A HANDBOOK OF THE CORNISH LANGUAGE CHIEFLY IN ITS LATEST STAGES WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF ITS HISTORY AND LITERATURE

 BY HENRY JENNER

 MEMBER OF THE GORSEDD OF THE BARDS OF BRITTANY FELLOW OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES

 “Never credit me but I will spowt some Cornish at him. _Peden bras_, _vidne whee bis cregas_. ”

 _The Northern Lass_, by RICH BROME, 1632. 

 LONDON DAVID NUTT, AT THE SIGN OF THE PHŒNIX 57-59 LONG ACRE MCMIV

 Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. At the Ballantyne Press

_DHÔ_ ’_M GWRÊG GERNÛAK_

H. L. J. 

_Kerra ow Holon_! _Beniges re vo__Gans bennath Dew an dêdh a ’th ros dhemmo_, _Dhô whelas gerryow gwan pan dhetha vî_, _Tavas dha dassow_, _ha dhô ’th drovya dî_. _En cov an dêdh splan-na es pel passyes_;_En cov idn dêdh lowenek_, _gwin ’gan bês_, _War Garrak Loys en Côs_, _es en dan skês__Askelly Myhal El_, _o ’gan gwithes_;_En cov lîas dêdh wheg en Kernow da_, _Ha nŷ mar younk_—_na whekkah vel êr-ma__Dhemmo a dhîg genev an gwella tra_, _Pan dhetha vî en kerh_, _en ol bro-na_;_Dheso mî re levar dha davas teg_, _Flogh ow empinyon vî_, _dhô ’m kerra Gwrêg_. 

 _GWAS MYHAL_. 

_Scrîfes en agan Chŷ nŷ_, _Dawthegves dêdh Mîs Gorefan_ _En Bledhan agan Arledh_, 1904. 

PREFACE

This book is principally intended for those persons of Cornishnationality who wish to acquire some knowledge of their ancient tongue, and to read, write, and perhaps even to speak it. Its aim is torepresent in an intelligible form the Cornish of the later period, andsince it is addressed to the general Cornish public rather than to theskilled philologist, much has been left unsaid that might have been ofinterest to the latter, old-fashioned phonological and grammatical termshave been used, a uniform system of spelling has been adopted, littlenotice has been taken of casual variations, and the arguments upon whichthe choice of forms has been based have not often been given. 

The spelling has been adapted for the occasion. All writers of Cornishused to spell according to their own taste and fancy, and would sometimesrepresent the same word in different ways even in the same page, thoughcertain general principles were observed in each period. There was aspecial uncertainty about the vowels, which will be easily appreciated bythose who are familiar with Cornish English. Modern writers of alllanguages prefer consistent spelling, and to modern learners, whoseobject is linguistic rather than philological, a fairly regular system oforthography is almost a necessity. The present system is not thephonetic ideal of “one sound to each symbol, and one symbol for eachsound, ” but it aims at being fairly consistent with itself, not toodifficult to understand, not too much encumbered with diacritical signs, and not too startlingly different from the spellings of earlier times, especially from that of Lhuyd, whose system was constructed from livingCornish speakers. The writer has arrived at his conclusions by acomparison of the various existing spellings with one another, with thetraditional fragments collected and recorded by himself in 1875, with themodern pronunciation of Cornish names, with the changes which English hasundergone in the mouths of the less educated of Cornishmen, and to someextent with Breton. The author suggests that this form of spellingshould be generally adopted by Cornish students of their old speech. Thesystem cannot in the nature of things be strictly accurate, but it isnear enough for practical purposes. Possibly there is much room forcontroversy, especially as to such details as the distribution of longand short vowels, the representation of the Middle Cornish _u_, _ue_, _eu_ sometimes by _î_, sometimes by _ê_, and sometimes by _eu_ or _ew_, or of the Middle Cornish _y_ by _i_, _e_, or _y_, or occasionally by anobscure _ă_, _ŏ_, or _ŭ_, and it is quite likely that others might arriveat different conclusions from the same evidence, though those conclusionsmight not be any the nearer to the sounds which the Cornishmen of theseventeenth and eighteenth centuries really did make. As for grammaticalforms, it will be seen that the writer is of opinion that the differencebetween Middle and Modern Cornish was more apparent than real, and thatexcept in the very latest period of all, when the language survived onlyin the mouths of the least educated persons, the so-called “corruptions”were to a great extent due to differences of spelling, to a want ofappreciation of almost inaudible final consonants, and to anintensification of phonetic tendencies existing in germ at a much earlierperiod. Thus it is that inflections which in the late Cornish often seemto have been almost, if not quite, inaudible, have been written in full, for that is the author’s notion, founded on what Middle Cornishmenactually did write, of what Modern Cornishmen were trying to express. For most things he has precedents, though he has allowed himself acertain amount of conjecture at times, and in most cases of difficulty hehas trusted, as he would advise his readers to do, to Breton rather thanto Welsh, for the living Breton of to-day is the nearest thing to Cornishthat exists. 

Why should Cornishmen learn Cornish? There is no money in it, it servesno practical purpose, and the literature is scanty and of no greatoriginality or value. The question is a fair one, the answer is simple. Because they are Cornishmen. At the present day Cornwall, but for a fewsurvivals of Duchy jurisdictions, is legally and practically a county ofEngland, with a County Council, a County Police, and a Lord-Lieutenantall complete, as if it were no better than a mere Essex or Herts. {0a}But every Cornishman knows well enough, proud as he may be of belongingto the British Empire, that he is no more an Englishman than a Caithnessman is, that he has as much right to a separate local patriotism to hislittle Motherland, which rightly understood is no bar, but rather anadvantage to the greater British patriotism, {0b} as has a Scotsman, anIrishman, a Welshman, or even a Colonial; and that he is as much a Celtand as little of an “Anglo-Saxon” as any Gael, Cymro, Manxman, or Breton. Language is less than ever a final test of race. Most Cornishmenhabitually speak English, and few, very few, could hold five minutes’conversation in the old Celtic speech. Yet the memory of it lingers on, and no one can talk about the country itself, and mention the places init, without using a wealth of true Cornish words. But a similar thingmay be said of a very large proportion of Welshmen, Highlanders, Irishmen, Manxmen, and Bretons. 

 _Omnia Græce_, _Quum sit turpe magis nostris nescire Latine_. 

The reason why a Cornishman should learn Cornish, the outward and audiblesign of his separate nationality, is sentimental, and not in the leastpractical, and if everything sentimental were banished from it, the worldwould not be as pleasant a place as it is. 

Whether anything will come of the Cornish part of the Celtic movementremains to be seen, but it is not without good omen that this book ispublished at the “Sign of the Phoenix. ”

A few words of comprehensive apology for the shortcomings of thishandbook. When the writer was asked by the Secretary of theCeltic-Cornish Society to undertake a Cornish grammar, which was theorigin of this book, it was more than twenty years since he had droppedhis Cornish studies in favour of other and more immediately necessarymatters. Much of what he once knew had been forgotten, and had to belearnt over again, and the new grammar was wanted quickly. There mustneeds be, therefore, inaccuracies and inconsistencies, especially withregard to the spelling, which had to be constructed, and he is consciousalso that there are at least two living men, if no more, who could havemade a far better book. Of either of these two, Dr. Whitley Stokes andProf. Joseph Loth, Doyen of the Faculty of Letters in Rennes University, who probably know more about Cornish between them than any one else everdid, the writer may well say, as John Boson of Newlyn said of Keigwin twocenturies ago, “_Markressa an dean deskez fear-na gwellaz hemma_, _ev avenja kavaz fraga e owna en skreefa-composter_, _etc. _” {0c} For, indeed, even in that same _skreefa-composter_ is there much scope forargument, and Boson’s “et cetera” stands for a good deal besides. 

It is not given to a grammar-writer to strive after originality. If hedid so, he would probably not be the better grammarian. The writertherefore has no hesitation in acknowledging to the full his manyobligations to previous workers on the subject. To Lhuyd and Pryce, toGwavas, Tonkin, Boson, and Borlase he owes much (and also, parenthetically, he thanks Mr. John Enys of Enys for lending him theBorlase MS. ). But it is to the workers of the second half of thenineteenth century, living or departed, that he owes most, and especiallyto Dr. Edwin Norris, Dr. Whitley Stokes, Prof. Loth, Canon RobertWilliams, and Dr. Jago. Of the works of these writers he has made ampleuse, though he has not necessarily agreed with them in every detail. 

The well-known work of Edwin Norris has been of the greatest value inevery way, and the copious examples given in his “Sketch of CornishGrammar” have frequently saved the writer the trouble of searching forexamples himself. Dr. Whitley Stokes’s editions of two dramas and a poemhave been of the greatest assistance, the notes to the _St. Meriasek_being especially valuable in collecting and comparing the various formsof irregular verbs, etc. Without Canon Williams’s Lexicon nothing couldhave been done, and though some amount of friendly criticism andcorrection has been given to it by Dr. Stokes and Prof. Loth, neither ofwhom, of course, really undervalues the Lexicon in the least, no one canfail to appreciate that excellent work. Prof. Loth’s articles are mostlyon details. A more general work from his hand is much to be desired, andevery Cornish student must look forward to the forthcoming volume of his_Chrestomathie Bretonne_, which will contain the Cornish section. Itwould have been better for the present work if its author could have seenthat volume before writing this. But Prof. Loth’s articles in the _RevueCeltique_ have been full of suggestions of the greatest value. Dr. Jago’s English-Cornish Dictionary has also been most useful. In asomewhat uncritical fashion, he has collected together all the variousforms and spellings of each word that he could find, and this rendered itpossible to make easily comparisons which would otherwise have given agood deal of trouble. Even the somewhat unconventional lexicographicalarrangement of the book has had its uses, but, if one may venture anadverse criticism, it was a pity to have followed Borlase in includingwithout notice so many Welsh and Breton words for which there is noauthority in Cornish. It is on this account that the work needs to beused with caution, and may at times mislead the unwary. 

The author begs to thank very heartily Mr. E. Whitfield Crofts (“PeterPenn” of the _Cornish Telegraph_) for his great service in making thishandbook known among Cornishmen. 

Perhaps a subject in connection with Cornish which may be of greatergeneral interest than anything else is the interpretation of Cornishnames. It is for this reason that a chapter embodying shortly somegeneral principles of such a study has been added, and for those whowould try their hands at original verse composition in Cornish a chapteron the principles of Cornish prosody has also been given. Thecomposition of twentieth-century Cornish verse has already begun. Dr. C. A. Picquenard of Quimper, well known as a Breton poet under the title of_Ar Barz Melen_, has produced several excellent specimens, Mr. L. C. R. Duncombe-Jewell published the first Cornish sonnet in _Celtia_ in 1901, and the present writer has contributed a sonnet and translations of theTrelawny Song and the National Anthem to the _Cornish Telegraph_, besideswriting two Christmas Carols, one in _Celtia_ and one printed separately, and the dedication of this book, which, he may remark, is not meant for asonnet, though it happens to run to fourteen lines. 

The writer had originally intended to add some reading lessons, exercises, and vocabularies, but it was found that the inclusion of thesewould make the book too large. He hopes to bring out shortly a quitesmall separate book of this character, which may also includeconversations, and he has in preparation a complete vocabulary, though hehas no idea as to when it will be finished. 

PART I—THE HISTORY OF THE CORNISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

CHAPTER I—THE STORY OF THE CORNISH LANGUAGE

There have been seven Celtic languages—not all at once, of course—andindeed it is possible that there may have been more; but seven are knownto have existed. One other may have been a Celtic speech, or it may havebeen something pre-Celtic, but of it we know too little to judge. 

The Celtic languages belong to the type known as Aryan or Indo-European, the language of the higher or white races whose original habitat was oncetaken to have been near or among the Himalayas, but is now located withmuch less exactness than heretofore. To this class belong the Sanscrit, with its multitude of Indian derivatives; the Persian, ancient andmodern; the Greek, the Latin with all its descendants, the Lithuanian, the Slavonic, the Teutonic and Scandinavian, the Albanian and the Celtic. It is not to be supposed that the possession of an Aryan language isnecessarily a proof of the possession of Aryan blood. In many cases theconquering white race imposed its language on the aborigines whom itsubjugated and enslaved. This must have been very much the case inBritain, and it is probable that the lower classes of a great part ofEngland, though they now speak a language of mixed Teutonic and Latinorigin, as they once spoke Celtic, are largely the descendants, throughthe slaves successively of Britons, Romans, and Saxons, and the“villains” or _nativi_ of the Norman manorial system, of the aboriginalpalæolithic “cave” man, and have far less in common with the Anglo-Saxon, the Celt, or any other white man than they have with the Hottentot, theEsquimaux, the Lapp, or the Australian “blackfellow. ” This isparticularly the case in what was once the forest-covered district ofmiddle England. There, no doubt, when there was any fighting to be done, the aboriginal hid in the woods until it was all over, and only then cameout to share in the spoil and the glory and the drinks; while the whiteman, whether Briton, Saxon, or Norman, went out to fight, and notinfrequently to be killed. A survival, perhaps, of the unfittest was theresult, which may account for some of the peculiar characteristics of theMidland lower classes. That the successive changes of masters werematters of little or no importance to the enslaved aboriginal, while alife of servitude was intolerable to the free white man, may account forthe fact that the labouring classes of Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Wales, and the Welsh border are of a type infinitely superior in manners, morals, and physique to the same class in the Midlands, because they nowconsist almost entirely of the descendants of the free Britons who weredriven westward rather than submit to the overwhelming invasion of theTeutonic tribes. Thus it is that probably, except for a certain Silurian(or Iberian) element in South Wales, which descends from the higher orfighting sort of pre-Aryan, and a surviving aboriginal element in partsof Ireland, the natives of what are known as the “Celtic” parts of theseislands are more purely Aryan than any except the upper and upper middleclasses of the so-called “Anglo-Saxon” districts of Britain. And of theCeltic parts of Britain, the Highlanders of Scotland and the Cornish areprobably of the most unmixed Aryan or white race. 

The Celtic languages are subdivided into two branches, representing twoseparate immigrations, about which little is known for certain, exceptthat they happened a very long time ago. These are:—

1. The Goidelic (or Gaelic), consisting of the three languages, orproperly the three dialects, known as the Gaelic of Ireland, of theScottish Highlands, and of the Isle of Man. It has been said, with sometruth, that these three are as far apart as three dialects of the samelanguage can well be, but are not sufficiently far apart to be counted asthree distinct languages. Until the first half of the eighteenth centurythe written Gaelic of the Scottish Highlands differed from that ofIreland scarcely more than the written English of London differs fromthat of New York. Even now, though the use of the sixth and seventhcentury Latin minuscules, which people choose to call “Irish” letters, has been dropped in Scotland, any one who can read the one dialect willhave little difficulty in reading the other. Manx adopted in theseventeenth century an attempted, but not very successful, phoneticspelling, based partly on Welsh and partly on English, and thereforelooks on paper very different from its sister languages; but it takes aGaelic-speaking Highlander of intelligence a very short time to get tounderstand spoken Manx, though spoken Irish (except the Ulster dialect)is more difficult to him. Possibly Pictish, if it was Celtic at all, which is uncertain, was of the Gaelic branch, for we find but little ofany language difficulty when St. Columba and his fellow-missionaries, whose own speech certainly was Gaelic, were evangelising among the Picts. But the absence of such mention proves very little, for Christianmissionaries, from Pentecost onwards, have not infrequently made light ofthe linguistic barrier, and we really know next to nothing about Pictish. 

2. The Brythonic (or British), consisting of Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. These may be said to be as near together as three separate languages canwell be, but to have drifted too far apart to be accounted three dialectsof the same language. The place of Cornish, linguistically as well asgeographically, is between Welsh and Breton, but though in some points inwhich Welsh differs from Breton, Cornish resembles the former, on thewhole it approaches more nearly to the latter. Probably Cornish andBreton are both derived from the language of the more southern, whileWelsh represents that of the more northern Britons. {6} Of courseCornish, like Welsh, has been influenced to some extent by English, whilethe foreign influence on Breton has been French. It is probable that theancient Gaulish, certainly a Celtic language, belongs to this branch. 

The seven Celtic languages, then, are Irish, Albanic (or Scottish), andManx Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, Breton, and Gaulish, and it is possible thatPictish must be added to these. 

Though a philologist has much to say on the points of resemblance betweenthe Goidelic and Brythonic branches, and though no one who studies bothcan fail to be struck by their affinity in vocabulary, in grammar, andeven in idiom, the speakers of different branches—a Welshman and aHighlander, for instance—are no more mutually intelligible than anEnglishman and a German would be, if as much so. The three sets ofGaels, however, can understand one another with considerable difficulty, and Irish priests have been known to preach sermons (with but moderatesuccess) in the Catholic parts of the Highlands. But though there hasbeen for some time a Welsh mission of some sort of Nonconformists inBrittany (with doubtless a very limited following), it is said that themissionaries, though they learnt Breton easily, were greatly disappointedwith the extent to which at first they could understand the Bretons ormake themselves understood. Simple things of everyday life might beasked for in Welsh, and a Breton might “average” what was said, but nosort of conversation could be held, though any one who knew both Welshand Breton might make himself understood at some length by a mixedaudience, if he very carefully picked his phrases; it would not, however, be good Welsh or good Breton. But the same would only apply in a farless degree to Cornish, for Cornish is very much nearer to Breton thanWelsh is. {7} The divergence is increased by the tendency of all theCeltic languages, or, indeed, of all languages, to subdivide into localdialects. Thus the Irish of Munster, of Connaught, and of Ulster must bemutually intelligible only with great difficulty; the dialect of Munster, by reason of the difference of the stress accent, being especiallydivergent. There is growing up now, with the Irish revival, what may becalled a Leinster dialect, founded on the literary language, withpeculiarities of its own. The Scottish Gaelic has at least four markeddialects: Northern, spoken in Sutherland, part of Caithness, and Ross;Western, spoken in Inverness-shire and Argyle and in the Islands; and therather broken-down dialects of Arran and of Perthshire, but the speakersof these are not very unintelligible to one another. Even Manx has atendency to a “north side” and a “south side” dialect. Welsh has twofairly well marked dialects, of North Wales and South Wales, and theWelsh of Glamorgan, once the classical form of the language, before theCardiganshire Welsh of the translation of the Bible superseded it, is nowtending to be a broken-down form of South Welsh. But all these spokendialects of Welsh are kept together and their tendency to divergence isgreatly checked by the existence of a very clearly defined spelling, grammar, and standard of style in the book language of what is far andaway the most cultivated and literary of all the Celtic tongues. Bretonhas four well-defined dialects, those of Leon, Treguier, Cornouailles, and Vannes, besides the broken-down Breton of the Croisic district, theVannes dialect differing from the others as much as Cornish does, andcuriously resembling Cornish in some of its peculiarities. Here there isno one literary standard, but each of the four dialects has its own, though it is generally held, rightly or wrongly, that the Leonais dialectis the best, and the Vannetais the worst. An examination of the names ofplaces in West Cornwall gives some indication that there was a slightdifference of dialect between the Hundred of Kerrier, or perhaps oneshould rather say the peninsula of Meneage, and the Hundred of Penwith, but it amounted to very little, and the evidence is very scanty. 

