carsen, " I would love to see my son/' R 442 ; desefsen merwel, "I would have desired to die/' R 1771 ; mensen, "I would wish," R444.
In R 289, 290, we have an example of the confusion be- tween this and the Third tense : a'n caffen, y^n toulsen, " I would take him, I would cast him." It is pos- sible, however, that the reading may be cafsen.
Second person : — the'n nefgrusses yskynne, " to heaven thou wouldst ascend/5 O 156.
Third person : — ny garse pelle bewe, " he would not like to live longer/5 0 738 ; yn tridyth y'n dre- afse, " in three days he would rebuild it/5 D 366.
First person plural : — ny ny'n drosen thy'so gy, "we would not have brought him to thee/5 D 1976.
Second person plural : — pan cleuseugh cous, "when ye heard speak/5 D 1338, (may be the Third tense).
Third person plural : — ny wrussens (grussens) ow dystrewy, "they would not have destroyed me/5 D 2777.
Lhuyd gives a tense corresponding with this in form : — guelzen, guelzez, guelze : guelzen, guelze', guelzenz, or
a This verb, in all its forms beginning with a vowel, takes s, or its equivalent th, after the conjunction mar and some others. In this it is like the vocalic forms of the verb sub- stantive, as well as in its frequent accompaniment of yth.
TENSES. 51
guelazzenz : he makes it the preter-pluperfect tense. He also gives a subjunctive future, guylfym, guylfydh, guylyf; guylfon, guelfo, guylfym : this is certainly one of the compounds of the verh substantive, of which there are many in the other dialects as well as in Cornish : adnabod in Welsh and anavout in Armo- ric are instances. I think I find clewfyf, " I should feel," in O 1351 ; clewfo, "that he may hear," is cer- tainly the reading of D 3063. The Breton makes the conditional infenn, zenn, and/ewre, indiscriminately. A Cornish future in fyth (wyth, vyth) is often found impersonal : — ty a wylfyth (guylfyth], " thou shalt see," O 1449; gothfyth, "I shall know," O 1400; me a'n carvyth, " I will love him," D 1703; ef a'th carvyth, "he will love thee," D 1846; ny a'n guyl- fyth, "we shall see it," R53, &c. &c.
V. Tense. First person: — worto pan ivofynnyf (9°fynnyf>) "°f him when I ask/' D 1855; bys may thyllyf, " until I enter," D 726 ; guel ha gyllyf, "the best that I can/' D 3012.
Second person : — me a'th conjor may leverry, "I adjure thee that thou tell/' D 1323 ; gueyt may tanfenny, (danfenny], "take care that thou send/' R 1630.
Third person : — pyu penagh a len grysso (crysso), " whosoever shall faithfully believe/' R 2466 ; a gutho (cutho) ol an nor beys, " which shall cover all the face of the earth/' 0 982 ; kettyl y'n geffo (keffo) a'n bay, " when he shall find him, he will kiss him/' D 986.
I think I find this form used in the indicative : —my a's dyllo, "I will send her," O 1101. We have also doro as a future in D 1471 ; but as we find doro in the imperative mood in O 1904, it may also be the First tense. It is possible that dyllo may be in the same case, but I have no evidence.
First person plural : — mar kefyn den, " if we D 2
52 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
find a man," D 647 ; pan deffyn ny, " when we come," R 773-
These do not differ in form from the First tense, and we might be justified in looking upon the distinction of forms here as not going beyond the singular number. At the same time we have mar kyf, "if he finds," O 1103; mar a's guel, "if he sees you," D 1003; and many other instances, where there is a different form for the two tenses.
Second person plural : — del y'm fcyrreugh, " as ye love me," O 543 ; pan y'n guyllough, " when you shall see him," R 1912.
Third person plural : — mar a'n kefons, " if they find him," D 582 ; kyn teffons, " though they come," R 392 ; may teffons omma, "that they come here," 0 2408.
It is not unfrequent to find the vowel a or e suf- fixed to a verb in the second person singular in an interrogative or subjunctive construction ; the fol- lowing examples shew the practice : —
Interrogative.
prag ytheta, why goest thou ? R 241. pendra wreta, what doest thou? D 1185, 2981. pendra vynta, what wilt thou? O 1311. pie cleusta, where didst thou hear ? O 2642. pan a wrusta, what didst thou ? D 2007. a garsesta, wouldst thou love ? D 2838. a welte, seest thou ? D 2925. pendra ny vente, why wilt thou not ? D 1775. pefeste, where wast thou ? O 467. fattel thuthte, how didst thou come ? R 260. prag y tolste, why didst thou deceive ? O 302. a alsesta (galsesta], wouldst thou be able ? R 862.
Subjunctive.
mar ny wreta, if thou dost not, R 1088. na venta, that thou wilt not, D 1293. pan leverta, since thou sayest, D 2017.
TENSES. 53
a'n guelesta, if thou shouldst see him, R 861.
mar a cruste (gruste] leverel, if thou didst say, D 1759-
aban golste, since thou hearkenedst, O 269.
In a few cases we find similarly the vowel a after a verb in the first person, and then the vowel is preceded by m ; as, pendra wrama, what shall I do, R 679, D 856 ; ellas pan fema gynys, alas ! that I was born ! R 2207 ; aban oma dasserghys, since I am risen, R 2436 ; hedre vyma ou pygy> whilst I am praying, D 1013. See 1. 1020.
I compare this to the addition of a vowel in such expressions as ywe, ose, usy, wruge, &c., where some kind of contingency or uncertainty is implied. We must for this suppose that the final m, as found in Irish, and in the oldest Welsh glosses, for the first person singular, is restored, as well as the st for the second person of the preterite, in cleusta, feste, as in the Welsh ceraist. In the second person of the First tense the dental yet remains, though weakened to thd.
§. 27. Imperative. Second person : — lavar,
a I had supposed at first that ma and ta in these cases were the personal pronouns my and ty in an altered form ; but the observation of an able philological friend has satisfied me that the explanation in the text is the true one. The grammatical value of the final vowel, when a verb follows certain conjunctions, such as pan or mar, is clear from the forms gruge and duthe instead of gruk and duth in O 423, D 524, and other passages. We are not bound to consider ta, in such words as venta and leverta, as necessarily ad- ditional to the verb ; I look at venta and leverta as equiva- lent to vennyth + a and leveryth + a rather than to venny + ta and levery + ta ; wrama, too, seems to be more probably wram + a than wraf+ ma. There does not appear to be any reason for changing my and ty to ma and ta, whereas the annexation of a or e to a verb in a phrase denoting contin- gency is in accordance with the usage of the language.
54 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
"say," D 965; treyl, "turn," D 1155; saf, "stand/' O 65.
Third person: — guereses, "let him help," O 2781 ; gylwes, "let him call," 0 2774; guyskyns, "let him strike," D 2766; tommans, "let him warm," D 833.
First person plural :—fystynyn, " let us hasten," D 645 ; leveryn, " let us say," R 806 ; guren, " let us do," D 644.
Second person plural : — levereugh, " say ye," D 1109 ; gueresough, "help ye," D 1143.
Third person plural : — kelmyns, " let them tie,"
§.28. Infinitive: — care, "to love," 0 1126, D 511; leverel, " to say," D 1759 ; dybry, " to eat," 0 264; danfon, "to send," D 1615; keusel, "to speak," 01276; kyrTias, "to fetch," 02371; myras, 0 1399, myres, 0 1412, "to see."
Participle, active or present. Examples are nu- merous : the following are selected for the purpose of shewing the conversion of the sonant initial : — ou corthye (gorthye), "worshipping," 0 1616; ou cul (gul], " making," 0 1556 ; ow kelwel (gelwel), " calling," O 2430 ; ow querthe (guerthe), " sell- ing," D 1520; ou tos (dos), "coming," O 1651; ou tysputye, " disputing,"" D 1628. It is more like a neuter participle in pan us gueyth ou tesehe, '' when the trees are drying," 0 1 128.
Participle, passive or past : — kyrys, " loved," R 892; lythys, "killed," R 903; offrynnys, "offered," O 1327 ; gorrys, " placed," R 430.
§. 29. Passives. First tense : — aban na gefyr
TENSES. 55
(kefyr) ken, " since no other is found/' O 2503 ; pie kefyr dyu grous aral, " where may two other crosses be found," D 2576, compare py %efer pren, D 2535 "» del redyer in lyes le, " as it is read in many places," D 1168 ; mcCn gueller a ver ter- myn, " as will be seen in a short time," D 1940.
When the auxiliary verb is passive, the passive sense is transferred to the principal verb : —
mar ny wrer (gurer}y wythe, if he be not guarded, R34I. mar Jceller (getter) y wythe, if he can be kept, D 3058. ny yltyr (ffyttyr) re the worthe, thou canst not be too much honoured, O 1852.
Third tense : — Zeuss, in p. 525, makes a passive in as analogous to the old Welsh and Armoric at (now id. W. and ed, Arm.). His examples are — yn della y re thyskas, "thus they have been taught," P. 80. 3, and y torras (printed dorras) an veyn, "the stones were broken," P. 209. 4. The old translators took this for the active third person, and rendered the phrases given by " as them others taught," and " they broke the stones ;" but an example from our book confirms the view of Zeuss : pan dorras queth an tempel, " when the vail of the temple was rent," D 3088 : we may perhaps cite also fethas yu cas, "the cause was gained," R 579, and uthyk yw clewas y lef, "loud was heard his voice," R 2340.
I have found very few instances of a passive verb used in any other than the third person. In O i and D 873, we have y'm gylwyr, " I am called;" and in O 1924, may haller agas cuthe, "that you may be covered :" see also O 1852, quoted above. These are in accordance with Welsh ; but it is difficult to consider them precisely passives, because the pro- noun, which ought to be the subject of the verb if passive, is in the state especially employed when it is the object. The view of Legonidec, the Breton grtai-
56 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
marian, who calls these verbs Impersonate, and ren- ders them by the pronoun on, as ore m'appelle, appears the most suitable.
Fourth tense : — ha re-na galser the rey, " and those might have been given," D 537.
It may be as well to give a complete paradigm here, and the verb selected is care, "to love."" The most regular forms are set down, but others will be found in the manuscript.
First tense : — ' I love1 or ' shall love.'
caraf, keryth, car : keryn, carough, carons.
Second tense : — ' I was loving ' or ' would love ' or ' should love.'
caren, cares, care or cara : caren, careugh, carens.
Third tense : — ' I loved.'
Jcerys, kersys, caras : kersyn, carsough, carsons or carsans.
Fourth tense : — ' I had loved ' or ' would have loved/ careen* carses, carse : carsen, carseugh, carsens.
Fifth tense :— ' If I love.'
fyryf> kyry, caro : kyryn, kyreugh, carons.
Imperative : — ' Love thou.1
car, cares or carens : caren, careugh, carens. Infinitive : — care, " to love." Participles : — ou care, " loving ;" kyrys, " loved." Passive, present and future : — carer, keryr, " is," or " shall be loved.1'
Conditional : — carser, " would be loved." Past : — caras, " was loved."
VERBS. 57
As a general rule, whenever a question is asked, where there is not some interrogative pronoun or adverb, the letter a is put at the beginning ; as, a ny vynta obeye, " wilt thou not obey ?" 0 1505. Sometimes a is added when there is already an interrogative particle, probably to fill up the metre ; as, a pyth yu an keth deu-na, " what is that same God?" 0 1485.
A negative is indicated by placing m/2 or na'2 before a verb ; as,
ny thue arte, it will not come again, O 1102. na allaf sparie, that I cannot spare, O 946. na wrello, that it may not do, O 1092.
Na is usually employed with imperatives and sub- junctives.
§. 30. Impersonal Conjugation.
The Impersonal conjugation is generally em- ployed when the nominative case precedes the verb directly, more especially when the nomina- tive is a personal pronoun ; the subject is generally followed by the particle a, and the initial of the verb takes the second form ; the verb is always in the third person singular. This conjugation is so simple that it will be required merely to give a few examples of each case, to enable a student to under- stand it fully : —
me a lever, I say, R 1061.
me a sorras, I was angry, D 1421.
me a vynse (mynse), I would wish, D 2 1 1 .
me re behas (pehas], 1 have sinned, O 249.
ty a wor (gor), thou wilt know, R 256.
ty a tev), thou wilt be silent, R 984.
ty a'n nahas, thou deniedst him, R 1351.
ty ru'm tullas, thou hast deceived me, O 252.
ty a'n guelse, thou wouldst have seen him, R 1382.
58 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
ef 're gollas, he has lost, O 420.
ny a bys (pys}, we pray, O 1072.
ny a dryg (tryg), we will remain, O 2112.
ny a gafas (cafas), we found, R 1474.
ny a'n recevas, we received him, R2339-
ny a geusys (keusys), we spoke, R 1373.
why a gyf (kyf), you will find, D 176.
y a nyg, they fly, O 1068.
y afyth (byth), they are, R 1477.
§.31. Compound Conjugation.
The Compound conjugation is made by putting the auxiliary verb "to do" before the infinitive mood, as " I do love/' " he does know," &c. in English. Sometimes the comes between the auxili- ary and the infinitive. As this verb is irregular it is necessary to give the paradigm : —
TO DO.
Infinitive : —
gruthyl, D 198, 61004; guthyl, 61952; guthul, R 2252 ; or, gul, O 1174.
First tense : —
ffuraf, I do, O 1988. guren, we do, O 1146.
gureth, thou dost, R 459. gureugh, ye do, O 912. gura, he does, 1376. gurons, they do, D 2775.
We have guregh, D 814, for gureugh.
Second tense : — gurellyn, I was doing, or, I would do, O 445.
gurelles, R 445 \thou wert doing or wouidst do. gures, R45I J gure, R 6, D 1309 ~] gurefe, D 1316
was doin« or would do'
gurella, D 1958
gureva, D 2882 J
gurellen we were doing or would do, O 183.
gurelleugh, ye were doing.
gurellens, they were doing.
VERBS. 59
Third tense : —
gurys (?) I did. grussys, thou didst, O 222. gruk, he did, R 158. grussyn, we did.
grussough, R 40 "1 ,., > ye did. grussyugh, O 2792 J J
grussons, they did, O 337.
When a conjunction comes before the third person singular, the form of the verb is generally gruge, a true subjunctive ; as, pan wruge, O 423, 2250,
Fourth tense : —
grussen, I would have done, O 163. grusses, thou wouldst have done, O 156. grusse, he would have done, O 152. grussyn, we would have done, R 2624. grusseugh, ye would have done. grussens, they would have done.
Fifth tense : — guryllyf, that I may do, O 531. gurylly, that thou mayst do, O 1784. gurello, that he may do, R 498. gurellen, that we may do, O 1048. gurylleugh, that ye may do, D 8n. grons, that they may do, O 2034.
Imperative mood : —
guren, let us do, O 1170. gura, do thou, D 1957. greugh, do ye, R 2232.
gurens, O 1093, -i
T^ >• let him do. gurens, let them do.
grens, D 371, J
Participle active : — ou cul, doing, O 1556.
Participle passive : — gurys, O 431, gures, done, O 988.
Passive : — gurer, it is done, O 1936, R34I.
60 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
Note that gu in this verb is equivalent to g only : it does not make an additional syllable, and its muta- tions are those of g : we have thus russe, O 152, and wrussen, O 163.
The following example will suffice to shew the manner of using this conjugation : —
First tense : —
daggrow tyn guraf dyvere, bitter tears I shall shed, O 402. an guel guraf the drehy, the rods I will cut, O 1988. pan wreth agan dysky, when thou dost teach us, D 36. an gorhel guren dyscuthy, the ark we will uncover, 01146. ny wreugh why try ye, ye shall not remain, O 317. y wrons clamdere, they will faint, O 400.
Impersonal : —
y cuthe me a wra, cover him I will, D 1376. my a ray dybry, I will eat it, O 248. hy a wra aspye, she will look, O 1115. the verkye my a gura, mark thee I will, O 602. ef a wra dynythy, he shall produce, O 638. aga gora ty a wra, put them thou shall, O 991. goef a ra the serry, unhappy he who angers thee, O 1016.