The difference between Cornish and its two sisters is not very easy todefine in a few words. There are differences of phonology, vocabulary, and grammatical forms. In phonology the most marked difference from bothis the substitution of _s_ or _z_, with a tendency, intensified in laterCornish, to the sound of _j_ or _ch_, for _d_ or _t_ of Welsh and Breton. Cornish agrees with Breton in not prefixing a vowel (_y_ in Welsh) towords beginning with _s_ followed by a consonant, and its vowel soundsare generally simpler and less diphthongalised than those of Welsh. Itagrees with Welsh in changing what one may call the French _u_ sound into_î_ (English _ee_), going apparently further than Welsh in thatdirection, while Breton still retains the _u_. Like Welsh, it retainedthe _th_ and _dh_ sounds which Breton, in nearly all its dialects, haschanged into _z_, though these in Cornish, like the guttural _gh_, and_v_ or _f_, showed a tendency to drop off and become silent, especiallyas finals. In vocabulary Cornish follows Breton more closely than Welsh, though there are cases where in its choice of words it agrees with thelatter, and cases in which it is curiously impartial. An instance of thelast is the common adjective _good_. The ordinary Welsh word is _da_, though _mad_ (Gaelic _math_) does exist. In Breton _mad_ is the regularword, though _da_ is used as a noun in the sense of _satisfaction_ or_contentment_ (_da eo gant-han_, good is with him=he is pleased). InCornish _da_ and _mas_ are used about equally. As an instance of thefirst, _bras_, which in Welsh means _fat_, _gross_, is the more commonCornish and Breton word for _large_ or _great_, though _mêr_ (_mur_, _meur_) in Cornish, and _meur_ in Breton, the equivalents of the Welsh_mawr_, are also used. In grammatical forms Cornish almost invariably incases where Welsh and Breton differ follows the latter, but, as invocabulary, it sometimes has also ways of its own. 

 * * * * *

Except for the existence of Cornish names in the Bodmin Gospels, and inDomesday Book and one or two early charters, and of the Cornishvocabulary in the Cottonian Library, the earliest mention of the Cornishas differentiated from any other British language that has been as yetdiscovered occurs in Cott. MS. Vesp. A. Xiv. , in the British Museum (thevolume in which the said vocabulary is included), in a Latin life of St. Cadoc. This speaks of St. Michael’s Mount being called, “in the idiom ofthat province, ” _Dinsol_ (or the Mount of the Sun). 

Giraldus Cambrensis, writing in the latter part of the twelfth century, says: “Cornubia vero et Armorica Britannia lingua utuntur fere persimili, Cambris tamen propter originalem convenientiam in multis adhuc et ferecunctis intelligibili. Quæ, quanto delicata minus et incomposita magis, tanto antiquo linguæ Britanniæ idiomati, ut arbitror, est appropriata. ”{10a}

In the fifteenth-century cartulary of Glasney College, belonging to Mr. Jonathan Rashleigh of Menabilly, an old prophecy is quoted: “_InPolsethow ywhylyr anethow_, _in Polsethow habitaciones seu mirabiliavidebuntur_. ” This is supposed to date before the foundation of thecollege in 1265. 

In a letter of 1328-9 from John de Grandisson, Bishop of Exeter, 1327-1369, to Pope John XXII. , the writer speaks of Cornwall as lookingon the south upon Vasconia [Gascony] and Minor Britannia [Brittany]{10b}; “Cujus lingua ipsi utuntur Cornubici. ” And in another letter inthe same year to certain cardinals he says: “Lingua, eciam, in extremisCornubie non Anglicis set Britonibus extat nota. ” With this comesanother passage in the Register of Bishop Grandisson, quoted by Dr. Oliver in his _Monasticon Diæcesis Exoniensis_ (p. 11), which, in anaccount of the submission of the parish of St. Buryan to the bishop, after a certain quarrel between them, states that a formal submission wasmade by the principal parishioners in French and English (the names aregiven, thirteen in number), and by the rest in Cornish, interpreted byHenry Marseley, the rector of St. Just, and that after this the bishoppreached a sermon, which was interpreted by the same priest for thebenefit of those members of the congregation who could only speakCornish. These records are to be found in Mr. Hingeston Randolph’sedition of the Grandisson Registers, and in these and otherfourteenth-century Exeter registers there are several allusions to theobligations of hearing confessions and propounding the Word of God inCornish. 

But until the time of Henry VIII. We have no trustworthy informationabout the state or extent of the language. It is highly probable, fromthe number of places still retaining undoubtedly Celtic names, andretaining them in an undoubtedly Cornish form, that until at least thefifteenth century the Tamar was the general boundary of English andCornish; though there is said to be some evidence that even as late asthe reign of Elizabeth, Cornish was spoken in a few places to the east ofthe Tamar, notably in the South Hams. Polwhele, however, limits theSouth Hams use of Cornish to the time of Edward I. , and we know from theEnglish Chronicle that when Athelstan drove the “Welsh” out of Exeter in936, he set the Tamar for their boundary. In the reign of Henry VIII. Wehave an account given by Andrew Borde in his _Boke of the Introduction ofKnowledge_, written in 1542. He says, “In Cornwall is two speches, theone is naughty Englysshe, and the other is Cornysshe speche. And therebe many men and women the which cannot speake one worde of Englysshe, butall Cornyshe. ” He then gives the Cornish numerals and a few sentences ofordinary conversation. These are much mixed with English, and were, nodoubt, such as might have been heard on the borders of Devon, for heprobably did not penetrate very far, being doubtless deterred by theimpossibility of obtaining drinkable beer—a circumstance which seems tohave much exercised his mind in describing Cornwall. These numerals andsentences are, as far as is known, the earliest specimens of printedCornish, earlier by a hundred and sixty-five years than Lhuyd’s Grammar, though Dr. Jago, quoting from Drew and Hutchins, who had evidently neverseen this book, Dr. Davies’s _Llyfr y Resolusion_ of 1632, or Gibson’sedition of Camden’s _Britannia_ of 1695, says that there is no evidencethat anything was ever printed in Cornish before Lhuyd. 

The Reformation did much to kill Cornish. Had the Book of Common Prayerbeen translated into Cornish and used in that tongue, two things mighthave happened which did not—the whole language might have been preservedto us, and the Cornish as a body might have been of the Church ofEngland, instead of remaining (more or less) of the old religion untilthe perhaps unavoidable neglect of its authorities caused them to driftinto the outward irreligion from which John Wesley rescued them. {12}But it is said by Scawen and by Bishop Gibson in his continuation ofCamden’s _Britannia_, that they _desired_ that the Prayer-book might notbe translated, and, though the statement is disputed, it is quitepossible that the upper classes, who spoke English, did make some suchrepresentation, and that the bulk of the population in Cornwall, aselsewhere, had no wish for the Reformed Service-book in any language; forthere were churches in Cornwall in which the old Mass according to theUse of Salisbury was celebrated as late as the seventeenth century, notably in the Arundel Chapel in St. Columb Church, as may clearly beinferred from the inscription on the tomb of John Arundel and his wife, the latter of whom died in 1602. 

It is asserted by Carew, Polwhele, Davies Gilbert, Borlase, and others, that in the time of Henry VIII. Dr. John Moreman, the parson ofMenheniot, was the first to teach his parishioners the Creed, Lord’sPrayer, and Commandments in English, these having been “used in Cornishbeyond all remembrance. ” This same Dr. Moreman is mentioned in thepetition (or rather _demand_) presented to Edward VI. By the Cornwall andDevon insurgents, in favour of the old form of worship. One paragraph ofthis is as follows:—“We will not receive the new service, because it isbut like a Christmas game. We will have our old service of Matins, Mass, Evensong, and Procession as it was before; and we the Cornish, _whereofcertain of us understand no English_, do utterly refuse the new service. ”

In the early part of the reign of Elizabeth, during the course of themany discussions on church matters, a number of articles were drawn up, to judge by their general tone, by the extreme Protestant party, and acopy of these, taken from a MS. In Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, occurs in Egerton MS. 2350, f. 54, in the British Museum. They areentitled “Articles drawn out by some certaine, and were exhibited to beadmitted by authority, but not so admitted, ” and their date, to judge byaccompanying letters, etc. , is about 1560. The last article is “Apunishment for such as cannot say the Catechisme, ” and in it there occursthe following sentence: “Item that it may be lawfull for such Welch orCornish children as can speake no English to learne the Præmises in theWelch tongue or Cornish language. ”

In the same reign, but somewhat later, a report on England, addressed toPhilip II. Of Spain by an Italian agent, speaks thus of Cornwall: “Lihauitanti sono del tutto differenti _di parlare_, di costume et di leggialli Inglesi; usano le leggi imperiali cosi como fa ancola li Walscheloro vicini; quali sono in prospettiva alli Irlanda et sono similmentetenuti la maggior parte Cattolici. ” However, since the agent insiststhat the Severn divides Cornwall from England, he can hardly have knownmuch about the country. The report occurs among a number of Spanishstate papers in Add. MS. 28, 420, in the British Museum. 

In Carew’s _Survey of Cornwall_, written about 1600, we read, however, that the language had been driven into the uttermost parts of the Duchy, and that very few were ignorant of English, though many affected to knowonly their own tongue. It seems, however, from what he says further on, that the _guaries_, or miracle plays, were then commonly acted inCornish, and that the people flocked to them in large numbers, andevidently understood them. Carew adds that the principal love andknowledge of the language died with one “Dr. Kennall, the civilian, ”probably John Kennall, D. C. L. , Archdeacon of Oxford. Carew gives thenumerals and a few other specimens of the language. 

In a survey of Cornwall, by John Norden, entitled _Speculum MagnæBritanniæ_, _pars Cornwall_, addressed to James I. , the following accountof the language is given. 

“The Cornish people for the moste parte are descended of British stocke, though muche mixed since with the Saxon and Norman bloude, but untill oflate years retayned the British speache uncorrupted as theirs of Walesis. For the South Wales man understandeth not perfectly the North Walesman, and the North Wales man little of the Cornish, but the South Walesman much. The pronunciation of the tongue differs in all, but theCornish is far the easier to be pronounced. ” Here he goes on to comparethe sound of it with the Welsh, to the disadvantage of the latter. . . . “But of late the Cornishmen have much conformed themselves to the use ofthe English tongue, and their English is equal to the best, especially inthe Eastern partes; even from Truro eastward is in a manner whollyEnglishe. In the west parte of the county, as in the Hundreds of Penwithand Kerrier, the Cornishe tongue is mostly in use, and yet it is to bemarvelled that though husband and wife, parents and children, master andservauntes, doe mutually communicate in their native language, yet thereis none of them but in manner is able to converse with a stranger in theEnglish tongue, unless it be some obscure persons that seldom conversewith the better sort. ”

In 1630 Sir John Dodridge in his _History of the Ancient and Modernestate of the Principality of Wales_, _Duchy of Cornwall_, _and Earldomof Chester_, says: “The people inhabiting the same [_i. E. _ Cornwall] arecall’d Cornishmen, and are also reputed a remanent of the Britaines . . . They have a particular language called Cornish (although now much wornout of use), differing but little from the Welsh and the language of theBritaines of France. ”

In 1632, Dr. John Davies, the well-known Welsh lexicographer, published aWelsh translation of the _Booke of Christian Exercise_ of Robert Parsonsthe Jesuit, under the title of _Llyfr y Resolusion_. In it he gives aCornish version of the Lord’s Prayer and Creed, the earliest extant, andevidently translated from Latin, not from English. 

In the same year appeared a play called _The Northern Lass_, by RichardBrome. In this occurs an opprobrious sentence of Cornish, put into themouth of a Cornishman bearing the absurd name of “Nonsence, ” andaddressed to a Spaniard who had no English, on the argument that Cornwallbeing the nearest point of Britain to Spain, Cornish might possiblyapproach nearer to Spanish than English did. 

The next mention of Cornish we find in a diary of the Civil War, writtenby Richard Symonds, one of the Royalist army in Cornwall in 1644 (Brit. Mus. , Add. MS. 17, 052). He gives a short vocabulary of common words, together with four short sentences. To these he appends the followingnote:—

 “The language is spoken altogether at Goonhilly, and about Pendennis and the Land’s End they speak no English. All beyond Truro they speak the Cornish language. ”

Much about the same time William Jackman, the vicar of St. Feock, nearFalmouth, chaplain of Pendennis Castle during its siege by the rebeltroops, was in the habit of using Cornish for the words of administrationof Holy Communion, because the old people did not understand English. The Cornish words asserted to have been used by him were printed inHals’s History of Cornwall in 1750, though they do not occur in allcopies of that scarce book. 

In 1662 and 1667 John Ray, in his _Itinerary_, mentions one Dickon Gwyn(his real name was Dick Angwin), of St. Just, as the only man who couldwrite Cornish. Ray adds that few of the children could speak it, “sothat the language is like in a short time to be quite lost. ”

This is probably the “Sieur Angwin” mentioned in a valuable littletreatise on the Cornish language by John Boson of Newlyn, of which morelater. This little tract, entitled _Nebbaz Gerriau dro tho Carnoack_ (or“A few words about Cornish”), is only known from a copy which formerlybelonged to the late Mr. W. C. Borlase. It was written about the year1700, and according to it the Cornish-speaking district was then “fromthe Land’s End to the Mount and towards St. Ives and Redruth, and againfrom the Lizard to Helston and towards Falmouth, ” but the language haddecreased very much within the writer’s memory. 

It is recorded by Dr. Borlase that Cheston Marchant, who died at Gwithianin 1676 aged 164 (!), could speak nothing but Cornish. 

Writing in the latter part of the reign of Charles II. , William Scawen, aCornish antiquary, gives a long account of the state of the language inhis time, in a treatise in which he laments the decline thereof, accounting for it by no less than sixteen elaborate reasons. Thistreatise, _Antiquities Cornu-Britannick_, was abridged by Thomas Tonkin, the Cornish historian, and the abridgment was printed in 1777, and againby Davies Gilbert at the end of his history. A copy of the full form ofit in Tonkin’s beautiful handwriting, a much more elaborate work, is inAdd. MS. 33, 420 in the British Museum. According to this, theinhabitants of the western promontories of Meneage and Penwith were inthe habit of speaking the language, so much so that the parson ofLandewednack, Mr. Francis Robinson, used to preach in Cornish down to theyear 1678, that being the only tongue well understood by hisparishioners. Scawen mentions the MSS. Of the aforesaid “Anguin, ” as hespells him, and laments their destruction. He also speaks of a “Matins”(possibly a Primer, or Hours of our Lady) in Cornish, which had belongedto “Mr. Maynard. ” {17}

In Bishop Gibson’s edition of Camden’s _Britannia_, published in 1695, there is a short account of the Cornish Language, and the Lord’s Prayerand Creed, the same versions as those given by Scawen, are given asspecimens. According to Gibson the language was confined to two or threewestern parishes, and was likely to last a very little longer. Hementions the _Poem of the Passion_, the _Ordinalia_, and the _Creation_as the only books existing in the language. 

The next authority is that excellent Celtic scholar, Dr. Edward Lhuyd, who published his _Archæologia Britannica_ in the year 1707. He givesthe following list of the parishes in which the language was spoken:—St. Just, Paul, Buryan, Sennen, St. Levan, Morva, Sancreed, Madron, Zennor, Towednack, St. Ives, Lelant, Ludgvan, and Gulval, and along the coastfrom the Land’s End to St. Keverne (this would also include St. Hillary, Perran Uthno, Breage, Germoe, Mullion, Gunwalloe, Ruan Major and Minor, Landewednack, Grade, and St. Keverne), adding that many of theinhabitants of these parishes, especially the gentry, do not understandit, “there being no need, as every Cornishman speaks English. ” There isa letter of Lhuyd’s to Henry Rowlands, author of _Mono AntiquaRestaurata_ (1723), printed at the end of that work, in which similarinformation, dated 1701, is given. Lhuyd in this letter relates hisadventures in Brittany, and remarks on the closeness of Cornish toBreton. 

Then the language quickly receded, until, in 1735, there were left only afew people at Mousehole, Paul, Newlyn, St. Just, and other parishes alongthe coast between Penzance and the Land’s End who understood it. It wasabout this time that Gwavas and Tonkin finished their collections on thesubject, and the language they found seemed to them a most irregularjargon—a peculiarity of which was a striking uncertainty of the speakersas to where one word left off and another began. 

In the early part of the eighteenth century there was a little coterie ofantiquaries at Penzance and the neighbourhood, who had busied themselvesmuch with the remains of the old language. The patriarch of these wasold John Keigwin of Mousehole, the translator of the _Poem of thePassion_ and the play of _The Creation_. He was born in 1641, and diedin 1710, and, according to Lhuyd and Borlase, his knowledge of Cornishwas “profound and complete. ” However, that did not prevent him frommaking some extraordinary mistakes in his translations, which shouldperhaps be set down to the archaic form of the language with which he hadto deal. He seems to have been a considerable if rather pedanticlinguist, being accredited with an acquaintance with Latin, Greek, French, and even Hebrew, and in a translation into Cornish of the letterof King Charles to the people of Cornwall, he made use of his Hebrewknowledge when he failed to remember the exact Cornish word, writing“milcamath” for “war. ” Among the other members of this little party maybe mentioned William Gwavas, John Boson and his brother Thomas, ThomasTonkin the historian, Oliver Pender, and last (as probably the youngest)Dr. William Borlase, the author of the well-known History of Cornwall. It does not seem that any of these, except Keigwin, troubled themselvesmuch about Cornish literature, but they did good service in the way ofpreserving words, proverbs, colloquial sentences, etc. , and seem to havefound great enjoyment in translating various passages of Scripture, songs, etc. , into the Cornish that was current in their own day. Thesebeing spelt more or less phonetically (as far as the writers knew how todo so), and therefore varying a good deal in orthography, are now ofgreat value in determining the sound of the latest Cornish. 

When Lhuyd was at work upon his Cornish Grammar, he received considerableassistance from Keigwin, Gwavas, and Tonkin, and a vocabulary andcollection of Cornish fragments compiled by the last two under the titleof _Archæologia Cornu-Britannica_ were afterwards printed by Dr. WilliamPryce in 1790, with Lhuyd’s Grammar, _under his own name_, with the sametitle. {19} This fraud, if it really deserves so harsh a name, wasexposed by Prince L. L. Bonaparte, into whose hands the original MS. Ofsome of it fell; but though it certainly was not right of Pryce to act inthis manner, he does deserve some credit for having published thevocabulary at all, and the service that he did in so doing may be thebetter estimated by a knowledge of the fact that it was very considerablythrough the medium of Pryce’s publication that Dr. Edwin Norris obtainedthe acquaintance with Cornish necessary to enable him to bring out hisvaluable edition of the early Cornish dramas. It is strange that so muchabuse has been heaped upon Pryce, while Davies Gilbert has escaped withcomparative freedom, in spite of a villainously careless edition of anumber of scraps of Cornish (printed at the end of his edition of theplay of _The Creation_), gathered entirely from Tonkin’s MS. , the GwavasMS. , or the Borlase MS. , and inserted, with notes and all, without a wordof acknowledgment, and in such a manner as to lead one to think that thetranslation and notes at any rate were his own doing. Pryce certainlytook the trouble to correct his proofs, and Davies Gilbert could hardlyhave attempted to do so. Moreover, if Pryce’s preface be read carefully, it will be seen that he by no means claims the whole credit for himself, but gives plenty of it, though perhaps not enough, to Gwavas, Tonkin, Lhuyd, and Borlase. The impression left by the preface is that Pryce wasa more or less intelligent editor who added a little of his own, theamount of which he exaggerated. 

In 1746 Captain (afterwards Admiral) the Hon. Samuel Barrington, brotherof Daines Barrington the antiquary, took a sailor from Mount’s Bay, whospoke Cornish, to the opposite coast of Brittany, and found him fairlyable to make himself understood. In 1768 Daines Barrington himselfwrites an account of an interview with the celebrated Mrs. DollyPentreath, popularly, but erroneously, supposed to have been the lastperson who spoke the language. He also contributed to _Archæologia_, in1779, a letter received in 1776, written in Cornish and English, fromWilliam Bodenor, a fisherman of Mousehole, who according to Polwhele diedin 1794. The writer states that not more than four or five people in histown, and these old folk of eighty years of age, could speak Cornish. But Barrington says that he received information that John Nancarrow ofMarket-Jew, aged only forty in 1779, could speak it. Dolly Pentreathdied in 1777; but Pryce, in the preface to his book of 1790, part ofwhich is his own, though one knows not how much of it to believe, andWhitaker, vicar of Ruan-Lanihorne, in his Supplement to Polwhele’s_History of Cornwall_ (1799), mention that two or three people were stillliving who were able to speak Cornish, though this was only hearsayevidence. 