This is the most ordinary way of making the future tense in Cornish.
Second tense : —
leverel gura na wrella dampnye, do say that he condemn
not, D 1958.
na wrellen dybbry, that we should not eat, O 183. an temple y wre terry, the temple he would destroy, D 1309. y wrefe y threhevel, he would rebuild it, D 1316.
The conditional is generally made by this tense.
Third tense : —
pan wrussys cole, that thou didst hearken, O 222. an sarf re rule ow tholle, the serpent hath deceived me, O 286.
Imperative : — gura ou gorthyby, answer me, O 301.
VERBS. 61
agan cuthe guren, let us cover ourselves, O 254. greugh y tei\ne mes a'n dour, draw him out of the water, R 2232.
Infinitive : —
dre wul trogh, through breaking, O 298.
§.32. Passive Verb, made by the Verb substantive.
It is much more usual to make up the passive verb by the verb substantive, as is done in most of the modern languages of Europe, than to use the passive inflection as explained in p. 45. For this purpose the paradigm of the verb substantive is re- quired: —
Verb substantive.
The verb substantive in Cornish, as in other Indo-Germanic languages, has two roots ; one of these appears to have been the letter s, and the other was the consonant b, interchanging with f and w. Examples of the first in Latin and English are sum, es, est, and am, art, is ; of the second, fui, fore, and be, was. The Cornish, in some of its forms, has lost the initial s, but it regains the sibi- lant after mar, nyn, and some other words.
First division. Present tense : —
of, I am, O 2049. on, we are, O 2024.
os, thou art, R 1822. ough, you are, R 196.
yu, he is, R 389. yns, O 1691,
The third person singular is varied to yw, D 2952 ; eu, O 2214; ew, O 2572. All receive occasionally an ad- dition at the beginning, becoming assof, yssof, ythof, esof, sof, thof, &c. ; in the first three forms I see no difference in signification, and the additions in such cases are, I think, only variations of the verbal particles
62 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
a and y. Examples are, asson whansek, " we are de- sirous," D 37 ; huhel ythos ysethys, "high thou art seated," D 93 ; yn ou colon asyw bern, " in my heart is sorrow," D 2932 ; yssyw hemma trueth bras, " this is great sorrow," 03182. I now believe that esof, esos, &c. are merely variations of these, though I have rendered them usually by the past tense : see D 931, 2511, R 1291. Sof, sos, syu, and thof, thos, thyu, &c. follow certain particles, as mar, nyn, &c. There are some other forms for the present tense ; ma, "is," scarcely differs from yu: see O 1316, 2561, 2633, R 2059. Us is like ma, but often implies 'who :' O 628, 1059, D 1410, 1425, R2o6oj perhaps eus of R3i6 may be the same word. We have usy in O 2692. Yma signifies 'there is/ O 410, 526, 775, R 400, 1216; mons, O 2091, and ymons, O 1687, 2084, are the plurals of ma and yma.
Imperfect tense : —
esen, I was, O 213. esen, we were, R 1169, 2395.
eses, thou wast, O 900. esough, ye were, D 332, R 2434. ese, he was, O 1089. ens, they were, D 2681, 2694*.
Preterite tense : —
o, "he was," O 706, 809, R 1096, 2007.
The forms oma, "I am," 0755; osa, D 1324, ose, D 1290, oge, O 1767, "thou art;" ywe, O 1822, ugy, R 1636, " he is ;" and I think, ony, " we are," O 59; all these are either interrogative, or else they imply contingencies such as belong to the subjunctive mood.
Second division, bones, 0 2299, bos, D 2494, "to be."
First tense : — bythaf, D 1932 -. bethaf, 02in }
a I believe the real paradigm of the Present tense would be of, os, yu : on, ough, yns ; and of the Imperfect, en, es, e .- en, eugh, ens; but both tenses affected rather to lengthen
VERBS. 63
bethyth, 01465 lthoushaitbe. bythyth, O 1510 J byth, he shall be, D 772. bethyn, we shall be, O 1655. bytheuyh, you shall be, D 767.
bethens, O 2307 i
T .7 r» ^ they shall be.
bythons, 03093 J J
As there is a present tense in the first division, this tense is always, I think, future.
Second tense : —
bef, I should be, &c., O 2193. bes, thou shouldst be, R 2442.
bethe, O 232 •>
j, *j. r» Q r ne should be. by the, D 1948 J
fiera, we should be, R 2423. beuffh, ye should be, D 5, 28. bens, they should be, D 852.
The forms as well as the signification of this tense are confounded with those of the Fifth tense, and even of the Fourth. I cannot satisfy myself with any division of them.
Third tense : —
buf, buef, I was, R 1540, 2150. bus, thou wast, D 1999.
bue, O 880, R 1443 -I
7 /-» f T\ r he was.
be, 02657, D 1154 J
buen, we were, O 709, R 1823. beugh, buyh, you were, R 192, 2243. bons, they were, D 521.
Fourth tense : —
by en, I should be, O 2120, R 1942. byes, thou shouldst be, D 2683. bye, he should be, D 846, 1592. byen, we should be,
their forms in actual use. In a similar way the Greeks added a syllable to the shorter forms of their verb substantive, writing elaQa and rjvda for «? and T/S. Perhaps the Latin esto and estate originated in a like principle.
64 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
byeugh, ye should be, O 177. byens, they should be.
The forms gyfye, " would take," R 966, and thotkye, "will" or " would go," R 2450, seem to be imitations of this tense.
Fifth tense :—
byf, beyf, I may or shall be, D 847, 2008.
by, thou mayst be, O 245, 2203.
bo, O 42, R 90 i
66,0396,1112 } he may or shall be.
ben, been, beyn, we may be, D 41, O 1973, 2699.
beugh, you may be, D 627.
bons, they may be, D 844, 899, 1546.
The same observation as is made above at the close of the first division will apply here, in regard to the forms byma, D 1013, befe, O 2220, befa, D 905, beva, D 690, bova, D 620, buve, O 864, bythe, O 1327, byse, D 2908 ; and some others. Perhaps such additions are sometimes made merely to fill up a verse, as in bosa for bos, D 1120.
>-let him be.
Imperative : —
byth, be thou, O 1341, 2616.
bethens, D 2374
bythens, D 794
bethon, let us be,
bethough, be ye, D 879.
bethens, let them be,
Throughout the second division of this verb I have made the initial b • but it occurs in the manuscript much more frequently written with a v or f from the influence of particles requiring a mutation, and fre- quently where I see no reason for such change ; unless it be that a particle is implied though not expressed, as it is, I believe, the case in Welsh.
Examples of the passive verb made by help of the verb substantive : —
a'n nef of danfenys, from heaven I am sent, O 1372.
yth os ysethys, thou art seated, D 93.
yu gorhemmynnys tky'n, it is commanded to us, O 1049.
VERBS. 65
buthys on ny, we are drowned, O 1705.
yns plynsys, they are planted, O 2092.
bethaf lethys, 1 shall be killed, O 596.
ny fythyth sylwys, thou shalt not be saved, O 1510.
y fethons gorrys, they shall be put, O 342.
guynys may fuef, where I was pierced, R 1540.
helhys warbarth afuen, we were driven together, O 709.
y fyen lethys, I should be killed, O 2120.
may fen guythys, that we may be preserved, D 41.
bos desesys, to be hurt, D 97.
bos rewardyys, to be rewarded, O 2201.
§. 33. A reflected verb is made, as in Welsh, by prefixing the syllable ym2 (em, cm). The equiva- lent in Armoric is en em.
Examples are frequent : — ymwanas, " he stabbed himself," R. 2065, from the root guan ; emwyskys, "he smote himself," R 2067, root guasJc ; ym den, "withdraw," 01377, root ten ; ny y lions ymwe- res, " cannot help themselves," 0 1420, root gue- res ; mar ny wreth ymamendye, "if thou do not amend thyself," O 1526. Embloth, in O 1661, meaning " to fight," is probably from the verb lathe, " to kill," something like the French se bat- tre ; though we have emlathe y honan, "to kill himself," in R 2073, where the writer perhaps added the pronoun y honan to avoid the ambiguity which might arise from the use of emlathe, mean- ing " to fight ;" as a Frenchman might say, il s'est battu lui-meme, meaning "he has beaten himself," while he would say, il s'est battu, when he wished to be understood, " he fought."