In his _History of Cornwall_, vol. V. (1806), the Rev. R. Polwhele speaksof one Tompson, an engineer of Truro, whom he met in 1789, the author ofthe well-known epitaph on Dolly Pentreath, and says that he knew moreCornish than ever Dolly Pentreath did. But Polwhele did not think thatat the time he wrote there were two persons living who could reallyconverse in Cornish for any length of time. Some years ago the presentwriter came upon a letter in the British Museum addressed to Sir JosephBanks, and dated 1791, the author of which mentions his own father as theonly living man who could speak Cornish. Unluckily the reference to theletter has been lost, and there is so much Banks correspondence in theBritish Museum that it is almost impossible to find it again. But thestatement is by no means conclusive, and there were probably severalother “last living men” going on at once, and certainly John Tremethack, who died in 1852 at the age of eighty-seven, must have known a good dealof Cornish, some words of which he taught to his daughter, Mrs. Kelynackof Newlyn, who was living in 1875. There was also George Badcock, thegrandfather of Bernard Victor of Mousehole, who taught a certain amountof Cornish to his grandson, who was living in 1875, when the presentwriter saw him. 

Then it is considered that Cornish, as a spoken language, died out. Theprocess was gradual, though perhaps rather rapid at the last, and, as faras is generally known, the old tongue finally disappeared in the earlierhalf of the nineteenth century. Words and sentences, and even suchthings as the Creed and Lord’s Prayer were handed on, some of them to ourown day. The mother-in-law of the present writer, Mrs. W. J. Rawlings(_née_ Hambly) of Hayle, who died in 1879 at the age of fifty-seven, hadlearnt to repeat the Lord’s Prayer and Creed in Cornish when she was achild at school at Penzance, but unluckily had quite forgotten them inlater life. In 1875 Mr. And Mrs. John Kelynack, Mrs. Soady, Mrs. Tregarthen, and Captain Stephen Richards, all of Newlyn, and Mr. BernardVictor of Mousehole handed on to the Rev. W. S. Lach Szyrma, then vicarof Newlyn, and to the present writer the tradition of the numerals and afew words and sentences, which may be found in a paper contributed by thepresent writer to the _Transactions of the Philological Society_ in 1876, and a few years later Dr. Jago received some of the same tradition. Thusit may be said that so long as any of these three are alive, a faintflicker of living Cornish remains, even if there is no verity in theweird legends of the survival of more as an esoteric language among thepeasantry and the mining and fishing folk of the West. But even if thespoken Cornish be dead, its ghost still haunts its old dwelling, for themodern English speech of West Cornwall is full of Celtic words, andnine-tenths of the places and people from the Tamar to the Land’s Endbear Cornish names. 

Mr. Hobson Matthews in his _History of St. Ives_, _Lelant_, _Towednack_, _and Zennor_, has an interesting chapter on Cornish. He gives reasonsfor supposing that the language survived in St. Ives, Zennor, andTowednack even longer than in Mounts Bay, and states that the families ofStevens and Trewhella were among the last to keep it up in Towednack. Healso mentions one John Davy, who was living in 1890 at Boswednack inZennor (a hamlet between the Gurnard’s Head and Zennor Churchtown), whohad some traditional knowledge of Cornish, knew the meanings of theplace-names in the neighbourhood, and “could converse on a few simpletopics in the ancient language. ” Unless Mr. Matthews, whose judgment onewould trust in such a matter, actually heard him do so, the laststatement is not easy to believe. 

CHAPTER II—THE LITERATURE AND OTHER REMAINS OF CORNISH

The following is a list, in order of date, of the known remains ofCornish from the earliest times to the end of the eighteenth century. There may be others of very early date, which have been hithertoclassified as old Welsh or Breton, such as the Lament for Geraint, Kingof Devon, generally attributed to Llywarch Hen, and certain glosses inLatin MSS. 

1. _The Manumissions in the Bodmin Gospels_ (Add. MS. 9381, in theBritish Museum). The MS. Is of the tenth century, and belonged to St. Petrock’s Priory of Black Canons, originally Benedictine, at Bodmin. Atthe beginning and end are manumissions of serfs from whose names abouttwo hundred Cornish words may be gathered. These have been printed inthe _Revue Celtique_ (vol. I. P. 332), with notes by Dr. Whitley Stokes. 

2. _The Cottonian Vocabulary_ (Cott. MS. Vesp. A. Xiv. , in the BritishMuseum). This forms part of a MS. Of the end of the twelfth century, andconsists of about seven pages, preceded by a calendar containing manyCeltic names, and followed by lives of Welsh and Cornish saints. Thewords are classified under various headings such as heaven and earth, different parts of the human body, birds, beasts, fishes, trees, herbs, ecclesiastical and liturgical terms, and at the end occur a number ofadjectives. It has been printed by Zeuss in his _Grammatica Celtica_, byDr. Norris with the _Ordinalia_, and has been incorporated into CanonWilliams’s Cornish Lexicon. Many of the words in it were incorporated byDr. John Davies in his Welsh Dictionary, as coming from what he calls the_Liber Landavensis_, and a quotation from the Life of St. Cadoc in thesame MS. Is spoken of in Camden’s _Britannia_ as coming from the Book ofLlandaff. The MS. Evidently bore that name for a time. It is probable, from certain mistakes in it, that the vocabulary is a copy of an earlierone, in which the letters _Ƿ_ and þ of the Saxon alphabet were used. 

Of about the same date as this manuscript was a composition in Cornish, of which the original is lost, except a few words. This was a _Prophecyof Merlin_, which only exists in a translation into Latin hexameters byJohn of Cornwall, who in his notes gives a few words of the original, which are certainly Cornish. Like many of the so-called Merlinprophecies, this relates to the struggle between Stephen and the EmpressMatilda, but it contains local Cornish allusions of great interest. Theonly known MS. Is one of the fourteenth century, in the Vatican. 

3. The single sentence, _In Polsethow ywhylyr anetkow_, in the Cartularyof Glasney College. If the writer of the history of the foundation ofthe college is correct, this prophecy, “In Polsethow [the Pool of Arrows, the old name of Glasney] shall be seen habitations, ” is older than thefoundation in 1265. It is therefore the oldest known complete sentenceof Cornish, and is interesting as containing the inflected passive_whylyr_. There is an abstract of the cartulary, by Mr. J. A. C. Vincent, in the 1879 volume of the _Journal of the Royal Institution ofCornwall_, and this sentence is given there, with an explanatory note bythe late Mr. W. C. Borlase. The original belongs to Mr. JonathanRashleigh of Menabilly. 

4. On the back of a charter in the British Museum (Add. Charter 19, 491)the present writer discovered in 1877 a fragment of forty-one lines ofCornish verse. The writing was very faint, indeed the MS. Had passedthrough other and by no means incompetent hands without this preciousendorsement being noticed, and the finder might have missed it too had henot been deliberately looking for possible Cornish words on the backs ofa number of charters relating to St. Stephen-in-Brannel, after he hadfinished the necessary revision of the cataloguing of these documents. The date of the document is 1340, but the Cornish writing on the back issomewhat later, perhaps about 1400. The language and spelling agree withthose of the _Poem of the Passion_ and the _Ordinalia_, and the exactmetre is not found anywhere else. The speaker (it may be a part in someplay) offers a lady to some other person as a wife, praises her virtues, and then gives the lady some rather amusing advice as to her behaviour toher future husband, and how to acquire the position attributed in Cornishfolklore to the influence of the Well of St. Keyne and St. Michael’sChair. A copy of these verses was printed in the _Athenæum_ in 1877, but, as the writer admits, his readings were not at all good, for thewriting was very faint. Dr. Whitley Stokes, who had the advantage ofworking on a photograph, which brought out many letters which wereinvisible in the original, published an amended version in the _RevueCeltique_. 

5. _The Poem of Mount Calvary_, or _The Passion_. —There are five MSS. Ofthis in existence. One is in the British Museum (Harl. 1782), and isprobably the original, said to have been found in the church of Sancreed. It is a small quarto, on rough vellum, written very badly in amid-fifteenth-century hand, and embellished with very rude pictures. Ofthe other copies, two are in the Bodleian, an incomplete and much“amended” one in the Gwavas collection of Cornish writings in the BritishMuseum, with an illiterate translation by William Hals, the Cornishhistorian, and one is in private hands. It has been twice printed, oncewith a translation by John Keigwin of Mousehole, edited by Davies Gilbertin 1826, and by Dr. Whitley Stokes for the Philological Society in 1862. There is very little in this poem beyond a versified narrative of theevents of the Passion, from Palm Sunday to Easter morning, taken directlyfrom the four Gospels, with some legendary additions from the Gospel ofNicodemus and elsewhere, preceded by an account of our Lord’s fasting andtemptation. The metre consists of eight-lined stanzas (written as fourlines) of seven-syllabled lines. There are two hundred and fifty-nine ofthese stanzas. 

6. _The Ordinalia_. —These consist of three dramas collectively knownunder this title. The first play, called _Origo Mundi_, begins with theCreation of the World, the Fall of Man, Cain and Abel, etc. ; this beingfollowed by the building of the Ark and the Flood, the story of thetemptation of Abraham closing the first act. The second act gives us thehistory of Moses, and the third represents the story of David and of thebuilding of Solomon’s Temple, curiously ending with a description of themartyrdom of St. Maximilla as a Christian (!) by the bishop placed incharge of the temple by Solomon. The second play, _Passio Domini_, represents the Temptation of Christ, and the events from the entry intoJerusalem to the Crucifixion; and this goes on without interruption intothe third play, _Resurrectio Domini_, which gives an account of theHarrowing of Hell, the Resurrection, and the Ascension, with the Legendof St. Veronica and Tiberius, and the death of Pilate. As in the _Poemof the Passion_, the pseudo-Gospel of Nicodemus and other legendarysources are drawn upon. 

But running through the whole and interwoven with the Scripturalnarrative comes the beautiful and curious Legend of the Cross. Thelegend, most of which is in the dramas, is this. When Adam found himselfdying, he sent his son Seth to the Gates of Paradise to beg of the angelthat guarded them the oil of mercy, that his father might live. Theangel let him look into Paradise, where he saw many strange and beautifulforeshadowings of things that should be upon the earth; and the angelgave him three seeds from the Tree of Life, and he departed. When hecame to where his father was, he found that he was already dead, and helaid the three seeds in his mouth, and buried him therewith on MountMoriah; and in process of time the three seeds grew into three smalltrees, and Abraham took of the wood thereof for the sacrifice of Isaachis son; and afterwards Moses’ rod, wherewith he smote the rock, was madefrom one of their branches. And soon the three trees grew together intoone tree, whereby was symbolised the mystery of the Trinity; and underits branches sat King David when Nathan the Prophet came to him, andthere he bewailed his sin, and made the Miserere Psalm. And Solomon, when he would build the Temple on Mount Sion, cut down the tree, whichwas then as one of the chiefest of the cedars of Lebanon, and bid menmake a beam thereof; but it would in no wise fit into its place, howsoever much they cut it to its shape. Therefore Solomon was wroth, and bid them cast it over the brook Cedron as a bridge, so that all mighttread upon it that went that way. But after a while he buried it, andover where it lay there came the Pool Bethesda with its healing powers;and when our Lord came on earth the beam floated up to the surface of thepool, and the Jews found it, and made thereof the Cross whereon Christdied on Calvary. 

The metres of these plays are various arrangements of seven andfour-syllabled lines, of which more anon in the chapter on prosody. There are three MSS. Of this Trilogy in existence, 1. The Oxford MS. Ofthe fifteenth century, from which the others were copied, and from whichDr. Edwin Norris edited the plays in 1859. 2. Another Oxford MS. , presented to the Bodleian by Edwin Ley of Bosahan about 1859, with atranslation by John Keigwin. The copy of the text is older by a centurythan the translation. 3. A copy in the library of Sir John Williams, Bart. , of Llanstephan, Carmarthenshire, with an autograph translation byKeigwin. This was Lhuyd’s copy. 

7. _The Life of St. Meriasek_. —This play, the MS. Of which was writtenby “Dominus Hadton” in the year 1504, as appears by the colophon, wasdiscovered by Dr. Whitley Stokes some thirty-two years ago among the MSS. Of the Peniarth Library, near Towyn in Merioneth. It represents the lifeand death of Meriasek, called in Breton Meriadec, the son of a Duke ofBrittany, and interwoven with it is the legend of St. Sylvester the Popeand the Emperor Constantine, quite regardless of the circumstance thatSt. Sylvester lived in the fourth century, and St. Meriasek in theseventh. The play contains several references to Camborne, of which St. Meriasek was patron, and to the Well of St. Meriasek there. It isprobable that it was written for performance at that town. The languageof the play is later than that of the _Ordinalia_, the admixture ofEnglish being greater, while a few of the literal changes, such as themore frequent substitution of _g_ (soft) for _s_, and in one instance(_bednath_ for _bennath_) the change of _nn to dn_, begin to appear. Thegrammar has not changed much, but the use of the compound and impersonalforms is more frequent, and the verb _menny_ has begun to be morecommonly used as a simple future auxiliary. The metres are much the sameas those of the _Ordinalia_. The spelling is rather more grotesque andvaried. But, since this play (or combination of plays) is to a largeextent on local Cornish and Breton, rather than on conventionalScriptural lines, it has an interest, full of mad anachronisms as it is, which is not to be found in the Biblical plays. Some passages are ofconsiderable literary merit, and a good deal of early Cornish and Bretonhistory is jumbled up in it, and yet remains to be worked out, for Dr. Whitley Stokes’s excellent edition of 1872 does not go very much intohistorical side questions. It is unlucky that this play was notdiscovered until after the publication of Canon Williams’s Lexicon, buthis own interleaved copy of the Lexicon, with words and quotations from_St. Meriasek_, is in the possession of Mr. Quaritch of Piccadilly, andDr. Stokes has published forty pages of new words and forms from the sameplay in _Archiv für Celtische Lexicographie_. 

8. The Cornish conversations in Andrew Borde’s _Booke of theIntroduction of Knowledge_, printed in 1542. —These consist of thenumerals and twenty-four sentences useful to travellers. They wereevidently taken down by ear, and appear in a corrupted form. Restoredtexts, agreeing in almost every detail, were published by Dr. WhitleyStokes in the _Revue Celtique_, vol. Iv. , and by Prof. Loth in the_Archiv fur Celtische Lexicographie_ in 1898. 

9. In Carew’s _Survey of Cornwall_, 1602, are the numerals up to twenty, with a hundred, a thousand, and what is meant for ten thousand, but isreally something else. There are also ten words compared with Greek, adozen phrases, some more words, and the Cornish equivalents of twelvecommon Christian names. 

10. _The Creation of the World_, _with Noah’s Flood_, by William Jordanof Helston, A. D. 1611. The construction of this play is very like thatof the first act of the _Origo Mundi_ (the metres are substantially thesame), and the author has borrowed whole passages from it; but as a wholeJordan’s play possesses greater literary merit, and there are manyadditions to the story in it, and much amplification of the ideas anddialogue. Occasionally sentences of several lines in English areintroduced, and it is curious to note that whenever this is the case, they are given to Lucifer or one of his angels, and in such a manner asto seem as if the author meant to imply that English was the naturallanguage of such beings, and that they only spoke Cornish when on theirgood behaviour, relapsing into their own tongue whenever they became morethan ordinarily excited or vicious. Five complete copies of this playare known, two of which are in the Bodleian, one in the British Museum(Harl. MS. 1867), and two are in private hands (one bound up with the MS. Of _The Passion_ already mentioned). Besides these there is a fragmentin a similar hand to that of the complete Museum copy (certainly not thatof John Keigwin, who translated the play in 1693 at the request of SirJonathan Trelawny, then Bishop of Exeter, though it has his translationon the opposite pages to the text) in the Gwavas collection in theBritish Museum. In a list of books published in _Welsh_ (as it isexpressed), given in one of Bagford’s collections for a History ofPrinting (Lansdowne MS. 808, in the British Museum), mention is made ofthis play. No date is given, but the names of the books are arrangedchronologically, and this comes between one of 1642 and one of 1662. Theplay has been printed (with Keigwin’s translation) by Davies Gilbert in1827, and with a translation by Dr. Whitley Stokes in the PhilologicalSociety’s volume for 1864. Of William Jordan, the writer, nothing isknown whatever. He may have been merely the transcriber, and it ispossible that the transcription may be connected with that revival ofCornish patriotism which seems to have happened in the early seventeenthcentury. 

11. _Nebbaz Gerriau dro tho Carnoack_ (A few words about Cornish), byJohn Boson of Newlyn. The only known MS. Of this little tract in Cornishand English was formerly among the MSS. Of Dr. William Borlase in thepossession of his descendant, Mr. W. C. Borlase. The present writer hadit in his possession for a short time in 1877 or 1878, and copied abouthalf of it, but returned it to Mr. Borlase, who wanted it back, and itwas then printed in the 1879 volume of the _Journal of the RoyalInstitution of Cornwall_. At the time of the sale of Mr. Borlase’slibrary, this tract, which when the present writer last saw it used tolive between the pages of Dr. Borlase’s MS. Collections on Cornish, didnot appear, and its present ownership is unknown. It is in thehandwriting of the Rev. Henry Usticke, Vicar of Breage (died 1769), andin the Gwavas MS. In the British Museum there are several pieces in thesame hand. As a copy of Boson’s original it is rather inaccurate, butBoson wrote by no means a clear hand. It is of great interest as thecomposition of one who, though he was brought up to speak English, as hehimself says, had acquired a thorough knowledge of Cornish as it wasspoken in his day, without having even looked at any of the literaryremains of the language. He was also a man of general education, and inthis tract and in his letters is rather fond of airing his Latin. Verylittle is known of him except that he was the son of Nicholas Boson andwas born at Newlyn in 1655 and died some time between 1720, the date ofhis last letter to Gwavas, and 1741, the date of the death of the latter, who is recorded to have received a copy of verses in Cornish found amongBoson’s papers after his death. The date of the _Nebbaz Gerriau_ isunknown, but it mentions a little book called _The Duchess of Cornwall’sProgress_, which the author says that he wrote “some years past” for hischildren, refers (though not by name) to John Keigwin, who died in 1710, as being still alive, and does not mention Lhuyd’s Grammar, published in1707, so that we may infer that the date is somewhere about 1700. _TheDuchess of Cornwall’s Progress_, which had at least thirty pages (for herefers to the thirtieth page), was probably in English, with a fewpassages in Cornish, which Dr. Borlase, who had seen two copies of it, transcribed into his Cornish Collections. Judging from his letters andfrom this tract, John Boson was a man of considerable intelligence, andone about whom one would like to know more, and his Cornish writings areof more value than those of the somewhat pedantic Keigwin. 

12. _The Story of John of Chy-an-Hur_. —This is a popular tale of somelength, of a labouring man who lived at Chy-an-Hur, or the Ram’s House, in St. Levan, and went east seeking work, and of what befell him. It isthe _Tale of the Three Advices_, found in many forms. It appears firstin Lhuyd’s Grammar, printed in 1707, where it has a Welsh translation. Lhuyd says that it “was written about forty years since, ” which dates it_circ. _ 1667. Part of it, undated, but in the hand of John Boson, occurswith an English translation in the Gwavas MS. (Brit. Mus. , Add. MS. 28, 554). This, as appears by a note on the back of the first leaf, waswritten out for Gwavas’s instruction in Cornish. The spelling isaltogether different from Lhuyd’s. Another copy in Cornish of Lhuyd’sspelling, with an English translation, is in the Borlase MS. , copied fromthe lost MS. Of Thomas Tonkin, with some corrections by Dr. Borlase. Itwas printed with Lhuyd’s Welsh and an English version, in Pryce’s_Archæologia Cornu-Britannica_ in 1790, and by Davies Gilbert at the endof his edition of Jordan’s _Creation_, 1827, in Cornish and English. TheEnglish versions of Borlase, Pryce, and Davies Gilbert are substantiallythe same, and are probably Tonkin’s. An English version, translated fromLhuyd’s Welsh, but pretended to be from Cornish, was printed in_Blackwood’s Magazine_ in 1818, and again in an abridged and expurgatedform in Mr. J. Jacob’s collection of Celtic Fairy Tales in 1891. Thereis a much amplified version of the story in English in WilliamBotterell’s _Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall_, published at Penzance in 1870, and a short and rather foolish one inHunt’s _Popular Romances of the West of England_, 1865, 1871, 1881. Thelanguage is a good specimen of the latest Cornish. The same story isgiven as an Irish folk-tale in an early volume of _Chambers’s Journal_. 

13. The Preface to the Cornish Grammar in Lhuyd’s _ArchæologiaBritannica_. This consists of two and a quarter folio pages of closeprint, and is written in the Cornish of his own day. It is the work of aforeigner, but is nevertheless very well done. A not very goodtranslation, probably the work of Tonkin and Gwavas, is given by Pryce, and reprinted by Polwhele in the fifth volume of his History. 

14. The rest of the remains of Cornish consist of a few songs, verses, proverbs, epigrams, epitaphs, maxims, letters, conversations, mottoes, and translations of chapters and passages of Scripture, the Lord’sPrayer, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, King Charles’s Letter, etc. They are found in the Gwavas MS. (Brit. Mus. , Add. MS. 28, 554), acollection made by William Gwavas, barrister-at-law, and ranging in datefrom 1709 to 1736; in the Borlase MS. Of the date of about 1750, in thehandwriting of Dr. William Borlase, Rector of Ludgvan, formerly in thepossession of his descendant, the late W. C. Borlase, F. S. A. , M. P. , butnow belonging to Mr. J. D. Enys, of Enys; in Pryce’s _ArchæologiaCornu-Britannica_, 1790, and in Davies Gilbert’s editions of the _Poem ofthe Passion_ and Jordan’s play of _The Creation_, published respectivelyin 1826 and 1827. Those in the Borlase MS. (except a few from a work ofJohn Boson), and those printed by Pryce and Davies Gilbert, were probablytaken from the Gwavas MS. And from Tonkin’s MSS. There is also oneepitaph dated 1709 in Paul Church, an epitaph on Dolly Pentreath, whichdoes not appear ever to have been inscribed on her tomb, and the letterof William Bodenor in 1776. 

These fragments may be classified as follows:—

Songs and Poems. 

1. Lhuyd’s Elegy on William of Orange, 1702. Sixty-three lines of versein rhyming triplets, in modern Cornish, with occasional archaic turns. Acopy occurs in the Gwavas MS. ; it was printed by Pryce, with a Latinversion, as part of a correspondence between Lhuyd and Tonkin, and byPolwhele in his fifth volume, with the same correspondence. There is acopy with an English version by John Keigwin in the library of Sir JohnWilliams, Bart. , of Llanstephan. 

2. A song beginning “_Ma leeas gwreage_, _lacka vel zeage_, ” a series ofmoral platitudes on married life and the bringing up of children, byJames Jenkins of Alverton, near Penzance (died 1710). This consists offive stanzas of five or six lines each. There is a complete copy in theGwavas MS. , and a copy wanting one line in the Borlase MS. , and this incomplete version, with a translation, has been printed by Pryce andDavies Gilbert. A note in Pryce says that Tonkin had it from Lhuyd andagain from Gwavas, whose is the translation. It is in idiomatic lateCornish, in rather wild spelling. 

3. Song on James II. And William of Orange, by John Tonkin of St. Just, a tailor, who appears to have been a solitary Whig in a nation ofJacobites, as with very few exceptions the Cornish certainly were. Itbegins, “_Menja tiz Kernuak buz galowas_, ” and consists of fourteenfour-lined stanzas of modern Cornish, probably composed in 1695, to judgeby the historical allusions. It is in the Gwavas MS. Only, and has neverbeen printed. 

4. A song of moral advice by the same writer, beginning “_Ni venja pea amunna seer_, ” and consisting of seven four-lined stanzas, only one ofwhich, beginning “_An Prounter ni ez en Plew East_, ” has been printed(from the Borlase MS. ) in the _Journal of the Royal Institution ofCornwall_ for 1866. The complete song is in the Gwavas MS. , and hasnever been published. 

5. A song beginning “_Pelea era why moaz_, _moz_, _fettow_, _teag_”(Where are you going, fair maid? he said). This consists of sixfour-lined stanzas, the second and fourth lines of each stanza being theburthen:—

 “_Gen agaz bedgeth gwin_ (or according to Borlase, Tonkin, and Gwavas, _pedn du_) _ha agaz blew mellyn_”

 (With your white face, or black head, and your yellow hair)

and

 “_Rag delkiow sevi gwra muzi teag_”

 (For strawberry leaves make maidens fair). 

The song was sung by one Edward Chirgwin or Chygwin, “brother-in-law toMr. John Groze of Penzance, at Carclew, in 1698, ” as a note by T. Tonkinsays. Whether it was translated from English or whether the Cornish isthe original does not appear. The story is not quite the same (or quiteso scrupulously “proper”) as the English nursery version. There is acopy in the handwriting of Chirgwin in the Gwavas MS. , and one copiedfrom Tonkin’s MS. In the Borlase MS. It was printed by Pryce in anamended form, and by Polwhele. 

6. A song on the curing of pilchards (not a very poetical subject) byJohn Boson. Twenty-six lines of rhyming couplets beginning “_Me canna vewar hern gen cock ha ruz_” (I will sing, or my song is, of pilchards withboat and net), and describing the process of bringing the fish ashore andputting them into bulks and making “fairmaids” of them. There is a copywith a translation in the Borlase MS. , which was printed in the _Journalof the Royal Institution of Cornwall_ for 1866, and Davies Gilbertprinted it at the end of his edition of Jordan’s _Creation_ in 1827, butwithout any translation. 

Verses and Epigrams. 

1. Nine short sayings in verse, printed in Pryce and Davies Gilbert, andcopied by Borlase from Tonkin. The first, “_An lavar goth ewe lavargwir_, ” etc. , occurs also in Lhuyd. 

2. Epigram on the verdict in the suit of Gwavas _v. _ Kelynack, respecting tithes of fish. Eight lines by W. Gwavas. It occurs in theGwavas and Borlase MSS. , and in Pryce and Polwhele. 

3. “To Neighbour Nicholas Pentreath, ” by Gwavas. Six lines. In theBorlase MS. , and in Pryce and Polwhele. 

4. “Advice from a friend in the country to his neighbour who went up toreceive £16, 000 in London, ” by John Boson. In the Borlase MS. , and inPryce and Polwhele. Eight lines. 

5. “On a lazy, idle weaver. ” In the Gwavas and Borlase MSS. , and inPryce and Polwhele. Six lines. 

6. “Verses on the Marazion Bowling-Green. ” In the Gwavas and BorlaseMSS. , and in Pryce and Polwhele. Six lines by Gwavas. 

7. “Advice to Drunkards. ” Four lines, by Gwavas. In the Gwavas andBorlase MSS. , and in Pryce and Polwhele. 

8. A Cornish riddle. Five lines. In the Gwavas and Borlase MSS. , andin Pryce, Gilbert, and Polwhele. 

9. “Advice to all men. ” Written by Gwavas to form part of his ownepitaph. Four lines. 

10. “Another” [of the same sort], three lines, also by Gwavas. 

11. “A concluding one, ” four lines, also by Gwavas. These last three, copied from the same page of the Gwavas MS. , all occur also in theBorlase MS. , and in Pryce, Gilbert, and Polwhele. 

12. “A Fisherman’s Catch, ” given by Capt. Noel Cator of St. Agnes to T. Tonkin, 1698. In the Borlase MS. , and printed in the _R_. _I_. _C_. _Journal_, 1866, and in Mr. Hobson Matthews’s History of St. Ives, Lelant, Towednack, and Zennor. 

13. Six lines of moral advice, found among the papers of J. Boson afterhis death, and given to Gwavas. In the Borlase MS. , and _R_. _I_. _C_. _Journal_, 1866. 

14. Certificate of Banns from W. Drake, Rector of St. Just, to Thos. Trethyll, Vicar of Sennen. Two versions, one in the Gwavas MS. And onein Pryce, the latter being also in the Borlase MS. Drake died in 1636. 

15. Verses on a silver hurling ball given to W. Gwavas. Seven lines byThos. Boson, 1705. In the Gwavas MS. Unpublished. 

16. Three couplets of verse, and a short piece of prose from J. Boson’s_Duchess of Cornwall’s Progress_. In the Borlase MS. Unpublished. 

17. Prophecy, attributed to Merlin, of the burning of Paul, Penzance, and Newlyn. Two lines. In the Borlase MS. , and often printed in Cornishhistories and guide-books. 

18. Elegy on the death of James Jenkin of Alverton. Four verses ofthree lines each, by John Boson, 17 Feb. 17 [11/12]. In the Gwavas MS. Unpublished. 

Proverbs, Mottoes, and Maxims. 

1. From Scawen. Fourteen proverbs. In the Borlase MS. ; printed in theedition of Tonkin’s abridgment of Scawen’s _AntiquitiesCornu-Britannick_, 1777, and in Davies Gilbert’s History, and in hisedition of the _Poem of the Passion_. Also in _R_. _I_. _C_. _Journal_, 1866, with sixteen others from the Borlase MS. 

2. Mottoes of the families of Gwavas, Harris of Hayne, {39} Glynne, Tonkin, Godolphin, Boscawen, Polwhele, Noye, and Willyams of Carnanton. All except those of Glynne, Noye, and Willyams are printed in Pryce. Allbut Glynne and Willyams occur in Davies Gilbert’s edition of Jordan’s_Creation_, and the Willyams motto, though it occurs as a Cornish phrasein Pryce’s preface and in the Gwavas and Tonkin MSS. , is only found as amotto in pedigree books and on the sign-board of the inn in MawganChurchtown. The Glynne motto, “_Dre weres agan Dew_” (Through the helpof our God), is given, with an incorrect translation, in Mr. HobsonMatthews’s History. 

3. Mottoes for bowls, occurring in the Gwavas MS. , and some in DaviesGilbert’s edition of _The Creation_. 

4. Maxims, proverbs, etc. , about thirty in number, in the Borlase MS. , in Pryce, and in Davies Gilbert’s edition of _The Creation_, under thetitle of “Sentences in vulgar Cornish. ” Some of them are also in theGwavas MS. 

Conversations and Phrases. 

1. About seventy sentences, in the Borlase MS. , in Pryce, and in DaviesGilbert’s edition of _The Creation_, under the title of “Things occurringin common discourse. ” There are some additional ones in the Borlase MS. 

2. About a hundred and fifty phrases, sentences, and idioms, copied byDr. Borlase from Lhuyd’s MSS. Some, but by no means all, are in Lhuyd’sGrammar. 

3. A considerable number of similar phrases scattered throughoutBorlase’s Cornish Vocabulary at the end of his History of Cornwall. These are to be found, evidently copied from the Vocabulary, in amanuscript which belonged in 1777 to Henry Brush of Carnaquidn Stamps (onthe road from Penzance to Zennor), which place belonged to William Vealeof Trevaylor, who married the daughter of Gwavas. The MS. Is now in thepossession of a descendant of Henry Brush. 

4. A few expressions and phrases scattered through the Gwavas MS. , inthe letters of Boson, and in letters and notes of Gwavas. 

Epitaphs. 

1. On James Jenkins, by John Boson, 17[11/12], in the Gwavas MS. Fourlines. The Borlase MS. , quoting the very letter in which it occurs, saysthat it is on John Keigwin, which is a mistake. 

2. On John Keigwin, by John Boson, 1715. In the Gwavas MS. Four lines. 

3. On Capt. Stephen Hutchens, in Paul Church, 1709. The only Cornishinscription in any church. Probably by John Boson. Two lines. Frequently printed in guide-books, etc. 

4. On William Gwavas, by himself. In the Gwavas MS. , and in Pryce, Polwhele, and Davies Gilbert. Partly in English. 

These four are also in the Borlase MS. , and are printed in the _R_. _I_. _C_. _Journal_, 1866. 

5. On Dolly Pentreath, by --- Tompson of Truro, engineer. Printed byPolwhele, and later in Blight’s _Week at the Land’s End_, and otherguide-books. A variant occurs in John Skinner’s _Journal of a Tour inSomerset_, _Devon_, _and Cornwall_, 1797, in Add. MS. 28, 793, f. 62, inthe British Museum. 

Letters. 

1. William Gwavas to Oliver Pender, 11th August 1711. Partly inCornish. 

2. Oliver Pender to W. Gwavas, 22nd August 1711. Mostly in Cornish. 

3. John Boson to W. Gwavas, 5th April 1710. Nearly all in Cornish. 

4. An unsigned letter, including a version of the “Old Hundredth. ”Partly in rhyme. 

5. Note, addressed apparently to one going to America, by WilliamGwavas, 1710, on the back of a copy of the Creed in Cornish. 

These five are in the Gwavas MS. , and have never been printed. 

6. Letter of William Bodenor to the Honble. Daines Barrington, 3rd July1776. Printed in _Archæologia_ (vol. V. , 1779), in “Uncle JanTreenoodle’s” _Specimens of Cornish Provincial Dialects_, 1846; in apaper on the Cornish Language by the present writer in the _Transactionsof the Philological Society_, 1873, and in _Archiv für CeltischeLexicographic_, with notes and emendations by Prof. Loth, in 1898. 

Translations. 

Passages of Scripture. 

_Genesis_ i. Two versions, one by John Boson and one probably by JohnKeigwin. Both are in the Gwavas MS. One, Boson’s, with his name to it, is in the Borlase MS. Boson’s was printed by D. Gilbert at the end ofhis edition of the _Poem of the Passion_, and in a much revised form byCanon Williams at the end of his Lexicon. Keigwin’s version was printedby D. Gilbert at the end of his edition of Jordan’s _Creation_. Thereare many verbal variations from the Gwavas copies in the printededitions. 

_Genesis_ iii. , translated by William Kerew, in the Gwavas MS. Publishedby Prof. Loth in the _Revue Celtique_, April 1902. 

_St. Matthew_ ii. 1-20, translated by W. Kerew, in the Gwavas MS. Published in the _Revue Celtique_, April 1902. 

_St. Matthew_ iv. , also by W. Kerew, in the Gwavas MS. Published in the_Revue Celtique_, April 1902. 

The last three were copied from a MS. Of Matthew Rowe of Hendra inSancreed, by H. Usticke. 

_Proverbs_ xxx. 5, 6. 

_Psalms_ ii. 11; vii. 11; xxxv. 1, 2. 

These are in the Gwavas MS. , probably translated by W. Gwavas himself. Unpublished. 

_The Hundredth Psalm_, of the Sternhold and Hopkins version, literallytranslated line for line, followed by an unsigned letter partly in rhyme. In the Gwavas MS. Unpublished. 

The Lord’s Prayer. 

There are ten versions extant besides the modern one of Canon Williams. 

1. In John Davies’s _Llyfr y Resolusion_ (a translation of RobertParsons’s _Book of Christian Exercise_), printed in 1632, and again in1684. Translated from the Latin. 

2. In Scawen’s _Antiquities Cornu-Brittanick_, circ. 1680. Printed inTonkin’s abridgment in 1777. The same version is given in BishopGibson’s additions to Camden’s _Britannia_ in 1695, and by Polwhele. 

3, 4. Two versions in John Chamberlayne’s _Oratio Dominica in diversaslinguas versa_, 1715, one of which is evidently meant for the version inScawen and Camden. 

5, 6. Two versions by John Keigwin, one said to be in Ancient Cornishand the other in Modern. Both are in the Gwavas and Borlase MSS. , andwere printed by Pryce and D. Gilbert. 

7, 8. Two versions, one by John and one by Thomas Boson, in the GwavasMS. Unpublished. 

9, 10. Two versions by W. Gwavas, in the Gwavas MS. Unpublished. Oneof these, nearly identical with Keigwin’s Modern, is said in a note tohave been collected from J. Keigwin, Thomas Boson, Captain Thomas Tonkin, Oliver Pender, James Schollar, and T. Tonkin. 

The first four are without the εκφώνησις at the end. All except thefirst are from the English. 

The Apostles’ Creed. 

1. In the _Llyfr y Resolusion_, 1632, 1684. 

2. In Scawen and in Gibson’s Camden. 

3. In Hals’s _History of Cornwall_. 

4, 5. By John Keigwin, one in the Gwavas MS. And both m the Borlase MS. , and printed by Pryce and D. Gilbert. 

6. By Thomas Boson, in the Gwavas MS. Unpublished. 

7, 8. By William Gwavas, in the Gwavas MS. Unpublished. 

There is a modern revised version in Williams’s Lexicon. 

The Ten Commandments. 

1, 2. By John Keigwin, one in the Gwavas MS. , and both in the BorlaseMS. , and in Pryce and D. Gilbert. One of these in a revised form is inWilliams’s Lexicon. 

3. In the Gwavas MS. , but without name. Unpublished. 

4. By John Boson, in the Gwavas MS. Printed with notes by Prof. Loth invol. Xxiv. Of the _Revue Celtique_. 

5. By William Kerew, in the Gwavas MS. Printed with the preceding. 

6. By T. Boson, in the Gwavas MS. Unpublished. 

7. By W. Gwavas, in the Gwavas MS. Unpublished. 

The Words of Administration of Holy Communion. 

These are stated to be the words used by William Jackman, Vicar of St. Feock. They occur in Hals’s History. 

King Charles I. ’s Letter to the People of Cornwall. 

This is a translation by John Keigwin of the Letter of Thanks from theMartyr King to the People of Cornwall for their loyalty in 1643, still tobe seen in many churches in the Duchy. It occurs in the handwriting ofKeigwin in the Gwavas MS. , and in Dr. Borlase’s hand in the Borlase MS. It has been misprinted, with notes by the present writer (who had noopportunity of revising the proofs), in the Rev. A. Cummings’s _Historyof Cury and Gunwalloe_, 1875, and Mrs. Dent’s _Annals of Winchcombe andSudeley_ (the place from which the original Letter is dated), 1877. 

 * * * * *

The following grammatical and lexicographical pieces belong more or lessto the living period of Cornish:—

1. Lhuyd’s _Cornish Grammar_, printed in his _Archæologia Britannica_ in1707, and reprinted by Pryce in 1790. 

2. Lhuyd’s _Cornish Vocabulary_. The unpublished MS. Belongs to SirJohn Williams, Bart. , of Llanstephan, Carmarthenshire. Most of the wordsin it are to be found in Borlase’s and Pryce’s Vocabularies (see below). They were collected partly from the Dramas, partly from the CottonianVocabulary, and partly from living people. 

3. _The Gwavas Vocabulary_. This is a short vocabulary of the latestCornish (extending from A to O) in the Gwavas MS. The words wereincorporated into Borlase’s Vocabulary. 

4. _The Hals Vocabulary_. This is a fragment (A to C) in the Gwavas MS. It is fantastic and of little value. 

5. _The Borlase Vocabulary_, compiled from the MSS. Of Lhuyd, Gwavas, and Tonkin, from Lhuyd’s _Archæologia_, from oral tradition, and fromother sources. The original MS. Is in the Borlase Collection, nowbelonging to Mr. J. D. Enys, and it was printed at the end of Dr. Borlase’s _Antiquities Historical and Monumental of Cornwall_ in 1754, and again, revised, in 1769. It is a copious vocabulary, but is renderedrather less valuable by the inclusion of a large number of Welsh andBreton words, gathered chiefly from other parts of Lhuyd’s _Archæologia_, or from John Davies’s Welsh Dictionary. 