CORNISH GRAMMAR.
§.34. IRREGULAR VERBS.
There are in Cornish some verbs irregular, which are generally irregular in Welsh and Armoric also. In going through the translation, I have jotted down a good many words which were at the time doubtful, and out of them I have been able to form the following incomplete paradigms : they might perhaps be completed by Welsh and Breton ana- logy, and no doubt several additional forms may be found, if the Cornish books be read through for the purpose ; but I had no intention of venturing on a Grammar when the work was begun, and have not been able to supply the deficiencies since. I have consequently only incomplete results to offer ; but in the case of every word set down, one pass- age at least is cited in which it occurs.
TO GIVE.
Ry, O iSoij 2606; rey, D 537. First tense : —
rof, I give, RSsy. ren, (we give) D 2406.
reth, O 1814 -i
}thouSlvest'
, 674 -i .
~ > he gives.
, O 2770 J
re, R 387, 674
~ ree or rea, O 2770
Second tense : — ren, I would give(?) O 2739.
Third tense : —
res, D 2495 -i
-. > I gave.
rys, O 320 J
ryssys, thou gavest, D 522.
ros, he gave, D 1384, R 165. rosons, they gave, R 2601.
IRREGULAR VERBS. 67
Fifth tense :—
rollo, that he may give, O 1823. rollons, that they may give, O 40.
Imperative : —
ro, give thou, O 2010, R 83. roy, let him give, O 680, 0712. ren, let us give, D 1389. reugh, give ye, D 1362.
Participle present : — ou ry, giving, O 2316.
Participle past : — reys, given, D 1574.
TO BRING.
Dry, D 16, 273, 596.
First tense : — drow, 03121
Second tense : — dregha, he would bring, R 403.
Third tense : — dros, he brought, O in.
Fourth tense : — drosen, we would have brought, D 1976.
Imperative : —
dro, O 1947 v
j r\ r bnng thou.
doro, O 1904 J
drens, let him bring, O 1933. dreugh, bring ye, O 1066, D 2329.
Participle past : — dreys, brought, D 2447, R 2328.
68 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
TO COME.
Dones, 0 791; dos, R 570. First tense : —
dueth, R 1178 1 .,
j ,1. r> oo r thou comest.
duth, R 882 J
due, it comes, D 2961, R 2273. desons, they come, D 1247.
Second tense : — dogha, that it may come, D 2912.
Third tense : —
duyth. D 2022 1 T
> I came. dueyth, R 1661 J
duthys, R 2^68 "I .,
> thou earnest. dues, (J 155 J
, R 2587 1 ,
0 ' he came.
, R 234 dutheugh, ye came, R 193.
We have aban duthe, "since I came," 0517,524, a subjunctive mood, as in gruge .• see the verb gruthyl in p. 59.
Imperative : —
dus, O 2779 •> dues, R 308 } cometllou- dun, let us come, R23O5. dengh, come ye, R 156, 1761.
Participle : — des, come, D 352.
TO GO.
Mones, O 2030, D 232 ; mos, O 1603. First tense : — of, I go, 0339.
IRREGULAR VERBS. 69
eth, thou goest, O 2295, R 851. a, he goes, R2ip7. en, we go, D 2997, R 2391. wgh* Ye go, 02185.
Generally, ythaf, ytheth, &c.
Second tense : —
een, O 364 •>
dlen, 02193 jlshouldg°-
Third tense : —
yth, I went, O 260, D 145. etheugh, ye went, O 2086.
Fifth tense :— ello, (when) he shall go, R 1563.
Imperative : —
fee, go thou, D 649. eugh, go ye, R 179. ens, let them go, D 173, R 2644.
TO BEAR or CARRY. Don, D 2584, R 1226, 1241; degy, D 2313.
First tense : — dek, R 2235, deg, O 903, 2814, he shall carry.
Third tense : — dug, O 268, duk, O 2244, R 2554, he carried.
Fifth tense :— dogo, that he may carry,
Imperative : — dok, D 1272, 2616 -I dog, O 1945, 2200 y carry thou. doga, O 1298
degyns, let him carry, O 32, 1052, 1591. degeuyh, carry ye, O 2810, R 2184.
70 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
Participle present : —
ou toon, O 2820 outon,0892
Past:—
/s, carried, O 1315.
TO KNOW.
gothfos, R468; gothfes, R 195; gothvos, 62098; govos, O 2102.
Present tense : —
gon, I know, R 1547. gor, he knows, R 256. gothough, ye know, R 2445. gothons, they know, D 2774.
Future tense : —
gothfythy, thou shalt know, R 2381. gothvyth,T)849-\ he sball know. govyth, O 188 J gothfetheugJi, ye shall know, R 1574.
These tenses are separated as in Welsh, where we have gwn, gwr, as a present tense, and gwybydd,gwybyddwch, as a future. They are analogous to the two divisions of the verb substantive.
Second tense : — gothen, I did know, O 363. 9otheS,-D848 lthoudidstknow< gothas, D 2181 J
guythen, we did know, D 1914.
•
Fourth tense : —
gothfen, (if) we had known, R 2542. gothfons, (if) they had known, D 2776.
Fifth tense : —
gothefaf, (if) I know, (?) R 719. yothfo, (if) he know, O 190.
IRREGULAR VERBS. 71
In re woffe, " may he know/1 O 530, we have the fifth, or second tense, converted into an imperative or optative by the verbal particle re. See p. 49. Woffe \s,—gothfe.
TO HAVE.
There is no verb in the Celtic language gene- rally corresponding with the verb, " to have ;" in Cornish as in Welsh, the deficiency is sometimes supplied by cafus, " to take or find ;" but the more usual substitute is like the Latin est pro habeo. We find thus yma thy'mmo (est mihi), " I have," D 494; mar a'm be (si mihifuerit), "if I have," O 396 ; na'm byth cres (non mihi est pax), "I have no peace," Rii33. In most cases the verb is in the form fyth, the first tense of bos, as in my a fyth, ty a fyth, D 128, " I shall have, thou shalt have," &c. The Rev. R. Williams suggests that this may be " I possess," &c. from a root meth, the Welsh meddu ; and this would be probable, the mutation of m and b being equally forv; but the explanation will not suffice for the cases where the form is byth. I am inclined to think that the root is always bos ; — that frequently the pronoun in the third form (§. 16. p. 27) was added to that in the first form, as in why a's byth (vos vobis erii), "you shall have," 0 2586, D 3075, R 612, 672, ny'm bes (=ny'm byth, non mihi est}, "I have not," 6171 ', — and that the sentiment of the real value of the word was sometimes lost, so that ambyth and asbyth were used like new verbs, as in why asbe- theyth, " you shall have," D 33, and ny ambyth, "we shall have," 0 1714. I suppose ny'm bus, R 1517, 22 10, "I have not," to be a variant spelling of
72 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
ny'm byth; — na'm bes, O 1 884, to be the same, with a change of the negative; — and a'mbues, D 2392, to be a'mbyth (mihi est) ; — as bues, 01970, and agas bus, R 2154, "you have," will be a's byth. Am been, " which I have," O 2613, and ma'm vethen, "that I may have," O 1958, are doubtful; my a'n byth, " I will have it," D j 187, may be read vyth, from meth, to possess ;" the v and b are very much alike in the Manuscript. I cannot explain ny gen byen ny, "we should not have," of R 1029, except by reading bye for byen. A bew of D 2853, and a's pew, D 2855, 2858, are probably cognate with the Welsh piau, " to own ;" as also ty a bew, " thou shalt have," 0 974, which I have translated incorrectly. A bywfy, " which thou possessest," 0581, and a bewe, "which he possessed," O 2393, are probably from the same verb.