6. _Pryce’s Vocabulary_, or rather that of Gwavas, Tonkin, and Pryce. Printed, with Pryce’s edition of Lhuyd’s Grammar, at Sherborne in 1790. Some of this vocabulary was collected from the literary remains ofCornish, but a very large part was compiled from living tradition, notmuch by Pryce himself, but by Gwavas and Tonkin. 

Though some of these have been used by Canon Williams in his _LexiconCornu-Britannicum_, by Dr. Whitley Stokes in his Supplementary CornishGlossary (_Transactions of the Philological Society_, 1868-9), and stillmore in Dr. Jago’s English-Cornish Dictionary, they have not beenthoroughly exhausted yet, and a good many more words may be collectedfrom them, as also from the attempted interpretations of place-names inPryce’s book and in the Gwavas MS. 

PART II—THE GRAMMAR OF THE CORNISH LANGUAGE

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

The Cornish language divides very naturally into three periods, (1)Ancient, (2) Middle, (3) Modern. 

1. The Ancient period is only represented by the Cottonian Vocabulary, which, though a MS. Of the twelfth century, is probably a copy of a muchearlier one, by perhaps a few glosses, and by the names in the BodminGospels. It has no extant literature. 

2. The Middle period is that of the Add. Charter fragment, the_Ordinalia_, the _Poem of the Passion_ (fifteenth century), the _Life ofSt. Meriasek_ (1504), and to some extent of the play of _The Creation_(1611), though the last is partly transitional. Judging from the fewwords preserved in John of Cornwall’s twelfth-century translation of aprophecy of Merlin, the lost original of that was perhaps in an earlyform of Middle Cornish. 

3. The Modern period begins with the few sentences in Andrew Borde’sbook (1542), and continues to the end. 

As the whole of the extant literature of Middle Cornish is in verse, itgives us little help as regards the colloquial Cornish even of its ownperiod, and judging from Andrew Borde’s sentences, only some forty yearslater than the _St. Meriasek_ and seventy years earlier than Jordan’splay, Middle and Modern Cornish must have overlapped one another a gooddeal. It is probable that those who wrote verse would continue to usearchaic forms long after they had been dropped in prose and inconversation. But the difference between Middle and Modern Cornish isnot really very great, and comes to very little more than a difference ofspelling, an uncertainty about the final letters of certain words, and atendency to contractions, elisions, and apocopations in words, which, though recognised in their fuller form in the spelling of Middle Cornishverse, may have been nearly as much contracted, elided, and apocopated inMiddle Cornish conversation. Dr. Whitley Stokes points out in hisedition of Jordan’s _Creation_ certain changes, and though the languageof that play is substantially Middle Cornish, the spelling is largely ofthe pre-Lhuydian popular Modern Cornish sort. Among these changes arethe following:—

 1. The final _e_ becomes _a_. [This is perhaps only a question of spelling, and need not imply a difference of sound. Probably a sound as of the German final _e_ is intended. {50}]

 2. _th_ and _gh_ have become mute, and are often interchanged. [In Modern Cornish _th_ is often omitted, or represented by _h_. ]

 3. _m_, _n_, become respectively _bm_, _dn_. [Probably the sounds existed long before they were recognised in spelling. ]

 4. _s_ becomes frequently a soft _g_ (_j_). [This _j_ sound also may have existed long before it was written as a _g_ or _j_. The _s_ of the earlier MSS. Was probably never intended to represent in these cases a true _s_. Dr. Stokes might also have mentioned the similar cases of _she_ being used where the older MSS. Write _sy_ for the second person singular. ]

The apparent changes of vowel sounds in the still later Cornish, morefully discussed further on, are mostly these:

 1. _a_ long sometimes becomes _aw_, especially before _l_, _n_, or _r_, and occasionally as a final; _a_ short, under similar circumstances, becomes _o_ short. 

 2. _u_, with (approximately) the French sound of that letter, becomes _ee_ (_î_), or else _ew_, as in the English word _dew_. 

 3. _eu_, _ue_, with the French sound of _eu_, or the German _o_, becomes _ê_ (=_ay_ in _may_). 

 4. _y_ of Middle Cornish, perhaps pronounced as _ĭ_, but sometimes obscurely, like the primary sound of the Welsh _y_, often became short _e_. 

 5. An open long _y_, which may have been sounded _ee_ (_î_) in Middle Cornish, often later became _ei_ (or as _i_ in _mine_), though there are inconsistencies in this respect, showing that the change was not universal. 

 6. In a considerable number of cases short _o_ became the “obscure vowel, ” _o_ of _London_ or _u_ of _until_. 

It does not follow that these were very distinct changes between Middleand Modern Cornish. Possibly the change in sound was a good deal lessthan on paper, and consisted in intensifying earlier changes. The MiddleCornish system of spelling looks very like an inheritance from an earliertime still. 

The grammatical changes were few, and, except for a diminishing use ofpronominal suffixes, those, like the new preterite of _gwîl_, to do, werechiefly false analogies, or else imitations of English. But it is to beremembered that a great proportion of the remains of Modern Cornishconsists of translations and a few original compositions by persons whoseown language was English, who had in some cases learnt Cornish veryimperfectly. This would apply to most of the translations of passages ofScripture, to Lhuyd’s Preface (though, of course, _his_ own language wasWelsh), and to Gwavas’s attempts. The really valuable specimens are thewritings of Boson, Bodenor’s Letter to Daines Barrington, some of theGwavas MS. Letters and songs, and the story of John of Chy-an-Hur. These, written by men who spoke Cornish fluently and had no theories andoften no knowledge of philology, probably represent what people reallyspoke in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. That faintness andeven silence of final letters, which seems to have been a characteristicof Cornish as it is of French, was the cause that, in writing asphonetically as they knew how, these practical speakers of Cornish oftenomitted the ends of words, and made it seem as though their verbs hadlargely lost their inflections. Words were spelt alike which should havebeen differentiated—it was as though one should spell _avais_, _avait_, _avez_, and _avaient_ all alike, and words were run together that shouldhave had at least apostrophes between them; but the grammar was notalways as broken-down as it looks, and by a comparison with the olderremains of Cornish it is not difficult to restore approximately theproper spelling. The Cornish represented in Lhuyd’s writings has tendedto confuse some things. Lhuyd was a Welshman, and is constantly tryingto run off into Welsh, and he had for his teacher John Keigwin, whothought that he understood the Cornish of the mediæval dramas, but wasoften mistaken. Probably had a resuscitated mediæval Cornishman read thedramas aloud to Keigwin, he would have understood them quite as well asthe ordinary English board-school boy would understand St. Paul’sEpistles in the Authorised Version, read by a revived Jacobean divine;but the spelling and the mediæval handwriting, which he could not alwaysread, put him out terribly, and some very weird forms and words are theresult. Also Keigwin had, or thought he had, a knowledge of Hebrew andGreek, which he uses on occasions with dire results. Far be it from anyCornish student to undervalue the usefulness of Keigwin. But for him, and for Gwavas and Tonkin, the work of reconstruction would have beenmuch more difficult than it is, and these writers undoubtedly preserved agreat deal of most valuable matter that otherwise would have been lost, but their work needs to be used with great caution, and the translationsand original compositions which they produced do not always representquite fairly the late forms of the language. 

CHAPTER I—SPELLING AND PRONUNCIATION

§ 1. On the Pronunciation in general. 

In simple Cornish words of more than one syllable the stress accent isgenerally, though not universally, on the last but one. {54} The vowelof this syllable has usually its plain, clear _long_ or _short_ sound. The vowels of the unaccented syllables are usually _obscure_ in the caseof two of the broad vowels (_a_, _o_), and _short_ in the case of thethin vowels (_e_, _i_, _y_) and of _u_, unless they are combinations oftwo vowels, in which case they are always long; but _e_ in a finalunaccented syllable is also generally _obscure_. The _obscure_ vowel isthe sound of _u_ in the English word _until_, or _o_ in _London_, andthere is very little, if any, difference in sound between the obscure_a_, _e_, _o_, and _u_. When this sound occurs, as it occasionally does, on an accented syllable, or anywhere where it might be mistaken for aplain sound, it is written, according to the spelling of this book, _ă_, _ŏ_, or _ŭ_. 

In words of one syllable ending in a consonant the vowel is generally tobe taken as _short_, unless it is marked long (_â_, _ê_, _î_, _ô_, _û_, _ŷ_), or is a combination of two vowels. In monosyllables ending in avowel, that vowel usually has its _long_ sound, but as Cornish is largelyaccented in ordinary conversation by _sentences_ (as is the case inGaelic, and to a considerable extent in English), many monosyllables areslurred over with no accent (as _enclitics_ or _proclitics_, according towhether they follow or precede the word on which they depend), and withmore or less of the _obscure_ vowel. The modern Cornish intonation ofEnglish is probably a very fair guide to the intonation of Cornish. {55}

The consonants, especially _f_, _v_, _dh_, _th_, are rather more lightlysounded than in English. Any peculiarities of sound will be given undereach consonant. 

During the period in which the existing remains of Cornish literaturewere written, that is, between the twelfth and the middle of theeighteenth century, the spelling was very unsettled. There were at leastsix different systems, if no more. 

 1. That of the Cotton Vocabulary. 

 2. That of the _Ordinalia_, with a sub-variety in that of the _Poem of the Passion_. 

 3. That of the _St. Meriasek_. 

 4. That of Jordan’s _Creation_. 

 5. That of Boson, Keigwin, and other seventeenth and eighteenth century writers. 

 6. That of Lhuyd. 

Not only did different writers differ from one another, but various waysof representing the same sound were used by the same writer. The earlierspelling shows a certain amount of Welsh, old English, and old Frenchaffinities; the latest is evidently modelled on modern English, whichdoes not suit it very well, and the transition from one to the other isnot very abrupt. It is the object of the present book to represent theprobable pronunciation of Modern Cornish by a system fairly consistent initself, but not too startlingly divergent from those adopted by previouswriters (or from that of Breton, where coincidence occurs), and not toomuch encumbered with diacritical signs. It is to some extent a followingof Dr. Edward Lhuyd, whose system, though rather clumsy and unnecessarilypuzzling in places, was on the whole very good and of great value. 

§ 2. The Vowels. 

Simple: _a_, _â_, _e_, _ê_, _i_, _î_, _o_, _ô_, _ŏ_, _u_, _û_, _ŭ_, _y_, _ŷ_. 

Compound: _aw_, _ei_, _ey_, _ew_, _oi_, _oy_, _ou_, _ow_. 

a. Simple vowels. 

1. _a_, short, as _a_ in _man_. Before _l_ and _r_ it is generallysounded as _o_ in _not_. 

2. _â_, long, the lengthened sound of _a_ short, _not_ as the Englishbroad _a_ in _father_, or long _a_ in _mane_, but as a broad _a_ iscommonly sounded in Cornish English. Thus _bâ_ would have somethingbetween the sound of the English word _bare_ (of course without the _r_trilled at all) in the mouth of a correct speaker, and the actual soundof the bleat of a sheep. {56}

In some words, and especially before a liquid followed by a consonant, _a_ tends to be sounded as _aw_ or short _o_. Thus _âls_, cliff, _gwander_, weakness, _wartha_, upper, are sounded _awls_, _gwonder_, _wortha_ or _worra_, and _brâs_, great, is sounded _brawz_. 

In unaccented syllables _a_ represents nearly the sound of _u_ in_until_, or, as a final, the English sound of _a_ at the end of propernames, such as _Vienna_, _Maria_, etc. , which is more or less the final_e_ of German, _meine_, _deine_, etc. , or perhaps the _e_ of the Frenchwords _le_, _de_, _me_, etc. 

3. _e_, short, as _e_ in _men_, _pen_, etc. 

4. _ê_, long, as _ai_ in _main_, _ay_ in _say_. {57}

5. _i_, short, as _i_ in _in_, _pin_, etc. 

6. _î_, long, as _ee_ in _seen_, etc. 

7. _o_, short, as _o_ in _on_. 

8. _ô_, long, as _aw_ in _dawn_, not as _o_ in _bone_. 

9. _ŏ_, obscure, as _o_ in _London_, _ton_, etc. 

10. _u_, short, as _u_ in _full_. 

11. _û_, long, as _oo_ in _fool_. 

12. _ǔ_, obscure, as _u_ in _until_. 

13. _ŷ_, long, as _i_ in _mine_. 

14. _y_, short, as _y_ in _carry_, _marry_, etc. This is used chieflyas an unaccented final in a word of more than one syllable. 

In the case of the letter _y_, there is a variation of sound in suchmonosyllables as _nŷ_, _whŷ_, _jŷ_, _hŷ_ under certain circumstances. Inthis system of spelling the circumflex is omitted when these words areenclitic. 

b. Compound vowels. 

Of these, _aw_, _ai_, _ei_, _ay_, _ey_, _ou_, are only repetitions of thesimple vowels _ô_, _û_, and _ŷ_. The other four have sounds nototherwise represented. 

1. _aw_ has the same sound as _ô_. It is very rarely used. 

2. _ai_, _ay_, _ei_, _ey_, have nearly the same sound as _ŷ_, rathermore diphthongalised. 

3. _eu_, _ew_ have the sound of _ew_ in the English word _dew_, theusual English long _u_. This sound is also represented in Cornish by _y_consonant followed by _u_, as in the word _yu_, is, which has exactly thesound of the English personal pronoun _you_. 

4. _oi_, _oy_ have the sound of _oy_ in _boy_. 

5. _Ow_ has two sounds—(1) as an unaccented final, as _o_ in _bone_. This is also its sound when it occurs without any consonant, in thepossessive pronoun _ow_, my, and the participle particle _ow_; (2) inother cases it sounds as _ou_ in _you_, and rarely as _ow_ in _now_. 

6. _Ou_ has the same sound as _û_, and as the second sound of _ow_. Itis the regular symbol for that sound in Breton, and very commonly in theCornish dramas, where, as in Breton, _u_ commonly represented, approximately, the French _u_, which later became _î_ or _ew_. 

General Remarks on the Vowels. 

In the Middle Cornish manuscripts the vowels are represented in variousways, and there is a special uncertainty about unaccented and obscurevowels. 

Vowels were sometimes lengthened by doubling, or by adding a _y_, andrarely, until Jordan’s _Creation_, by adding a mute _e_ after the closingconsonant; but often quantity was not indicated at all. 

Long _î_ (_ee_ in _see_) was more often than not represented by _y_, but, as in Welsh, _y_ not infrequently represented the obscure vowel (_u_ in_until_), and often a sound which later became a short _e_, but inunaccented syllables was, as is not unusually the case in English, moreof the nature of the obscure vowel, or perhaps something between that anda short _i_. Indeed all unaccented vowels tend to become obscure, verymuch as they do in English, and hence are variously expressed. 

The _u_ of the earlier MSS. Probably once represented approximately theFrench _u_ or the German _u_, the _u_ of Devon and East Cornwall English, or the _ao_ of Scottish Gaelic, not exactly the same sounds, but verynear to each other. As in Greek and Welsh, this sound approached nearerand nearer to _î_ (_ee_ in _seen_), until in Cornish it ceased to berecognised as having any _u_ sound in it at all. In Welsh it is stillwritten as _u_, and in carefully spoken Welsh is quite distinguishablefrom _î_. In Breton the sound is still approximately that of the French_u_. In some words in Cornish this sound became _ew_ (as in the Englishword _few_) and rarely _û_ (_oo_ in _moon_), but generally it became _î_(English _ee_). {59a}

What was once the sound of the French and Breton _eu_ or the German _o_, was represented in the MSS. By _u_, _eu_, _ue_. Later this became _ê_(_ay_ in _may_). Thus, _dueth_ or _duth_, “came, ” became _dêth_; _luen_, _leun_, “full, ” became _lên_; _due_, “comes, ” became _dê_; _mur_, _meur_, “great, ” became _mêr_. This change is found occasionally as early as the_Poem of the Passion_. The rhythm shows that _ue_ and _eu_ form only onesyllable. In the case of _lues_ (=_luas_), many, which later became_lîas_ (or _leeas_), the rhythm shows that the _u_ and _e_ did not form asingle vowel. Occasionally, as in the second person plural of certaintenses, _eu_ of the early MSS. Became _ew_, which it was probablyintended to represent, but was often confused with _ou_ (=_û_ or _oo_). {59b}

The sound of _ô_ or _aw_, as it certainly became in later Cornish, wasrepresented by _e_, _o_, _oy_, _a_, _oa_, _ao_, _au_, _aw_. The tendencyto pronounce _a_ as _aw_ or short _o_ before _l_, _n_, _r_, doubled orfollowed by a consonant, and sometimes single, is very marked in thespelling of late Cornish, and in the present pronunciation ofplace-names. There is no evidence of its age in Cornish; but it is verycommon in English and Irish, though unknown in standard Welsh or Breton. 

There seems no doubt, by the same evidence, that a long _y_ of olderCornish often became _i_, as in the English word _mine_. Vulgarly, aswith the English long i, it sometimes even became _oy_. Boson writes_choy_ for _chy_, house, but Lhuyd writes it _tshẏi_ or _tshei_, whichlast is its usual modern sound in place-names. _Nŷ_, we, _whŷ_, you, _jŷ_, they, and _hŷ_, she, are written _nei_, _huei_, _dzhei_, _hei_, byLhuyd, and Jenkins of Alverton, using the earlier form of the thirdperson plural, written _y_ in the Dramas, spells it _eye_. Yet there arecases where the older pronunciation is retained, and probably this wasalways the case when the words were enclitic. Prof. Loth has pointed outa similar change in the Quiberon sub-dialect of Vannetais Breton, andthat in some of the same words. 

In the unscientific spelling of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, that is to say, in the system of every one except Lhuyd, and occasionallyof Gwavas and Tonkin when they followed Lhuyd, the English values of theperiod were often given to the letters; but the following were vowelsymbols in general use:—

For _â_ of the _a_, _aa_ Lhuyd _â_. Present system

, , _a_, , _a_, _u_, _e_, _o_, , _a_. 

, , _ê_, , _ea_, , _ê_. 

, , _e_, , _e_, _i_, , _e_. 

, , _î_, , _ee_, , _î_, _ŷ_. 

, , _i_, , _i_, , _i_. 

, , _ô_, _aw_, , _oa_, _o_, _aw_, Lhuyd writes an inverted _au_, _ao_ _a_ or _ô_. 

, , _o_, , _o_ Lhuyd _o_. 

, , _ŏ_, _ŭ_, _ă_, , _o_, _u_, _a_, _e_, , _ẏ_. 

, , _ŭ_, _ou_, , _u_, _oo_, _ou_, , _ụ_, _û_. 

, , _ow_, , _ô_, _ow_, _ou_, _au_, , _oụ_, _o_, _ô_. 

, , _u_, , _u_, _oo_, , _u_. 

, , _ew_, _yu_, _eu_ _ew_, _yu_, _yw_, , _iụ_, _yụ_, _eụ_. , , , , _ŷ_, _ei_, _ay_, , _y_, _ei_, _ay_, , _ei_, _y_, _ẏ_. 

, , _y_, , _y_, _i_, _e_, , _y_, _i_. 

A final _e_ mute was often used to lengthen a vowel, as in English. Manynames of places and persons retain this _e_ mute at the present day, andwhen the preceding vowel is _a_, educated persons generally give it thesound of the English long _a_ in _mane_, but that is a change analogousto the modern vulgarism of pronouncing _clerk_ as _clurk_ instead of_clark_. The proper sound of the Cornish _â_ is still heard in suchwords in the mouths of the peasantry. Compare such a name as _Polglaze_in the two pronunciations. 

§ 3. The Consonants. 

Simple: _b_, _c_, _d_, _f_, _g_, _h_, _j_, _k_, _l_, _m_, _n_, _p_, _q_, _r_, _s_, _t_, _v_, _w_, _y_, _z_. 

Compound: _bm_, _ch_, _dh_, _dn_, _gw_, _gh_, _ng_, _qw_, _sh_, _th_, _wh_, _zh_, _gwl_, _gwr_, _qwr_, _wl_, _wr_. 

a. Simple consonants. 

1. _b_ has the same sound as in English. 

2. _c_ is always hard, being used only before _a_, _o_, _u_. The samesound before _e_, _i_, _y_ is represented by _k_. 

3. _d_ before _a_, _o_, _u_ is usually hard, as in English, but, as inGaelic, before _e_, _i_, _y_ it has a sound approaching to _j_, or like_di_ in _soldier_. In the MSS. A soft _g_ was often written for _d_ insuch cases. It is a common change in many languages. Cf. The Italian_oggi_, to-day, for the Latin _hodie_. 

4. _f_ has the same sound as in English. In the MSS. It is oftenconfused with _v_. As a final it is very lightly sounded. 

5. _g_ is always hard, as in _get_, _go_. The soft _g_, as in _gin_, ishere represented by _j_, but in the MSS. _g_ was often used for it. 

6. _h_ has two degrees of sound. As an initial it is rather morelightly sounded than in English, except when it is a mutation of _c_ (seeChapter II. ), when it is more strongly sounded. Then, and when it occursin the middle of a word, it represents in a lighter form the guttural_c’h_ of Breton, the _ch_ of German, Welsh, and Gaelic, or the guttural_gh_ of older English. At the end of a word this is to be written _gh_. It is a smooth guttural, as in Scottish Gaelic, without the rasping soundwhich it has in colloquial Welsh or in German. 

7. _j_ is sounded as in English. It generally represents what was oncewritten _s_. Lhuyd writes _dzh_ for this sound, and the MSS. Oftenrepresent it by _g_. 

8. _k_ is generally only used before _e_, _i_, _y_, or as a final. Ithas the same sound as in English. It often happens in grammaticalinflections that a broad root vowel is changed to a thin one. In suchcases if the preceding letter is a _c_ it must be changed to _k_. 

9. _l_ has the ordinary English sound. Sometimes a double _l_ ofearlier Cornish was written _lh_ (_telhar_, place, for _teller_). Thismay perhaps represent the aspirated _ll_ of Welsh, or (as in Portuguese)the _l mouillé_ (as _li_ in _valiant_). 

10. _m_ has usually the same sound as in English. When it follows a_short_ vowel in an _accented syllable_ or a _monosyllable_, it has apeculiar sound as though a _b_ were prefixed to it, or as though thespeaker had a slight cold in the head. This _b_ was frequently writtenin the later MSS. , and in the mouths of less educated persons the _b_supplanted the _m_ altogether. Thus _lemmyn_, now, became successively_lebman_ and _lebban_. The vanishing of the _m_ altogether did not occurin monosyllables, and it is undesirable to imitate it in other words. Inthe system of spelling adopted in this book, the _b_ will be written incases where it was habitually written in later Cornish, but even when itis not written it is always to be sounded in the case of _short_ vowelsin _accented_ syllables or _monosyllables_. 

11. _n_ is usually sounded as in English. When it follows a _short_vowel in an _accented_ syllable or in a _monosyllable_, a _d_ sound(analogous to the _b_ sound with _m_) precedes it. This _d_ is oftenwritten in the later MSS. , and will be used in this book in cases whereit is regularly found in later Cornish, but it is to be pronounced evenwhere it is not written. In words of more than one syllable {63} the _d_often supplanted the _n_ (e. G. _henna_, that, became successively _hedna_and _hedda_), and monosyllables were sometimes made into dissyllables byit (e. G. _pen_, _pedn_, _pedden_); but both of these are vulgarisms notto be imitated. 

12. _p_ is sounded as in English. 

13. _q_ is sounded as in English, and is always followed by _w_. It isgenerally used in an initial mutation (see Chapter II. ) of _gw_, butoccurs occasionally, followed by _w_, as a radical sound. 

14. _r_ has the same sound as in correct English, that is to say, it isvery slightly heard when followed by a consonant or at the end of a word, unless the next word begins with a vowel, but, as in English, it ofteninfluences the preceding vowel. Its full sound is trilled, not guttural. 

15. _s_ is the most puzzling of the consonants. It had probably four orfive different values in the MSS. , and might represent _s_, _z_, _sh_, _zh, _ _j_ according to circumstances. As an initial, or before _c_, _k_, _f_, _l_, _m_, _n, _ _p_, _q_, _r_, _t_, _w_, it was generally _s_, as in_so_; as a final, and before _b_, _d_, _g_, _j_, _v_, it was normally _z_or as _s_ in _rose_. But between two vowels in the same word, or comingafter another consonant and followed by a vowel, or as a final followedby a word beginning with a vowel and closely connected grammatically withits predecessor, it had commonly the sound of _j_, so much so that _g_soft was often substituted for it, and there are cases where even aninitial _s_ must have meant _sh_ or _zh_. Thus we find _cowsesow_, speeches, written _cowgegyow_, _carensa_, love, _carenga_ (for_carenja_), and in place-names, though we find _Nanskeval_, _Nanspean_, _Nanswidn_ when the epithet begins with a consonant, when it begins witha vowel we find _Nanjizel_ (=_Nans isal_, the lower valley). Sometimesin late Cornish the definite _j_ sound so completely superseded the _s_or _z_, that it or its equivalent, _g_ soft or _dzh_, was always writtenfor it, and in such cases it is written _j_ in the present system ofspelling, but in other cases the best rules will be to pronounce _s_

 1. As an initial; before _c_, _k_, _f_, _l_, _m_, _n_, _p_, _q_, _r_, _t_, _w_; or when doubled, as _s_ in _so_. 

 2. As a final, except when the next word, grammatically connected, begins with a vowel; or before _b_, _d_, _g, _ _j_, _v_, as _z_ or _s_ in _rose_. 

 3. Between two vowels in the same word; after another consonant and followed by a vowel; or as a final followed by a grammatically connected word, such as an epithet, beginning with a vowel, as _j_. 

For the last rule compare Mrs. Gamp’s pronunciation of English (in_Martin Chuzzlewit_). There seems to have been an inherent tendency tothe _j_, _sh_, or _zh_ sounds in every Cornish _s_, {64} but especiallyin those which represent a _d_ or _t_ of Welsh and Breton. The writer isaware that this is a very inadequate discussion of the question, but hedoes not wish to be unduly intricate, or to enter into a deep phoneticexplanation. Those who would study the question more minutely arereferred to an article by Prof. J. Loth in vol. Xviii. Of the _RevueCeltique_. 

16. _t_ before _a_, _o_, _u_ is hard, as in English, but before _e_, _i_, _y_ has a sound approaching to that of _ch_ in _church_, or to _ti_in words ending in _tion_. Sometimes _ch_ is written and fullypronounced where a _t_ was formerly written. Thus _chŷ_, house, wasformerly _ty_, and in the eighteenth century _tî_, thou, was pronouncedand often written _chee_. 

17. _v_ is sounded as in English, but is often nearly inaudible at theend of a word, unless the next word begins with a vowel. Thus _ev_, he, is often written _e_ in later MSS. 

18. _w_, except in compound vowels, is always a consonant, and has thesame sound as in English. For its sound before _l_ and _r_ see Compoundconsonants. 

19. _y_ consonant is sounded as _y_ consonant in English, or as _j_ inGerman. It is always consonant when it precedes a vowel, unless it iswritten _ŷ_, when it is a vowel, as in such words as _crŷes_, _tŷak_, etc. 

20. _z_ is only used as an initial, but it is seldom used at all. Thesound is that of an English _z_. 

b. Compound consonants. 

1. _bm_, _dn_ represent respectively the sound of _m_ and _n_ after ashort vowel in an accented syllable or monosyllable (see _m_, _n_). There is no vowel sound between the two letters. 

2. _ch_ is always sounded as in _church_. It usually represents aformer _t_, or else occurs in borrowed English words. 

3. _dh_ is sounded as _th_ in _thy_, _the_, etc. , the Welsh _dd_, theOld English and Icelandic ð, the Modern Greek δ. In the MSS. It isrepresented by _th_ or [Picture: Letter]. Lhuyd writes it δ. {65}

4. _th_ (written [Picture: Letter] by Lhuyd) is sounded as _th_ in_thin_, _thick_, etc. , the Welsh _th_, the Old English and Icelandic þ, the Greek _θ_. At the end of a syllable, especially after _r_, thesounds of _dh_ and _th_ are very light and tend to become inaudible, andare often represented by _h_, or omitted altogether. Thus, _gwartha_, _porth_, _barth_, _lowarth_, _gordhya_, _gortheb_, _kerdh_ often appearas _gwarha_, _gwarra_, _por_, _barh_, _lowar_, _lowarh_, _gorria_, _gorreb_, _kerr_. Thus also, _Porthgwartha_ (in St. Levan), is nowwritten _Porthgwarrah_ and pronounced nearly _Pergworra_. 

5. _gh_ is used at the end of words for the strong or guttural _h_. Lhuyd writes a Greek χ for this sound. 

6. _ng_ (written by Lhuyd with an inverted Irish _g_) has the sound of_ng_ in _singer_, not as in _finger_ or _manger_. 

7. _sh_ has the same sound as in English. It is only used in a fewwords of English derivation. 

8. In _wh_ the _h_ is always sounded. This combination represents theWelsh _chw_. Lhuyd writes it _hu_. 

9. _zh_ has the broader sound of _sh_, or that of the French _j_. 

10. In _gwl_, _gwr_, _qwr_, _wl_, _wr_ there is a very light but quiteaudible sound of _w_ before the _l_ or _r_. So light is the _w_ that itwas often omitted in the MSS. Thus _gwlasketh_, kingdom, _gwrîg_, did, and the mutation _wrîg_ were sometimes written _glasketh_, _grîg_, _rîg_. But this was incorrect. 

 * * * * *

There must have been among Cornish speakers a tendency to a somewhatblurred sound of certain letters, as though there were an obstruction ofsome sort in their vocal organs, not altogether unlike that attributed onthe stage and in fiction, with some foundation in fact, to the Hebrewrace. This is shown by the tendency to turn _s_ and _z_ into _sh_ and_zh_, and to insert _b_ before _m_, and _d_ before _n_. In the Englishspoken in Cornwall at the present day this tendency has quitedisappeared, and the pronunciation, though not always the same as thestandard English, is remarkably crisp and clear. Readers are solemnlywarned against attempting to base or support any theories of Jewish oreven of Phœnician influence in Cornwall on the above coincidence. 

These directions for pronunciation must needs be only approximate. Theexact phonetics are not attainable. The pronunciation of Cornishplace-names forms something of a guide to the old sounds, only one mustbe careful not to be misled by the modern tendency to pronounce words asthey are spelt according to the English values of letters, and one mustalso remember that there is no settled system of place-name orthography. 

CHAPTER II—THE INITIAL MUTATIONS

In all the Celtic languages there are certain partly grammatical andpartly phonetic changes of the first letters of words, which are calledby various names, the most convenient of which is _initial mutations_. These changes take place in Cornish when words beginning with the letters_P_, _C_ or _K_, _T_ or _Ch_, _B_, _G_, _D_ or _J_, and _M_ are precededby certain adjectives, prepositions, pronouns, particles, etc. , whichstand in some governing or qualifying relation to them. Words beginningwith other letters, except occasionally _F_ and _S_, do not change theirinitials. Very similar changes are often made in the case of the secondhalves of compound words. 

The mutable letters, _P_, _C_ or _K_, _T_ or _Ch_; _B_, _G_, _D_ or _J_form two classes, with mutual relations to one another. A third class, related to the other two, is formed of _F_ or _V_, _H_, _Dh_, and _Th_. Of these last _F_ and _H_ are the only ones that can occur as primary orunchanged initials. Of these

 _P_, _C_ or _K_, and _T_ or _Ch_ are called _tenues_ or thin (or hard) letters. 

 _B_, _G_, and _D_ or _J_ are called _mediæ_ or middle (or soft). 

 _F_ or _V_, _H_, _Dh_, and _Th_ are called _aspirates_. 

One set of _tenuis_, _media_, and _aspirate_ is called _labial_ (or lipletters), a second is called _guttural_ (or throat letters), a third iscalled _dental_ (or teeth letters), from the parts of the mouth most usedin forming them. 

 The _labials_ are:—

 _Tenuis_, _P_; _Media_, _B_; _Aspirate_, _F_ or _V_. 

 The _gutturals_ are:—

 _Tenuis_, _C_ or _K_; _Media_, _G_; _Aspirate_, _H_. 

 The _dentals_ are:—

 _Tenuis_, _T_ or _Ch_; _Media_, _D_ or _J_; _Aspirate_, _Th_ or _Dh_. 

There is no difficulty in perceiving that the letters forming each ofthese classes are closely related to one another; in most languages theyare interchangeable under certain conditions, and the changes in theCeltic languages called _initial mutations_ are based upon theserelations, though the method, rules, and arrangement of these changesdiffer in the six languages, as do also the names by which they areknown. 

In Cornish (as in Breton) the general principle is that (1) the _tenuis_changes under some circumstances into the _media_, and under others intoa form of the _aspirate_; and that (2) the _media_ changes to a form ofthe _aspirate_ under some circumstances, and into the _tenuis_ underothers; but that (3) the conditions which change the _tenuis_ into the_media_ change the _media_ into the _aspirate_: while those which change(4) the _tenuis_ into the _aspirate_ leave the _media_ unchanged; andthose which change (5) the _media_ to the _tenuis_ leave the _tenuis_unchanged. 

In this book we shall call the original or radical condition of a wordits FIRST STATE. 

 Thus _Pen_, a head, _Car_, a friend, _Tâs_, a father, _Blew_, hair, _Gras_, grace, _Dên_, a man, _Mab_, a son, are in their first state. 

The change of the _tenuis_ to the _media_, or a radical _media_ to an_aspirate_, we call the SECOND STATE. 

 Thus, the same words in their second state are _Ben_, _Gar_, _Dâs_, _Vlew_, ’_ras_, _Dhên_, _Vab_. 

The change of the _tenuis_ to the _aspirate_ we call the THIRD STATE. 

 Thus, for the first three words the third state is _Fen_, _Har_, _Thâs_. 

The other four, beginning with _mediæ_ or _m_, have no third state. 

The change from the _media_ to the _tenuis_ we call the FOURTH STATE. Itis commonly called _provection_. 

 Thus, the fourth state of _Blew_, _Gras_, and _Dên_ (the words beginning with _tenues_ or _m_ having no fourth state) is _Plew_, _Cras_, _Tên_. 

[It is to be noted, however, that none of these three words, being nouns, would be likely to be subjected to this last change in any realconstruction, for the fourth state is used almost exclusively with _ow_, the particle of the present participle of verbs, with the conjunctions_a_ and _mar_, if, and _maga_, as, sometimes with the verbal particle _y_or _e_, and sometimes with the adverbial particle _en_, so that it isgenerally applied to verbs and adjectives. ]

The following is a table of changes:—

 _P_ has two changes, to _B_ (second state), and _F_ (third state). 

 _C_ (or _K_) {70a} has two changes, to _G_ (second state) and _H_ (third state). 

 _T_ (or _Ch_) {70b} has two changes, to _D_ (or _J_) {70b} (second state) and _Th_ (third state). 

 _B_ has two changes, to _V_ (second state) and _P_ (fourth state). 

 _G_ has two changes, omitted or changed to _W_ (second state) and _C_ {70a} or _K_ or _Q_ (fourth state). 

 _D_ has two changes, _Dh_ (second state) and _T_ (fourth state). 

 _M_ has one change, to _V_ (second state). 

Occasionally in a few words _F_ changes in the second state to _V_, andin one case to _H_. _S_ rarely changes to _Z_. There is one change of_D_ to _N_ (like what is called the nasal mutation in Welsh). This is inthe word _dôr_, earth, which after the article _an_ is _nôr_. 

In the following tables cases of the use of mutations are shown. It isto be noted that _e_, his, is one of the words which govern the secondstate, and _ow_, my, the third state, and _agan_, our, the first state, while the particle _ow_ of the present participle governs the fourthstate. 

Examples of the use of the first, second, and third states:—

 First State. Second State. Third State. 

Tenues:

_Agan Pen_, our head _e ben_, his head _ow fen_, my head

_Agan Car_, our _e gar_, his friend _ow har_, my friendfriend _e dâs_, his father _ow thâs_, my father_Agan Tâs_, ourfather

Mediæ:

_Agan Blew_, our hair _e vlew_, his hair _ow blew_, my hair (no change)_Agan Gras_, our _e ’ras_, his gracegrace _ow gras_, my grace (no _e wolow_, his light change)_Agan Golow_, ourlight _e dhên_, his man _ow golow_, my light (no change)_Agan Dên_, our man _e vab_, his son _ow dên_, my man (no_Agan Mab_, our son change)

 _ow mab_, my son (no change)

Examples of the use of the fourth state:—

 First State. Fourth State. 

Tenues:

_Palas_, to dig _ow palas_, digging (no change)

_Cara_, to love _ow cŏra_, loving (no change)

_Kelmy_, to bind _ow kelmy_, binding (no change)

_Terry_, to break _ow terry_, breaking (no change)

Mediæ:

_Bewa_, to live _ow pewa_, living

_Gǒrra_, to put _ow cŏrra_, putting

_Gwelas_, to see _ow qwelas_, seeing

_Dôs_, to come _ow tôs_, coming

_Môs_, to go _ow môs_, going (no change)

There are a few irregular mutations. Rarely a _B_ after the adverbialparticle _en_ changes to _F_ instead of _P_, e. G. _en fras_, greatly, from _bras_, sometimes an _M_ after the same particle changes to _F_, sometimes an initial _G_ becomes _Wh_, not _C_ or _K_, for the fourthstate, and in the MSS. There are other exceptional changes. Themutations are very irregularly written even in the best MSS. Sometimes aword is written in its first state when it ought to be in one of theother states, and sometimes mutations are made when they ought not to be, but probably the writers used them correctly enough in speaking, withoutperhaps clearly recognising the changes as they made them. 

The rules for the use of the initial mutations will be given, as occasionoccurs, throughout the book, and they will be tabulated at the end, wherethey will require less explanation than they would if they were givennow. But this chapter should be thoroughly learnt and understood beforegoing any further, as these changes are a very important part of Cornishgrammar, and a habit should be formed of making them correctly. 

CHAPTER III—THE ARTICLE

§ 1. The definite article _the_ is _an_, for all numbers and genders. When the noun that follows is _feminine_ and _singular_, or _masculine_and _plural_, its initial, if mutable, is in the second state. If it is_masculine_ and _singular_, or _feminine_ and _plural_, the initial is inthe first state. {73}

When the article _an_ is preceded by a preposition or conjunction, andsometimes by other words, ending in a vowel, the article loses its voweland is written ’_n_. Thus:—

 _Dên_, man, masc. Sing. ; _an dên_, the man. _dhô’n dên_, to the man. 

 _Benen_, woman, fem. Sing. ; _an venen_, the woman. _dhô’n venen_, to the woman. 

 _Tassow_, fathers, masc. Plur. ; _an dassow_, the fathers. _dhô’n dassow_, to the fathers. 

 _Benenes_, women, fem. Plur. ; _an benenes_, the women. _dhô’n benenes_, to the women. 

The apostrophe is not written for the elided _a_ of _an_ in the MSS. , butthe preposition and article appear as one word, _dhôn_, _dren_, _han_, etc. , for _to the_, _by the_, _and the_, etc. But it is better to writeit, to avoid confusion, especially between _a’n_, from the, and thesimple article, _an_. There are certain cases of contraction which havebeen accepted as single words, and in these the apostrophe is not used. Thus _pandra_ (=_pa an dra_, “what (is) the thing?” _i. E. _ “what is it?”)is used for the interrogative “what?” but is never written _pa’n dra_. There are occasional further compounds of _pandra_, e. G. _pandrus_ (or_pendrus_)=_pa an dra es_, or _pandryu_=_pa an dra yu_, both meaning“what thing is?” _pandrama_=_pa an dra a wrama_, “what shall I do?”_pandrellen_=_pa an dra a wrellen_, “what should I do?”