Another substitute for the verb "to have" is found in ny's teve, O 2597, D 508, na's teve, D 2647, ny's tevyth, O 300, 399, 1808, 1816, a's tefo, D 788, a's tevyt, O 2328. In all these I think the root is tefor tev, 'to grow' or 'come/ with the pronoun " her" or " them ;" and that if the meaning were " he shall have," instead of "she or they shall have," we should find a'n te- fyth; but this does not occur. In my note to O 2597, vol. I. p. 197, the conjecture about ceve appears wrong, and the version is far from literal : tus, meaning "men," is always considered gram- matically as a feminine singular, and s of ny's agrees with it ; I should therefore have rendered, " not have come to any man." The curious de- fective Armoric verb devout, " to have," is clearly analogous to that under consideration, and its forms defe and deuz or devezo, are related to teve and tevyth. See Legonidec's Grammar, p. 82.
ADVERBS. 73
ADVERBS, PREPOSITIONS, and CON- JUNCTIONS.
The following list of Adverbs, Prepositions, and Conjunctions is incomplete, but it is hoped that it will be found useful ; phrases from the Ordinalia, exemplifying the use of each particle, are added in every case.
§. 35. ADVERBS. coul, cowal, quite.
marrow cowal ty a vyth, killed quite thou shalt be, O 2702. bones an temple coul wrys, the temple to be quite done, O 2581.
kepar, " like, as," takes ha with a substantive, and del with a verb.
kepar ha kuen, like dogs, R 172. kepar ha deu, like a god, O 290. kepar ha my, like me, O 2350. kepar del ve, as it was, O 872. kepar del vynny, as thou wilt, 0 1046.
But we find
kepar hag on, as we are, 0 894. kepar ha me a welas, as I saw, R 1076.
and in one case, kepar ha del leverys, as I said, D 2690.
fattel2, fatel, fettel, fettyl, how.
fattel duthys yn ban, how didst thou come up? R 2568. ny won fatel yl wharfos, I know not how it can be, R 229. fettel allaf vy crygy, how can I believe ? R 1423. prederys peb fettyl otto gorfenne, let all think how it can end, O 228.
prak, prag, pragh, why.
prak y wreta thymmo amme, why dost thou kiss me?
Diio5.
prak y's guy sky th, why dost thou wear it ? R 2549.
E
74 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
pragh yth hembrenkygk, why do ye lead ? D 204. prag yth yu the thyllas ruth, why are thy garments red ? R 2567.
•may a-, maga0, as.
maga whyn (guyn) avel an leth, as white as the milk,
u 3138-
maga tek bythqueth delfue, as fair as ever he was, R 1659. maga ta, "as well-,'* is used in the sense of "also,"
as in English : —
den ha best magata, man and beast also, O 995. ha war the treys magata, and on thy feet also, D 488.
nannia, almost.
namnag of pur thai, I am almost quite blind, O 1056. namna'n dallas, almost blinded us, R 42.
ken, else.
ken ef a wra ou shyndye, else he will spit at me, O 2133.
bo ken deaul yw, or else he is a devil, R 2104.
When the sentence is negative, we find nahen (na ken), although the negation be otherwise expressed ; as nahen na grys, think not otherwise, R 2038. See also R 1126.
ot, ota, otte, wetta, weUe, see, behold.
ot omma meneth huhel, see here a high mountain, D 125.
ot omme an guas, see here the fellow, R 1803.
ota saw bos, see the load of food, O 1053.
otte the earn, behold thy mother, D 2928.
ow ottoma*, see with me (?) R 2177.
a wetta ny, dost thou see us ? D 2050.
a welte theflogh, seest thou thy son ? D 2925.
The occurrence of these last forms shews the derivation from the verb.
yn weth> yn weyth, also.
ha nefyn weth, and heaven also, D 290. map deu os ha den yn weyth, son, of God thou art and man likewise, D 278.
a See the note to O 882, in p. 207 of the Ordinalia, vol. II.
ADVERBS. 75
stesen, perhaps.
yn ur-na martesen, in that hour perhaps, D 2870.
See the note to this passage in p. 213, vol. II. Ordinalia.
bytegyns, bytygyns, nevertheless.
saw bytygyns cresough why, but nevertheless believe ye,
R 1300. saw bytegyns ragon ny, but nevertheless for us, R 980.
See also R 1016.
re2, too much.
thotho byny vye re, for him never would it be too much,
R 2056.
re hyr, too long, O 2548. re got (cot), too short, O 2549.
moghya, moghye, moghe, most.
neb may fe moghya geffys, he who is forgiven most, D 513. See D 510, 514.
ketella, kettella, so.
nep a rella yn ketella, whoever has done so, O 2240. yn kettella ny a vyn, so we will, D 243.
mar-, so.
mar tha (da), so good, O 912. mar ger (ker), so dear, O 612.
pe feste mar bel (pel), where hast thou been so long, 0477.
pwr2, very.
pur tha (da), very good, O 2572. pur thai (dal), very blind, O 1056. pur wyr (guyr), very true, R 1004.
bras, very, used after the adjective.
del yu ef aallosek bras, as he is very powerful, () 1494. the colon yw cales bras, thy heart is very hard, 0 1525.
fest, very, also after the adjective.
wolcumfest, very welcome, D 1207. yeynfest yu an awel, very cold is the weather, D 1209. E 2
76 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
Adverbs of place, oinma, omme, umma, here.
fatel thutheugh why omma, how did ye come here, R 193. ot omme an guas, see here the fellow, R 1803. Adam ottensy umma, Adam, behold her here, O 102.
ena, eno, there.
ena yn dour, there in the water, R 2196.
eno ny a'n recevas, there we received him, R 2339.
pie (=pa le), where.
ny won pie fe, I know not where it may be, O 1112. pie me, where is it ? R 46.
a ves, outside. agy. inside.
aves hag agy, without and within, O 953.
lies (ves), the AVelsh maes, forms also the following ad- verbs : —
the ves, away. yn mes, out.
gallas an glow the ves, the rain is gone away, O 1097.
da yu yn mes dyllo bran, it is good to send out a crow, O 1099.
alena, alene, thence. alemma, hence.
These adverbs are really phrases meaning " from that place," and " from this place," and I have often so divided them, though they are not distinguished in that way in the Manuscript. See R 2138, D 649, O 1945.
aber, aberth, aberveth, berth, within.
th'y worre aber yn beth, to put him within the grave
R 2108.
aberth yn beyth, within the grave, R 2083. dun aberveth, let us come inside, O 1062. berth yn bys-ma, within this world, R 860.
ADVERBS. 77
adro, around.
tra ny vyth yn pow adro, there is not a thing in the
country round, O 189. o'n beis ol adro, of the world all around, O 404.
adrus, adrues, athwart, across, against.
ftdrus musury, measure athwart, O 393.
tresters ty a pyn adrus, beams thou shall nail across,
0964. kyn whrylly cous adrues, though thou do speak against it,
Ri792.
a hys, a lieys, along.
yroweth a hys, lie at length, O 653. groweth a keys, lie along, O 1334.
oges, near.
na mos oges the'n wet hen, nor go near to the tree, O 184. na nyl oges nag yn pel, not one near nor at a distance, O 1141.
pel} far.
yma moyses pel gyllys, Moses is far gone, O 1682.
a rag, in front.
war an brest a rag, on the hreast in front, O 2717.
yn rag, forward, forth.
deuyh yn rag ketep onan, come forward every one, O 2683. dus yn rag, come forth, O 2403.
yn keryh, on, away.
ke yn kergh dywhans, go away quickly, R 116.
a'n beth yn kergh gyllys, gone away from the tomb, R 809.
yn ban, up.
bynyfha na thue yn ban, he will never come up, R 2139. Adam saf yn ban, Adam, stand up, O 65.
78 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
Adverbs of time, ytho, now, then.
ytho pyth yu the citsyl, now what is thy advice ? R 25.
ytho thy'rn lavar, now tell me, R 787.
ytho thy'nny yth hevel, then to us it appears, D 1489.