As in the other Celtic languages, when a noun is followed by another nounin the possessive appositional genitive, the first noun has no definitearticle. Thus _chŷ an dên_, the house of the man, not _an chŷ an dên_. The same rule applies to a similar appositional genitive in Hebrew—acurious coincidence between two quite unconnected languages. 

§ 2. The Indefinite Article. 

As a rule a singular noun without any article expressed, except in thecase of a noun followed by the appositional genitive, is considered to bein the indefinite state, and would be translated into English by a nounpreceded by the indefinite article _a_ or _an_. But partly as a corruptfollowing of English or French, and partly for emphasis, denoting _asingle one_ (like _yr un_ in Welsh), the word _a_ or _an_ is sometimesrepresented by _idn_ (earlier _un_), one. This is rare, especially inlate Cornish. A similar indefinite article is common in Breton. Occasionally _idn_ or _un_ was used, as in Breton, with a verbal noun (orinfinitive), to form what in English would be a present participle. _Ynun scolchye_, skulking, lit. In a skulking (_Passion_, 74, 2), _yn ungarme_, shouting, crying out, lit. In a shouting (_Passion_, 168, 1), _ynun fystyne_, hastening, lit. In a hastening (_Passion_, 178, 1; 241, 4), but this construction is not found in late Cornish. 

CHAPTER IV—THE NOUN

§ 1. The Formation of Nouns. 

Nouns are either primitive or derived. Primitive nouns have no specialterminations to distinguish them from other words. Derived nouns, chiefly abstract, are formed from adjectives, verbs, or other nouns. There are also verbal nouns which have the form of the infinitive ofverbs. 

1. Nouns are derived from adjectives and occasionally from nouns andverbs, by adding _der_ or _ter_. Thus:—

 _dader_, goodness, from _da_, good. 

 _gwîrder_, truth, from _gwîr_, true. 

 _gwander_, weakness, from _gwan_ or _gwadn_, weak. 

 _golowder_, brightness, from _golow_, light. 

 _tekter_, beauty, from _teg_, beautiful. 

 _whekter_, sweetness, from _wheg_, sweet. 

 _îthekter_, horror, from _îthek_, horrible. 

 _melder_, sweetness (to taste), from _mel_, honey. 

 _yender_, coldness, from _yên_ or _yein_, cold. 

 _splander_, brightness, splendour, from _splan_, bright. 

 _tewlder_, darkness, from _tewal_, dark. 

 _tewder_, thickness, from _tew_, thick. 

 _tanowder_, thinness, from _tanow_, thin. 

 _powsder_, heaviness, from _pows_, heavy. 

 _scavder_, lightness (of weight), from _scav_, light. 

 _medhalder_, softness, from _medhal_, soft. 

 _glanithder_, cleanness, from _glanith_, clean. 

 _mǒgilder_, warmth, from _mǒgil_, warm. 

 _tǒmder_, heat, from _tǒm_ (or _tǔbm_), hot. 

 _downder_, depth, from _down_, deep. 

 _sehter_ (or _zehar_), drought, from _segh_, dry. 

 _ewhelder_, height, from _ewhel_, high. 

 _crevder_, strength, from _crev_, strong. 

Some adjectives ending in _s_ revert to an original _t_ in thisformation. Thus:—

 _calletter_, hardness, from _cales_, hard. 

 _goscotter_, shelter, from _goskes_, sheltering. 

 _ponvotter_, trouble, from _ponvos_, trouble. 

It will be seen that this _der_ or _ter_ answers to the Englishtermination _ness_, and may be added to almost any adjective to form thecorresponding abstract noun. 

2. Abstract nouns are derived from other nouns or adjectives by theaddition of _eth_ or _neth_. 

 _gwiryoneth_, truth, from _gwiryon_, truthful. 

 _cosoleth_, rest, peace, from _cǒsel_, quiet. 

 _skîantoleth_, wisdom, from _skîantol_, wise. 

 _folneth_, folly, from _fol_, a fool. 

 _materneth_, royalty, from _matern_, a king. 

 _gokeneth_, stupidity, from _goky_, a fool. 

 _mescogneth_, {76} madness, from _mescok_, a madman. 

 _gowegneth_, falsehood, from _gowek_, a liar. 

 _roweth_, bounty, from _ro_, a gift. 

This termination answers more or less to the Latin _itas_ or English_ity_. 

3. Abstract nouns are derived from verbs by the addition of _ans_. Thus:—

 _crejyans_, belief, from _cresy_ (or _crejy_), to believe. 

 _givyans_, forgiveness, from _gava_, to forgive. 

 _deskyans_, learning, from _desky_, to learn. 

 _disqwedhyans_, discovery, from _disqwedhas_, to discover. 

 _gordhyans_ (_gorryans_), glory, from _gordhya_ (_gorrya_), to worship. 

 _bownans_, life, from _bewa_, to live. 

 _marnans_, death, from _marwel_ or _merwel_, to die. 

 _selwans_, salvation, from _selwel_, to save. 

 _tristyans_, sadness, from _trist_, sad. 

 _tibyans_, thought, from _tibya_, to think. 

This termination answers to the Latin _antia_ or _entia_, and the English_ance_ or _ence_. It is generally added to the root of the verb. 

4. Nouns signifying agents or doers are derived from other nouns, adjectives, and verbs by the addition of _or_, _er_, _ar_, or _yas_(earlier _iad_ or _iat_). 

 _tŷor_, a tiler, from _tŷ_, to cover. 

 _pestrior_, a wizard, from _pestry_, magic. 

 _pescajor_, a fisherman, from _pescas_, plur. Of _pesk_, fish. 

 _cosǒlyer_, a counsellor, from _cǒsǒl_, counsel. 

 _revader_ or _revajor_, a rower, from _rev_, an oar. 

 _trǒccyer_, a fuller. 

 _lyuyar_, a dyer, from, _lyu_, colour. 

 _gwîadar_, a weaver, from _gwîa_, to weave. 

 _bǒnkyer_, a cooper, from _bǒnk_, a blow. 

 _ǒmdowlar_, a wrestler, from _ǒmdowla_, to wrestle. 

 _gǒnnador_ or _gonajor_, a sower, from _gǒnas_, to sow or plant. 

 _mijar_, a reaper, from _mijy_, to reap. 

 _stênor_, a tinner, from _stên_, tin. 

 _selwyas_, a saviour, from _selwel_, to save. 

 _gwithyas_ (also _gwithyor_), a guardian, from _gwithya_, to keep. 

 _kernyas_, a trumpeter, from _corn_, a horn. 

 _rennyas_, a carver, from _ranna_, to divide. 

 _sewyas_, a tailor, from _sewy_, to sew. 

 _pǔrkenyas_, an enchanter, from the intensive prefix _pur_ (lit. Very) and _cana_, to sing. 

 _helhyas_, a pursuer, from _helhya_, to hunt. 

 _scrivinyas_, a writer, from _scrîfa_, to write. 

 _offeryas_, a priest, from _offeren_, mass. 

 _hǒmbrǒnkyas_, a leader, from _hǒmbrǒnkya_, to lead. 

Many words in _yas_ occur only in the Cottonian Vocabulary, and appearthere as ending in _iad_ or _iat_, but since all the Cottonian words in_iad_ and _iat_ which do appear in later MSS. Are made in the latter toend in _yas_ (or _ias_), and since it may be taken as an invariable rulethat all words ending in _t_ or _d_ in Welsh or Breton, if they occur atall in Cornish, end in _s_, any Cottonian word in _iat_ or _iad_ mayfairly be taken for purposes of modern Cornish to end in _yas_. 

§ 2. The Gender of Nouns. 

Nouns are of two genders, masculine and feminine. There is no neuter. 

There is no rule whereby to tell the gender of a word, except in the caseof animate objects, where the gender simply follows the sex. 

There are only three grammatical cases in which gender matters at all. 

1. When a noun or an adjective preceding a noun is preceded by thearticle _an_, the. If the noun or adjective is masculine singular or thenoun feminine, or the adjective of either, plural, its initial remains inthe first state. If the noun or adjective is feminine singular or thenoun is masculine plural, {78} it is changed to the second state. 

When a qualifying adjective follows a noun in the masculine or in theplural of either gender, the initial of the adjective remains in thefirst state. If the noun is feminine singular, the initial of theadjective changes to the second state. 

3. The pronoun of the third person singular, used for a feminine noun, even when it signifies an inanimate object, is _hŷ_, she, not _ev_, he. Examples:—

 _tâs_, a father; _an tâs_, the father. 

 _tassow_, fathers; _an dassow_, the fathers. 

 _mergh_, a daughter; _an vergh_, the daughter. 

 _merhes_, daughters; _an merhes_, the daughters. 

 _tâs mas_, a good father; _mergh vas_, a good daughter; _an vergh vas_, the good daughter. 

 _tassow mas_, good fathers; _merhes mas_, good daughters. 

It will be evident, considering that a large number of nouns andadjectives do not begin with mutable letters, that the question of genderonly applies to a limited number of nouns and adjectives, and thereforepresents but little difficulty. Perhaps the best way to learn thegenders of nouns with mutable initials is to get accustomed to theirsound with the article prefixed. 

The feminine equivalents of certain masculine nouns denoting animateobjects are represented, as in other languages, in one of two ways, bythe addition of a syllable or by different words. 

1. By the addition of _es_. This is the regular form. 

 _arledh_, lord; _arledhes_, lady. 

 _pestrior_, a wizard; _pestriores_, a witch. 

 _coweth_, a companion, masc. ; _cowethes_, a companion, fem. 

 _mow_, a boy; _mowes_, a girl. 

 _sans_, a saint; _sanses_, a female saint. 

 _eneval_, an animal, masc. ; _enevales_, an animal, fem. 

 _pehador_ or _pehajor_, a sinner, masc. ; _pehadores_, a sinner, fem. 

Except in the case of the other class of feminines, of which a list isgiven below, it may be taken as a general rule that the correspondingfeminine of any noun denoting a masculine animate object is formed inthis way. 

2. By a different word. These are mostly those which denoterelationships and familiar animals, and there are in some cases, as inEnglish, further words to denote the young of both sexes, or the neuter. 

 _dên_, man; _benen_, woman; _flogh_, child. 

 _gour_, husband; _gwrêg_, wife. 

 _mab_, son; _mergh_, daughter. 

 _ewiter_, uncle; _modreb_, aunt. 

 _tâs_, father; _mam_, mother. 

 _sîra_, father; _dama_, mother. 

 _sîra widn_, {80} grandfather; _dama widn_, grandmother. 

 _altrou_, godfather; _altrewan_, godmother. 

 _broder_, brother; _hoer_, sister. 

 _noy_, nephew; _noys_, niece. 

 _tarow_, bull; _bewgh_, cow; _ǒjion_, ox; _lewgh_, calf; _lǒdn_, bullock; _lejek_, heifer. 

 _hordh_ or _hûr_, ram; _davas_, sheep; _mowls_, wether; _ôn_, lamb. 

 _margh_, horse; _caseg_, mare; _ebal_, colt. 

 _bŏk_, he-goat; _gavar_, goat; _min_, kid. 

 _baedh_, boar; _banew_, sow; _porhal_, little pig; _gwîs_, old sow; _ragomogh_, hog; _mohen_, pig (plur. _mogh_); _torgh_, hog. 

 _kŷ_, dog; _gêst_, bitch. 

 _gourgath_, tom-cat; _cath_, cat. 

 _carow_, stag; _ewik_, hind; _lewgh-ewik_, fawn. 

 _kǒtyorgh_, roe buck; _yorgh_, roe doe. 

 _keliok_, cock; _yar_, hen; _mabyer_, chicken. 

 _keliokwôdh_, gander; _gôdh_, goose. 

 _keliokôs_, drake; _hôs_, duck. 

§ 3. The Cases of Nouns. 

All cases except the genitive and accusative are formed by prepositions, as in English. Of these prepositions some govern one state of theinitial and some another, as will be seen in the chapter on prepositions, but when the article _an_, the, comes between the preposition and thenoun, the initial is not changed by the preposition, but only, if at all(in the case of a feminine singular or masculine plural), by the article. 

The genitive, by which must here be understood (in its old-fashionedsense) all those conditions under which a noun would in English bepreceded by _of_, or followed by ’_s_, is formed in four ways, each ofwhich has a different meaning. 

1. The genitive of possession is the appositional genitive. This isformed by placing the noun that is in the genitive immediately after thenoun which it qualifies, or, if the former has the definite article, oris qualified by a possessive pronoun or prefixed adjective, with onlythese intervening. No change of initial is made, {81} except the usualchange of feminine singular or masculine plural nouns after _an_, or thechanges caused by possessive pronouns, etc. The first of the two nounsmust have no article. Thus:—

 _chŷ dên_, the house of a man, or a man’s house. 

 _chŷ an dên_, the house of the man, or the man’s house. 

 _chŷ benen_, the house of a woman. 

 _chŷ an venen_, the house of the woman. 

 But not _an chŷ an dên_ or _an chŷ an venen_. 

If there is a succession of genitives, only the last noun can have anarticle. Thus:—

 _darras chŷ gour an venen_, the door of the house of the husband of the woman. 

2. The inflected genitive. This, which only exists, and thatdoubtfully, in the case of a few words, is formed by the modification ofthe root vowel. It is one of the common genitives of the Gaelicdialects, and as such is important, for it is not recognised in Welsh orBreton. Lhuyd gives five instances of it—_margh_, a horse, gen. _mergh_;_mergh_, a daughter, gen. _myrgh_; _pen_, a head, gen. _pyn_ (used onlyin the quasi-preposition _erbyn_, against); _whêl_, work, gen. _wheyl_;_crês_, midst, gen. _creys_, but even these were very seldom used, andonly probably in a few expressions. It would seem that the initial ofthe genitive word should in this case be in the second state. Thus:—

 _rên vergh_, a horse’s mane. 

3. The genitive of attribution, quality, origin, or quantity, denoted inEnglish by the preposition _of_, but not expressible also by thepossessive in ’_s_, though in many cases an adjective might besubstituted for it, is expressed in Cornish by the preposition _a_, whichputs the initial in the second state. Thus:—

 _a_. Quality. _Arledh a ’ras_, Lord of grace; _an Matern a wordhyans_, the King of glory. 

 _b_. Origin. _an Tâs an Nêv_, the Father of Heaven (cf. _Pater_ de cælis _Deus_, translated in the English Prayer-book, “O God, the Father of Heaven”); _dên a Gernow_, a man of Cornwall. 

 _c_. Quantity. Words denoting number, quantity, etc. , generally adjectives or numerals, may be followed by this form of genitive. Thus:—

 _lên a ’ras_, full of grace. 

 _lower a ŷs_, plenty of corn. 

 _milyow a bensow_, thousands of pounds. 

4. The genitive of material is rather the use of a noun as an adjective. It differs from the appositional genitive in that the first noun may havethe article before it, and the second does not, and that if the firstnoun be feminine singular, the initial of the second noun is in thesecond state. Thus:—

 _tolyer predn_, a platter of wood. 

 _tre bredn_, a town of wood. 

The accusative or objective is usually the same as the nominative, but itis to be remembered that there are a certain number of verbs which inEnglish are followed directly by an accusative, but in Cornish requirethe intervention of a preposition. 

The vocative is preceded by _a_, which signifies _O_, or by a personalpronoun. The initial after _a_ and sometimes after the pronoun changesto the second state. Thus:—

 _mab_, son; _a vab_, O son. 

 _benen_, woman; _a venen_, O woman; _ti venen_, thou woman. 

 _why princis_ (_Res_. _Dom_. , iii. 124), ye princes. 

§ 4. The Plural of Nouns. 

There are seven ways of forming the plural of nouns. 

1. In _ow_ or _yow_ (pronounced _o_ or _yo_). This is the commonestform, and would naturally be used for most new words. It answers to theWelsh _au_ or _iau_, and the Breton _ou_ or _iou_. 

 _alwedh_, a key, _alwedhow_. 

 _dorn_, a hand, _dornow_. 

 _arv_, a weapon, _arvow_. 

 _bedh_, a grave, _bedhow_. 

 _ro_, a gift, _roow_. 

 _scovorn_, an ear, _scouornow_. 

 _dêdh_, a day, _dêdhyow_. 

 _Dew_, God, _dewow_. 

 _enev_, soul, _enevow_. 

 _cledh_, ditch, _cledhyow_. 

 _gwredh_, root, _gwredhyow_. 

 _menedh_, mountain, _menedhyow_. 

 _trev_, _tre_, town, _trevow_. 

 _tîr_, land, _tiryow_, Some which follow this form have peculiarities of their own. 

_a_. Some double the last consonant, which has the effect of shorteningthe sound of the preceding vowel, and if the last consonant is an _s_, giving it the sound of _s_ instead of _z_. Thus:—

 _Tâs_, father, _tassow_. 

 _fôs_, wall, _fossow_. 

 _lêr_, floor, _lerryow_. 

 _gêr_, word, _gerryow_. 

 _garget_, garter, _gargettow_. 

_b_. Some, which end in _er_ or _ar_, drop the last vowel. Thus:—

 _levar_, book, _levrow_. 

 _dagar_, tear, _dagrow_. 

 _kenter_, nail, _kentrow_. 

_c_. Some insert _g_ or _k_ after a final _l_. 

 _cŏsŏl_, counsel, _cŏsŏlgow_. 

 _tewal_, dark, _tewlgow_ or _tewalgow_. 

 _del_, leaves (collectively), _delkyow_ (simple plural). 

_d_. Some modify the root vowel. Thus:—

 _mâl_, a joint, _melyow_. 

2. In _yon_ or _on_. This is also very common. 

 _Cristiŏn_, a Christian, _Cristiŏnyon_. 

 _sgwer_, esquire, _sgwerryon_. 

 _caradow_, friend, _caradowyon_. 

 _scŏlŏr_, scholar, _scŏlŏryon_. 

 _deskibl_, disciple, _deskiblyon_. 

 _Breth_, Briton, _Brethon_. 

 _Sows_, Englishman, _Sowson_. 

 _prev_, worm, _prevyon_. 

When a word ends in _k_, and has this form of the plural (as most wordsending in _k_ have) the last letter becomes _g_. 

 _bohajak_, poor, _bohajagyon_. 

 _marrek_, knight, _marregyon_. 

 _gowek_, liar, _gowegyon_. 

Some modify the root vowel. 

 _clav_, sick, _clevyon_. 

 _mab_, son, _mebyon_. 

 _gwas_, serving-man, _gwesyon_. 

 _Yethow_, Jew, _Yethewon_. 

 _Kernow_, Cornishman, _Kernewon_. 

 _kîf_, dear, _kefyon_. 

 _gwîr_, true, _gweryon_. 

Those ending in _er_ and _ar_, after a mute, contract the last syllableof the root. 

 _lader_, thief, _laddron_. 

This termination is the only one used for the plural of adjectives. These are rarely inflected when in agreement with a plural noun, but whenused as nouns they make their plural in this way. A large number ofadjectives and also some nouns end in _ek_ or _ak_. It is also theregular plural of words ending in _or_ denoting an agent. 

3. In _y_. This termination is more common in Cornish than in Welsh orBreton, though it is not uncommon in those languages also. It is oftenwritten _i_ in the MSS. 

 _esel_, limb, _esely_. 

 _mowes_, girl, _mowesy_. 

 _Gwidhel_, Irishman, _Gwidhely_. 

 _castell_, castle, _castelly_. 

 _legast_, lobster, _legesty_ (with a change of vowel). 

 _porhel_, pig, _porhelly_. 

 _bîgel_, shepherd, _bîgely_. 

 _profes_, prophet, _profesy_ or _profejy_. 

 _servis_, servant, _servisy_ or _servijy_. 