This appears to be rather the conjunction equivalent to the French or, than the true adverb of time : as in the Scripture phrase, " Now it came to pass." I am not quite sure that this is not the ease often with the fol- lowing also.
itmyn, lenimyn, lemman, now.
lemmyn a abesteleth, now, O apostles ! R 893.
lemyn sur yth yu eun hys, now, surely it is the right
length, O 2525.
lemyn ef yu agan guas, now he is our fellow, O 910. lemman warbarth ow jleghys, now together, my children,
0307.
yn tor-ma, in this time, now.
na vo marow yn tor-ma, that he be not killed now, D 2446.
agensow, agynsow, lately, just now.
me a'n guelas agynsow, I saw him recently, R 896. agensow my a'n guelas, I saw him recently, R 9 1 1 .
avar, early. dewetheS) late.
ha dewethes hag avar, both late and early, O 629. ha deug avar, and come early, D 3239.
by nary, betiary, for ever.
yn ponvotter venary, in trouble for ever, O 898.
ny'th ty nahafbynary, I will not deny thee ever, D 907.
bynytha, never more.
bynytha ny thue yn ban, never will he come up, R 2139. my ny vennaf growethe bynytha, I will never more lie down, O 625.
ADVERBS. 79
nefre, neffre, ever.
nefre y fyth avey, ever shall be enmity, 0314.
nefre thy so re bo, ever be it on thee, O 46 1 .
the gous a bref neffre, thy speech proves ever, D 1408.
avorow, to-morrow.
gueytyeugh bones avorow, take care to be to-morrow,
O 2299. deug avar avorow, come early to-morrow, D 3240.
hytheu, hythew, to-day.
na moy cous thy'm hythew, no more talk to me to-day,
R 1940. wheth bys hythew, yet till to-day, R 1550.
uthesempys, dyssempys, &c., immediately.
athysempys thu'm tage, immediately to choak me, D 1528.
toth, touth, haste.
This word appears to be a noun, used in combination
adverbially. ow treyle thotho touth da, turning from him speedily,
(i. e. good haste) D 558.
heeth ou bool touth ta, reach my axe quickly, O 1001. Mo'm gurek ha'm flehes totta, to my wife and children
speedily, O 1036. (Totta = toth ta.)
cowyth dun toth da, companion, let us come quickly, D643-
In D 660 we have gans touth bras, " with great haste," shewing that the word is a substantive; and in D 662 toth men, of the same meaning, but which I do not understand.
kettoth, ketoth, as soon as.
kettoth an ger, as soon as the word, O 1908. kettoth ha'n ger, as soon as the word, R 1970. ketoth ha'n ger, as soon as the word, O 2272.
arte, again.
gorryn ef yn beth arte, let us put him into the grave again,
R 2100. ny'm guelyth arte, thou shalt not see me again, O 244.
80 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
solathyth, solabrys, some time ago.
I 'find this compound adverb half a dozen times ; the root is clearly sol, and the addition is prys, " time," or dyth, " day." See solabrys, O 2322 ; solabreys, O 2747; sollabreys, D 746; solathyth,O 2612; sola- theth, R 1929, and sollathyth, R 2380.
kyns, before.
teke ages kyns y van, fairer than it stood before, D 348.
y fue kyns y vos gurys, there were, before it was done,
D35o. warlergh, afterwards.
sou me warlergh drehevel, but I, risen afterwards, D 896.
whare, wharre, soon.
ha whare a, and will soon go, O 642.
may tewe an tan wharre > that the fire may light soon, D 1 22 1 .
yn makes an adverb of a substantive or adjective ; sometimes it is yn^, sometimes yn°, and sometimes no change is made. yn sur, surely, R 529. yn teffry, really, R 565. yn pur deffry, very really, D 300. yn tyen, entirely, O 2589. yn guyr, truly, O 2541. yn len, faithfully, O 2608. yn ta, well, O 2523.
the ierusalem ynfen, to Jerusalem quite, O 1948. ynfen guren ny, quite let us do, R 1242.
[ynfen = to the end.] ynfelen, as a felon, O 2653. yn kettep guas, every fellow, D 1350.
§. 36. PREPOSITIONS.
a?, of or from. (See §. 17, p. 31.)
luen a byte (pyte), full of pity, O 2369.
a pup squythens y sawye, from all weariness cure him,
D477-
terrys ol a'y le, broken all from its place, D 356.
PREPOSITIONS. 81
adre, adres, adro, around.
adres pow, around the country, R 1477. adre thelhe, around them, O 2097. adro thotho, around it, O 2101. adro thethy, around it (feminine), O 778.
agy, agey, within ; (followed by the.)
agy the lyst, in the lists, R 223.
ayy the ewhe an geyth, within the evening of the day.
11275. agey the'n cyte, within the city, D 627.
athyworth, thy worth, theworth, from.
kyns denas athyworto, before withdrawing from it, O 1401. my a's pren thyworthys, I will buy it of thee, D 1555. thyworth ow pen, from my head, D 1145. theworth urry re thuk, hast taken from Uriah, O 2244.
athyrag, in presence of.
athyragough me a pys, before you I pray, D 1414. athyragof my re weles, I have seen before me, O 1955.
a-ugh, over.
nyg a-ugh lues pow, fly over many countries, O 1136.
the tacky' e a-ugh y pen, to fasten it over his head, D 2808.
avel, as, like.
avel gos, like blood, R 2500. avel dewow, like gods, O 178. avel servant, like a servant, D 804.
awos, notwithstanding, because of.
awos ol ow yallos, notwithstanding all my power, D 53. awos the then na'y vestry, notwithstanding thy god and his
power, O 2738.
ny yl bos awos an beys, it cannot be for the world, R 247 r . awos deu, for God's sake, O 2564.
bys, as far as.
bys yn ierusalem ke, unto Jerusalem go, O 1928. bys yn y chy, even to his house, D 648. bys dethfyn, till the last day, D 724.
E3
82 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
dan, under.
yn dan gen, under the chin, O 2712.
a than the glok, from under thy cloak, D 2682.
yn dan an chek, under the kettle, R 139.
dre, for, by, through. (See §. 17, p. 31.)
hy a'n gruk dre kerense, she did it for love, D 549. dre owfynys, through my pains, D 45. dre un venen wharvethys, wrought by a woman, O 620. kentrow dre ow thrys, nails through my feet, R 2587.
dres, dreys, over, beyond.
dres dyfen ou arluth ker, beyond the prohibition of my dear
Lord, O 172.
ou; mos dres pow, going over the country, R 1511. dreys dour tyber, through the river Tiber, R 2214.
er, by.
er an treys, by the feet, R 2082. erthefyth, on thy faith, O 1441. er an thewen, by the gods, O 2651.
Er appears to be identical with or and war j see note to D 202, vol. I. p. 236.
erbyn, against, towards. (Lat. obviam.}
erbyn a laha, against law, D 572. erbyn haf, against summer, 031.
Erbyn, with a pronoun, receives the pronoun between er and byn, making the usual mutations ; as er owfyn, R2573; erybyn,D23$. See §. n. p. 18.
gans, with, (accompanying.) (See §. 17, p. 31.)
gans ow tas, with my father, D 727.
lanters gans golow, lanterns with light, D 609.
gans, by, with, (instrument, manner, cause, agency.)
gans ow deu lagas me a wel, with my eyes I see, D 410. gans myyn gureugh hy knoukye, with stones strike her, O 2694.
gans peder ha iowan parys, by Peter and John prepared,
D 700. gans touth bras, with great speed, D 660.
PREPOSITIONS. 83
hep*-.
y a treniyn hep thanger, they shall pass without danger,
O 1615.
hep thout, without doubt, O 2668. hep worfcn, without end, D 1562.
herwyth, herweth, according to.
herwyth y volungeth ef, according to his will, O 1320. herweth the grath, according to thy grace, O 2253.
kyns-, before.
kyns pen try dyth, before the end of three days, D 347. kyns vyttyn, before morning, O 1644.
lemmyn, except.
nag ens deu byth lemnfyn ef, there are no gods except him,
mamas, except.
war pep ol mamas ty, over all but thee, O 948.
mes, yn mes, out of. greugh y tenne mes a'n dour, drag him out of the water,
R 2232. tynneugh yn mes agan temple, drag out of our temple,
O 2693. mar seugh mes a dre, if you go from home, O 2185.
rag, rak, for, because of. (See §. 17, p. 30.) rak eun kerenge, for real love, D 483. rak ow anclythyas, for my burial, D 548. rak the servys, for thy service, D 613. teweugh rak meth, silence for shame, R 1495. yw ou colon trogh rag agas cows, my heart is broken be-
cause of your talk, R 1365. rag the offryn ker, because of thy dear offering, O 567.
rag, from.
guythys rak an bylen, preserved from the evil one, D 41. guyth vy rak an ioul, preserve me from the devil, R 1564. guythe ef rag tarofvan, preserve it from fantoms, O 2364.
a rak, before, in presence of.
a rak pilat, before Pilate, R 2593.
a rak agan lagasow, before our eyes, R 1492.
84 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
re, by, (swearing.)
re iovyn, by Jove, O 1532.
re synt iovyn, by Saint Jove, R 349.
re deu an tas, by God the Father, O 1919.
ryp, beside, near.
ryp ihesu cryst gorrys, put beside Jesus Christ, R 266. me a gosk ryp y pen, I will sleep by his head, R 418. In the line yn plas us omma rybon, D 460, we have clearly the preposition ryp joined to the pronoun of the ist pers. plural : rybon, " beside us."
saw, except, without.
saw y ober ha'y thyskes, without his work and his teaching,
D57-
ny hynwys thy'm saw pedar, he named none to me except
Peter, R 916.
tan, by.
tan oufeth, on my faith, O 2534. (Not found elsewhere.)
the, to. (See §. 17, p. 31.)
thyworth, theworth, from. See athyworth.
trogha, troha, towards. stop an wethen trogha'n dor, bend the tree towards the
ground, O 201.
fystyn trogha par athys, hasten towards Paradise, O 332. troha ken pow, towards another country, O 344. fystynyuyh troha 'n daras, hasten towards the door, O 349.
war12, upon. (See §. 17, p. 31.)
war veneth (meneth), upon a mountain, O 1281. war beyn (peyn) cregy, on pain of hanging, O 2280. war thu (du), to God, D 40, 357. •war tyr veneges, on blessed ground, O 1407.
warlergh, after, according to, (receives a governed pronoun in the middle, like erbyn.)
warlergh the gussullyow, after thy counsels, O 2269. war the lergh owth ymwethe, craving after thee, R 1170. war aga lergh fy sty nyn, after them let us hasten, O 1641.
PREPOSITIONS. 85
worth, at, to, against. (See §. 17^.32.)
the tros ivorth men, thy foot against a stone, D 98. worth an trey tor, to the traitor, D 1449.
wose, woge, after.
sythyn wose hemma, a week after this, O 1026. woge soper, after supper, D 834.
wos°. (Not found elsewhere.) wostalleth na wosteweth, at first, nor at last, O 2762.
This may be equivalent to war + dalleth, and war + de- weth ; compare wor tyweth, D 1818.
yn, in, into. (See §. 1 7, p. 30.)
nyn sa yn agas ganow, it goes not into your mouth,
01913.
yn ou enef, in my soul, D 1022. yn pup termyn, at all times, D 1040.
yntre, ynter, among, between.
yntre y thyns (dyns) ha'y davas (tavas), between his teeth
and his tongue, O 826. yntre an mor ha'n tyryow, between the sea and the lands,
O 26.
yntre and ynter take th before a pronoun, like the pre- positions enumerated in §. 17. yntretho ha'y gowethe, between him and his companions*
DJ288. yntrethe gasaf ow ras, among them I leave my grace,
R 1584.
yntrethon, between us, O 936. ol ores yntrethough, all peace among you, R 2433. me a thybarth ynterthoyh, I will divide between ye, D 2325.
CORNISH GRAMMAR.
§. 37. CONJUNCTIONS.
aban, since, because.
aban ywe yh della, since it is so, D 1953.
aban golste worty hy, because thou hearkenedst to her,
0269. aban na vynta cresy, since thou wilt not believe, O 241.
ages, es, ys, eys, than.
teke ages kyns, fairer than before, D 348.
tekke alter es del us genen, a fairer altar than such as is with us, O 1179.
yueth ys ky, worse than a dog, R 2026.
hacre mernans eys emlathe, a more cruel death than self- killing, R 2073.
Es and ages take suffixed pronouns, as do the prepo- sitions enumerated in §. 17. ken deu agesos, another God than thou, R 2477. ken arluth agesso ef, another Lord than him, O 1789. y fynnaf vy mos pella esough, I will go further than you,
R 1299. ken agesough, other than you, O 2357.
bo, or.
bo ken deaul yw, or else he is a devil, R 2104.
drefen, because.
drefen na fynnyth crygy, because thou wilt not believe,
Rno6. drefen un ivyth the henwel, because of once calling on thee,
O 2724.
erna, until.
erna wrello tremene, until she be dead, O 2695. erna'n prenny, until thou pay for it, O 2653.
ha, and.
map ha tas, Son and Father, D 297.
ou tus hammy (ha my), my people and me, O 971.
Takes g before a vowel, as, hag yn tyr, and in the earth, O 27 ; hag ef ha kemmys, both he and as many as, R 1760.
CONJUNCTIONS. 87
re, whilst, as long as.
hedre vyyn ou predery, whilst I am considering, O 2035. hedre veyn beu, as long as I am living, D 115. hedre vy may fo anken, until it be that death is, O 276. hedre vo yn (he herwyth, as long as it is in thy power,
O 1464.
hedre vyuyh byu, as long as ye are living, O 2349. hedre vyns y yn ou gulas, as long as they shall be in my
kingdom, O 1503.
/, ken, though. kynfe terrys, though it be broken, D 354. ken nag of guy w, though I am not worthy, D 481. kyn wrello son, though he should make a noise, R 2016.
kettel, when.
kettel tersys an bar a, when thou didst break the bread,
Ri3i8. kettel thueth er agan pyn, when he came to meet us,
lemmyn, but.
nyn syu gulan lemmyn mostys, it is not clean but dirty,
lemmyn yn tan bos cuthys, but in fire to be covered, R 2326.
in<i, that.
pys e ma'n danfonno, pray him that he send him, R 1620. ma na wothfo gorthyby, that he may not know how to re-
ply, D 1660. ma gas bo, that it be to you (that you may have), D 226.
mar", mara0, if.
mar qureugh (gureugh] ou wylas, if ye do seek me, D nil.
mar a'n pesaf ef, if I pray him, D 1 166.
mara keusysfalsury, if I spoke falsehood, D 1271.
mara pet he (bethe) lei iuggys, if he be fairly judged, D 1344.
mara qureta (gureta), if thou dost, D 1385.
Before the verb substantive, and some others with an initial vowel, mar takes s or th, which apparently had nearly the same sound; (see §.4. p. 8); as mar syu, "if he is," R 520; mar sos, "if thou art," D 60 ; mar seth, "if thou go," O 2652 ; mar seugh, "if you go," O 2185 ; mar thes, " if thou be," O 608. Mara
88 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
is frequently used in this case : mara syw, " if it be," O 2563, R828 ; mara setke, " if he he gone," R 538. The Manuscript is not constant in dividing the words, and I have also been very uncertain about it in the text : I should now be inclined to join the * or th to the verb, considering it, in the verb-substantive at least, to be a restoration of the original sibilant. See
P-93-
Perhaps we should always write mar a divided; the division is complete in R 2542, two words inter- vening : mar fur torment a cothfen, "if we had known the cruel torment." marnes, mars, unless.
marnes drethos vernona, unless by thee Veronica, R 2220. mars dre mur our, unless by much gold, R 1964. mars cryst a weres, unless Christ helps, R 2132. mas in R 47 and O 1504 may be put for mars.
may, that.
may tewe an tan wharre, that the fire may kindle soon,
Dl22I.
mes, but.
mes mara keusys yn lei, but if I have spoken truly, D 1273.
pan2, when, since.
han vyrwyf (myrwyf), when I die, D 227. pan cam worthybys, when he answered rudely, D 1403. pan theugh marfreth, when you come so bold, D ni5.a Pan appears to be used also in the way of deprecation,
as,
govy pan y'n gruga, wo is me that I did it ! D 1434. ellas vyth pan ruk cole, alas ! that I ever listened, O 626.
rag, rak, raah, for, because.
rag pur tha ew, for it is very good, O 2572.
ragh map an pla, for the son of evil, D 10.
rak the vones dyvytfiys, for that thou art come, D 280.
py, or.
pynak vo lettrys py lek, whether he be lettered or lay, D68i.
a This is probably a present tense of the verb dones, ' to come.'
CONSTRUCTION. 89
yn nep bos tewl py yn sorn, in some hush, hole, or in a
corner, R 539. nep a serf py a tlieber, he who serves, or who eats, D 799.
sau, saw, but.
sau dystogh hy a vyth due, but soon it will be done, O 2178. sau an ethyn byneges, but the blessed birds, O 1067. saw bytegyns ragon ny, but nevertheless for us, R 980.
§. 38. CONSTRUCTION.
The few observations collected while making the version of the Dramas are too desultory to admit of the name of Syntax ; much of what might pass under that name is incorporated with the preceding- pages, and the few remaining observations are set down here without much pretension to system. It may be observed once for all, that the exigencies of metre have apparently compelled the author of these Dramatic Writings to such inversions and ir- regularities as are met with in all earlier attempts at metrical composition.
When a transitive verb governs an accusative substantive, the pronoun corresponding with the substantive is often added, as, me a's ygor an dar- asoWy R 638, literally, " I will open them the doors;" an mernans me a'n kymmer, 0 1332, " the death I will take it ;" ha henna ny a'n guylvyth, R 53, fi and that we shall see it ;" an gorhel my a'n gura, 0 966, " the ship I will make it."
When a verb which has a plural subject comes before the subject, it does not agree with it, but is put in the singular : as, y fifth agati enefow, " our souls shall be," D 75 ; re'n kergho an dewolow, "may the devils fetch him," R 2277.
90 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
When a verb in the infinitive mood follows a verb implying motion, it is commonly preceded by the, as in English by the corresponding particle "to:" as,
dun ny the veras, let us come to see, O 2325. dun the gyrhas, let us come to fetch, O 2371. mos the vyras, to go to see, D 1399. eugh th'y drehy, go to cut it, O 2505. deu cCm danfonas the wofyn, God sent me to ask, O 1431. But we have also ray, as in dun rag offrynna, " let us come to offer," O 1307. Dun, 'come,' in these cases is like the English ' come along,' where other languages use ' go.'
When the infinitive expresses the object or aim of a verb going before, it is preceded by rag, corre- sponding with the French pour, and our own vulgar "for:" as,
gorre an prynner rag lesky an sacryfys, put the wood
(for) to burn the sacrifice, O 1324. lafurye a wra rak dry den, he will labour to bring man,
Di6.
ny a vyn mos rak y worthe, we will go to worship him, D236,
After an auxiliary verb the infinitive comes im- mediately, without any preposition : as,
mar mynnyth hy dystrewy, if thou wilt destroy her, O 2675. ny vennaf cafus le, I will not take less, D 594. na allaf kerthes, nor can I go on, O 374. ma yllyn mos, that we may go, D 708.
But we have also mennaf the terry, I will break, D 485.
and sometimes there is no preposition where we should expect to find the ; as,
me a'th pys agan sawye, I pray thee to save us, D 272.
Instead of using the conjunction "that" with another verb in the indicative mood, as in most European languages, it is usual to put the second
CONSTRUCTION. 91
verb in the infinitive, preceded by the persona] pro- noun, as is common in Latin :
ha cons ef the thasserhy, and say that he has risen, R 24. marth a'm hues ty the leverel folneth, it is a wonder to, me
that thou shouldst speak folly, R 961. nyn sa y'm colon why the geusel, it goes not into my heart,
(i.e. I do not believe) that you have spoken, R 1481. del won the bos, as I know thee to be, R 859.
The subjunctive mood is used in its natural signi- fication : that is to say, whenever the verb expresses an uncertainty, or expectation, or contingency of any sort, without regard to any conjunction pre- ceding ; thus Mary Magdalene says, ken nag of guyw, "though I am not worthy," D 481, in the indicative mood, acknowledging her own unworthi- ness ; but the gaoler directs his servant to put Pilate in prison, kyn wrello son, " though he may make a noise," R 2016; and this notwithstanding both verbs are preceded by the same conjunction : the French language would use the subjunctive in both cases ; quoiqueje sois^ and quoiqu'ilfasse. So del os luen a ras, " as thou art full of grace," 0 1 06, in the indicative, expressing a full belief, and del y'm kyrry, "as thou lovest me," 0 537, in the sub- junctive, where a doubt is implied. This is however not always observed; the Cornish writers were hardly skilled enough in composition to be always accurately guided, and rhyme or metre was fre- quently exigent. The following examples of the subjunctive mood will suffice to give an insight into its use.
er na wrello tremene, (beat her) until she be dead, O 2695.
er na'n prenny, (thou shalt not get away) until thou pay for it, O 2653.
kynfe an temple dyswrys, though the temple were destroy- ed, D 365.
92 CORNISH GRAMMAR.
may hyllyfy lathe, (give me a sword) that I may kill him,
R 1969. pys e thy'm ma'n danfonno, pray him that he send him to
me, R 1620.
ma na wothfo, that he shall not know, D 1660. dre clethe nep a vewo, he who lives by the sword, D 1 158.
NOTE.
Since the preceding sheets were printed, the following forms have been noticed in the irregular verbs : —
In p. 68. ist tense, deugh, ye come, D 1115.
dethons, they come, Pas. 258, i. Imperative, deug, come ye, R 3239. In p. 70. 2d tense, gothyen, I knew, R 2544, 2559.
gothye, he knew, Pas. 101, 2. ? got ham, Pas. 245. 3. 4th tense, gothfes, thou knewest. O 151. 5th tense, gothfy, thou shall know, D 1042. Participle, gothvethys, known, O 1520. In p. 63, apparently in the 4th tense of the verb sub- stantive, beyn, D 115.
byyn, O 2035. qu. plural. byugh, O 2349. byns, O 1503.
93
The following forms of Irregular Verbs may be added to the preceding ; they have been found since the others were printed.
dora, I should bring, R 1789. drew, bring ye, D 178. drewh, bring ye, R 1776. druth, brought, R 2492. druyth, brought, O 1621. dres, brought, D 1569.' dues, to come, R 647. deve, I come, R 2620. de, will come, O 2431, D 541. dy, will come, D 1654. dufe, (if) he come, R 7. den, let us come, 0 2543. deugh, ye come, D 1115. ditegh, come ye, R 323. dens, let them come, D 694. dothe, may come, O 1744. dothye,1 R 2450. ow tos, coming, D 370, R 145. eth, he went, 3rd tense, R 835. ytty, thou shalt go, 5th tense, R 2452. ou mos, going, R 2298. gothyen, I knew, 2nd tense, R 2544, 2559. gothyan, I knew, 2nd tense, R 2614. gothfen, I should know, 4th tense, D 1287. gothjye, he would know, 4th tense, D 490. gothfough, ye should know, 4th tense, D 2156. gother, the passive, O 2332. guren, I would do, 2nd tense, D 1622, R 1894. gurefa, he may do, 2nd tense, R 2473. p
94
gurell&ugh, you may do, 2nd tense, D 2196. grussyn, we did, 3rd tense, R 1341. gruga (that) I did, 3rd tense, D 1434.
When the present participle governs a pronoun, it is made by orth or worth, instead of ou or ow : as ymons y orth y sywe, they are following him, 0 1688 ; y these gans Ihesu worth y servye, he was with Jesus serving him, D 1406. See also D 342, 442, 1141, 1333, 2994.
UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
I Illll Illll Illll Illll Illll [III Illll Illll Illll Illl Illl
A 000038167 3
.
. ,
.
- .
• I