 _gwithes_, guardian, _gwithesy_. _arledh_, lord, _arledhy_. 

 _trahes_, cutter, _trahesy_ (e. G. _trahesy meyn_, stone cutters). 

This plural is mostly used for words ending in _l_ and _s_, though notexclusively, and it occurs occasionally with other words. When a wordends in _s_ preceded by a thin vowel, that letter is sometimes written_j_ in the plural. 

4. In _es_ or _edh_. This is the equivalent of the Welsh _edd_, _ydd_, or _oedd_, and the Breton _ed_, though it is not necessarily used for thesame words. Sometimes the vowel is modified. Thus:—

 _mergh_, daughter, _merhes_. {86}

 _benen_, woman, _benenes_. 

 _flogh_, child, _flehes_. 

 _côl_, coal, _côles_. 

 _rôm_, room, _rômes_. 

 _laha_, law, _lahes_. 

 _best_, beast, _bestes_. 

 _silly_, eel, _sillyes_. 

 _abostol_, apostle, _abesteledh_. 

 _broder_, brother; _brederedh_, brethren. 

 _el_, angel, _eledh_. 

 _gwrêg_, wife, _gwrêgedh_. 

A variant of this, written by Lhuyd _az_, _yz_, or _oz_, the vowel beingobscure, is best represented in this spelling by _as_. It perhapsanswers to the Welsh _od_, and _iaid_. 

 _canker_, crab, _kencras_. 

 _pesk_, fish, _pescas_. 

 _bes_, finger, _besyas_. 

 _bat_, staff, _battas_. 

 _fow_, den, _fowas_. 

 _cap_, cap, _cappas_. 

5. By the modification of the vowel. 

 _trôs_, foot, _treys_. 

 _mên_, stone, _meyn_. 

 _broder_, brother; _breder_, brothers. 

 _davas_, sheep, _deves_, but also _devejyow_. 

 _margh_, horse, _mergh_. 

 _tol_, hole, _tel_. 

 _ascorn_, bone, _escarn_. 

 _sans_, saint, _sêns_, but also _sansow_. 

 _dans_, tooth, _dêns_. 

 _yar_, hen, _yer_. 

 _mab_, son, _mêb_, but also _mebyon_. 

 _manek_, glove, _menik_. 

 _gavar_, goat, _gever_. 

6. By dropping the syllable _en_ or _an_ from the singular; or rather inthis case the singular is formed from a plural, usually more or lesscollective, by adding the individualising suffix _an_ or _en_. The wordsto which this applies are mostly such as are more commonly used in theplural, and the _en_ becomes, as Norris calls it, “an individualisingparticle. ” Thus:—

 _dêl_, leaves, foliage; _dêlen_, a leaf. 

 _gwrîhon_, sparks; _gwrîhonen_, a spark. 

 _gwêdh_, trees; _gwêdhen_, a tree. 

 _gwêl_, rods, twigs; _gwêlen_, a rod, a twig. 

 _lûhas_, lightning; _lûhesen_, a flash of lightning. 

 _scow_, elder trees; _scowen_, an elder tree. 

 _eithin_, furze; _eithinen_, a furze bush. 

 _loggas_, mice; _loggosan_ or _loggojan_, a mouse. 

 _low_, lice; _lewen_, a louse. 

 _redan_, fern; _redanen_, a single fern. 

 _mor_, berries; _moren_, a berry. 

 _hern_, pilchards; _hernen_, a pilchard. 

 _mŭrryan_, ants; _murryanen_, an ant. 

 _on_, ash trees; _onnen_, an ash. 

 _enwedh_, ash trees; _enwedhen_, an ash, from _on_, ash, _gwêdh_, trees. 

 _glasten_, oaks; _glastenen_, an oak. 

 _gwern_, alders; _gwernen_, an alder. 

 _spern_, thorns; _spernen_, a thorn. 

 _bannol_, broom (the plants collectively); _bannolen_, a broom (to sweep with). 

And many others, chiefly names of plants and animals of a more or lessgregarious nature. Some of these have other plurals, formed by addingone of the plural terminations to the collective plural. These would beused when the collective idea was not required. Thus:—

 _dêl_, leaves (collective); _delkyow_ or _delgyow_, leaves (not collectively). 

Some singulars in _en_ form their modern plurals from a lost collectiveplural, _i_. _e_. By dropping the _en_ and adding one of the ordinaryplural terminations. Thus:—

 _asen_, a rib; _asow_, ribs. 

 _gwillen_, a sea-gull; _gwilles_, gulls. 

7. In _en_, with or without alteration of vowel and contraction. Thus:—

 _kŷ_, dog; _kîen_. 

 _hanow_, name; _henwen_ (formerly _hynwyn_). 

There is no general definite rule for the formation of plurals; they mustbe learnt by experience. Some words are found with two plurals, but thisgenerally means a tendency in modern Cornish to consider _yow_ or _ow_ tobe the normal termination, and to discard other endings in favour of it, just as the plural in _s_ in English has superseded all but a very fewother forms. Thus:—

 _escop_ (or _epscop_), bishop; _escobyon_ or _escobow_. 

 _Dew_, God; _dewon_ or _dewow_. 

 _flogh_, child; _flehes_ or _flehesow_ (_flejow_). 

 _dêlen_, leaf; _dêlyow_ or _delkyow_. 

 _tîr_, land; _terros_ or _terryow_. 

 _enes_, island; _eneses_ or _enesow_. 

§ 5. The so-called Dual. 

Parts of the body which are double (ears, eyes, hands, arms, shoulders, knees, etc. ), when mentioned in reference to the two ears, eyes, etc. Ofthe same person, are expressed by a compound with the numeral _deu_, two, prefixed to the singular. The Welsh and Breton grammarians call this adual. When eyes, ears, etc. Are mentioned as belonging to more than oneperson, the plural is formed in one of the usual ways. Thus:—

 _lâv_, hand; dual _deulâv_. 

 _lagas_, eye; dual _deulagas_; pl. _lagasow_. 

 _scovorn_, ear; dual _deuscovorn_; pl. _scovornow_. 

 _glîn_, knee; dual _deulin_. 

 _elin_, elbow; _deulin_. 

 _bregh_, arm; _deuvregh_. 

 _bron_, breast; _deuvron_. 

 _scoudh_, shoulder; _deuscoudh_. 

For _hands_ in general the plural is formed from _dorn_ (which means moreexactly _fist_), _dornow_; there is, as in Welsh, no regular plural of_lâv_. A variant of _glîn_ is _penglin_ (lit. Knee-end), with a dual_pedndewlin_, cf. Welsh _penelin_, elbow. 

 * * * * *

Lastly, the plural of _dên_, man, is almost always _tîs_ (earlier _tus_), folk, though Lhuyd gives _dynion_ as well. 

CHAPTER V—THE ADJECTIVE

Adjectives are primitive or derived. Primitive adjectives have nospecially characteristic terminations. Derived adjectives are mostlyformed by adding _ek_ to a noun or verb, which may be said to answer to_ous_, _ful_, etc. , in English. Thus:—

 _gallos_, power; _gallosek_, powerful. 

 _own_, fear; _ownek_, fearful. 

 _lowena_, joy; _lowenek_, joyful. 

 _marthes_, wonder; _marthesek_, marvellous. 

 _moreth_, grief; _morethek_, mournful. 

 _ponfos_, trouble; _ponfŏsek_, troubled. 

 _anfês_, misfortune; _anfêsek_, unfortunate. 

 _whans_, desire; _whansek_, desirous. 

 _colon_, heart; _colonnek_, hearty. 

The feminine of an adjective is formed in two ways. 

1. By changing the initial to the second state, if it is mutable. Thisonly happens when the adjective _follows_ a feminine singular noun. Whenthe adjective _precedes_ the noun, singular or plural, and when itfollows a masculine singular noun or a plural of either gender, theinitial of the adjective remains in its first state, unless by reason ofother circumstances than agreement, e. G. Preceding prepositions, pronouns, etc. , or when the article _an_ precedes an adjective qualifyinga noun of feminine singular. Unlike Breton, but like Welsh, an adjectivequalifying and following a masculine plural does not change. 

2. Rarely and irregularly, by the alteration of the root vowel as wellas by the change of initial. This, however, though mentioned by Lhuydand occasionally found in MSS. , was practically obsolete long before histime. 

The plural of adjectives is formed by the addition of _yon_ or _on_. Rarely, chiefly in poetry, this plural is found in agreement with aplural noun, but usually qualifying adjectives are treated asindeclinable, but for the initial mutation, and the plural form is onlyused, as a general thing, when an adjective is used as a noun. 

The normal position of the adjective is after the noun. Sometimes itprecedes it, and in that case it changes the initial of the noun to thesecond state, unless the adjective is in the comparative or superlativedegree, when the initial is unchanged. The adjectives that most commonlyprecede the noun are _drôg_, evil; _hen_, old; _lên_, full; _hager_, ugly; _fals_, false; _cam_, crooked. _Mer_, great, may come before orafter. 

The comparative degree is formed by adding _ah_ and the superlative byadding _a_ to the positive, but as in English they can also be formed bythe use of _moy_, more, and _moyha_, most. There are, of course, theusual irregular comparisons. The comparative or superlative adjectiveusually precedes the noun which it qualifies, though for the sake ofverse or on account of emphasis it may follow it, sometimes with thedefinite article intervening. _Than_ after a comparative is _es_ (older_ys_ or _ages_) or _vel_. 

Examples of the use of adjectives:—

 _Dên gallosek_, a powerful man. 

 _Benen deg_, a fair woman. 

 _Mergh dewon_, or _mergh dew_, black horses. 

 _Benenes teg_, fair women. 

 _An hen dhên_, the old man. (The more usual expression is _an den coth_). 

 _An hen venen_, the old woman. (More usually _an venen goth_). 

 _An lowenegyon_, the joyful ones. 

 _Brassah gallos_, greater power. 

 _gwîn a’n gwella_ / _an gwella gwîn_ / _gwîn gwella_ } the best wine. 

 _whekkah es mel_, sweeter than honey. 

 _Bron Ewhella_, the highest hill (now Brown Willy). 

The irregular comparisons are:—

 _Da_ (or _Mas_), good; _gwel_, better; _gwella_, best. 

 _Drôg_, bad; _gwêth_, worse; _gwêtha_, worst; but generally _lakkah_, comparative of _lak_ (loose, remiss, lax), is used to signify _worse_. 

 _Mêr_, great; _moy_, greater or more; _moyha_, greatest or most; but also _bras_, comp. _brassah_, super. _brassa_. 

 _Bîan_, little; _leh_, less; _lŷha_, least; but there is also a comp. _behadnah_, and super, _behadna_, from an earlier form, _behan_. 

 _Ogas_, near; _nes_, nearer; _nessa_, nearest. 

CHAPTER VI—THE NUMERALS

 CARDINAL ORDINAL

1. _idn_, or _ŏnen_ (older _un_, 1st. _kensa_. _onan_, _onon_). {94}

2. _deu_ (older _dyw_, _dew_). 2nd. _nessa_ or _secund_. 

3. _trŷ_, fem. _teir_ (older 3rd. _trûja_ (older _tresse_, _tyr_). _trege_). 

4. _pajer_ (older, m. _peswar_, 4th. _peswordha_ (older _peswere_, f. _feder_). _pyswere_). 

5. _pemp_ (older _pymp_). 5th. _pempes_ (older _pympes_). 

6. _wheh_ (or _whe_). 6th. _whethes_ (older _whefes_). 

7. _seyth_. 7th. _seythes_ (older _seythves_). 

8. _eyth_. 8th. _eythes_. 

9. _now_ (pronounced as the 9th. _nowes_. English word _now_). 

10. Deg (older _dek_). 10th. _degves_. 

11. _idnak_. 11th. _idn-dhegves_. 

12. _dawdhak(_older _dewthak_). 12th. _dawdhegves_. 

13. _tôrdhak_. 13th. _tôrdhegves_. 

14. _peswôrdhak_. 14th. _peswôrdhegves_. 

15. _pempthak_. 15th. _pempthegves_. 

16. _whedhak_. 16th. _whedhegves_. 

17. _seydhak_. 17th. _seydhegves_. 

18. _eydhak_. 18th. _eydhegves_. 

19. _nownjak_ (_ow_ as in 19th. _nownjakves_. _now_). 

20. _igans_. 20th. _igansves_. 

21. _ǒnen war igans_. 21st. _kensa war igans_. 

22. _deu war igans_, etc. 22nd. _nessa war igans_, etc. 

30. _deg war igans_. 30th. _degves war igans_. 

31. _idnak war igans_, _etc_. 31st. _idn-dhegves war igans_, etc. 

40. _deugans_. 40th. _deugansves_. 

50. _deg war deugans_ (or 50th. _degves war deugans_. _hanter cans_). 

60. _trŷ igans_. 60th. _try-igansves_. 

70. _deg war trŷ igans_ or _trŷ 70th. _degves war try-igans_ or _triigans ha deg_. Igans ha degves_. 

80. _pajer igans_. 80th. _pajer-igansves_. 

90. _deg war pajer igans_ or 90th. _degves war pajer-igansves_ or_pajer igans ha deg_. _pajer igans ha degves_. 

100. _cans_. 100th. _cansves_. 

200. _deu cans_. 200th. _deu cansves_. 

300. _tryhans_. 300th. _tryhansves_. 

1000. _mil_. 1000th. _milves_. 

1, 000, 000. _milvil_ or _milyon_. Millionth. _milvilves_. 

When compound numbers are used, the noun follows the first of them. Thus:—

 _trŷ igans bledhan ha deg_, 70 years (threescore years and ten), or deg _bledhan war trŷ igans_. 

Larger compounds are made somewhat as in English. Thus A. D. 1904 is_Bledhan agan Arledh nownjak cans ha pajer_. 

The later lists of ordinal numbers usually have _vas_ for thetermination, but the practice of the older MSS. , the analogy of Welsh andBreton, and the very definite sound of the last syllable of _pempes_ and_whethes_ in the traditional fragments collected by the present writer in1875, all point to _e_ as the correct vowel. 

_Nouns which follow numerals are put in the singular number_, {96} unlessthey are preceded by the preposition _a_, of. Thus:—

 _wheh dên_, six men, not _wheh denyon_ or _wheh tîs_. 

 _trŷ mab_, three sons, not _trŷ mebyon_. 

 _pajer paw_, not _pajer pawyow_, four feet (a name still used in the English of Cornwall for a newt). 

But sometimes, in a collective sense:—

 _mil a bensow_, a thousand [of] pounds. 

 _wheh a vebyon ha wheh a verhes_, six sons and six daughters. 

The numerals, cardinal or ordinal, unlike certain of them in Welsh andBreton, do not change the initials of the nouns which follow them. 

It may be well to add here certain applications of the numerals. 

Once, twice, three times, etc. Are represented by the cardinal numbersfollowed by _gweth_, time (in the above sense), with its initial in thesecond state, _idnweth_, _deuweth_, _trŷweth_, etc. Sometimes _plek_, fold, is used, as _milblek_, a thousand-fold. 

Proportional parts are: _qwartan_, a quarter, _hanter_, half, and for therest the ordinal numeral followed by _radn_, part, e. G. _trûja radn_, thethird part. 

The divisions of time are: _secund_, a second; _minnis_, a minute; _êr_, an hour; _dêdh_, a day; _seithan_, a week; _mîs_, a month; _bledhan_, ayear; _cansvledhan_, a century. “O’clock” is expressed by _êr_; _trŷêr_, three o’clock. “Half-past three” is _hanter êr wojatrŷ_=half-an-hour after three. Midday and midnight are _hanter-dêdh_ and_hanter-nos_. Half-past twelve (noon) is _hanter êr woja hanter-dêdh_. 

The names of coins are: _pevar_, a farthing; _demma_, or _hanter-denar_, a halfpenny; _denar_, a penny; _whednar_ [=_wheh denar_], sixpence;_sôls_, a shilling; _hanter-corŭn_, half-a-crown; _corŭn_, a crown;_pens_, a pound. 

Measurements of length are: _inch_; _trôs_, a foot; _gwêlan_, a yard;_fadhom_; _mildir_, a mile. 

Weights are: _ons_, ounce; _pens_, pound; _tŏn_, ton. 

CHAPTER VII—THE PRONOUNS

§ 1. The Personal Pronouns. 

There are four forms of the Personal pronouns. These forms are usedunder various circumstances, but they are mostly reducible to a singleletter with or without its vowel for each person, the variationsdepending upon (_a_) the _state_ of that letter, and (_b_) whether thevowel is placed before or after it. The vowel is elided in some cases, and coalesces with another vowel in others. 

 1. As the subject of a verb and preceding it. 

 2. As the subject or object of a verb and following it. This is for some pronouns the same as the first form, for others the first form with its initial in the second state. 

 3. As the object of a verb, but placed between a particle ending in a vowel and the verb. This form is used also for possessive pronouns of the first and second persons singular when they are preceded by the conjunction _ha_, and, or by a preposition ending in a vowel, or by _en_, in. 

 4. In composition with a preposition, and for forming the persons of an inflected tense of a verb. 

In the first and second the consonant is followed by a vowel. In thethird and fourth the consonant ends the word. 

1. The First Person Singular. English, _I_ or _me_. Letter _M_ (_V_). 

1st form. _mî_. _mî a vedn_, I will. 

2nd form. _vî_. _gwith vî_, keep me. 

3rd form. ’_m_. _neb a’m gwrîg_, he who made me. 

4th form. ’_m_ or ’_v_. _genev_, with me; _dhem_, to me; _carav_, I love. 

The compounds of pronoun and preposition are written as one word, withoutan apostrophe, as the form of the preposition also is often affected bythe composition. A list of these will be found later on, as they presentsome irregularities. 

2. The Second Person Singular. English, _thou_ or _thee_. Letter _T_(_D_). 

1st form. _tî_ (pronounced nearly _tî a vedn_, thou wilt. _chee_, and sometimes so written). 

2nd form. _dî_ (often written _sy_ or _menjes dî_, thou _gy_ in the older MSS. , and wouldst. Pronounced _jee_, nearly). 

3rd form. ’_th_ (often ’_d_ in the _mî a’th bes_, I pray older MSS. ). This is thee, _re’th tynerchys_, followed by the second state hath greeted thee of the initial, or in the (_Passion_, 115, 2). Case of _d_ by the fourth. 

4th form. ’_s_. _genes_, with thee. 

3. The Third Person Singular, masculine. English, _he_ or _him_. Letter _V_ or _N_, or a vowel. 

1st form. _ev_ (with the _v_ _ev a vedn_, he will. Very lightly sounded, and often silent. The older form is _ef_). 

2nd form. _ev_ or _e_. _menja ev_, he would. 

3rd form. ’_n_. _mî a’n pes_, I pray him. 

This form is commonlyused in the earlierMSS. It representsan accusative _en_ or_hen_ which stillexists in Breton. Inmore recent Cornish, with the frequent useof the auxiliary formof the verb, wherethe pronominal objectprecedes theinfinitive in itspossessive form, thisconstruction becameunusual. 

4th form. ’_o_. _enno_, in him, _ganso_, with him. In this form severalwords have aninserted _dh_ betweenthe preposition andthe pronoun. _Ragdho_, for him, _dhôdho_, to him, not_rago_, _dhôo_. Asimilar euphonic _dh_occurs in the case ofthe third personsfeminine and plural. 

4. Third Person Singular, feminine. English, _she_, _her_. Letter _H_, _S_, or a vowel. 

1st form. _hŷ_. _hŷ a vedn_, she will. 

2nd form. _hŷ_. _a medh hŷ_, said she. 

3rd form. ’_s_. _mî a’s henow_, I name her. This form is rarely found in thelater MSS. Either the possessive_î_ or the form _hŷ_ (the latteroften put after the verb) wasused, in the rare cases of thisconstruction. 

4th form. ’_î_. _gensî_, with her; _dhedhî_, to her. 

5. First Person Plural. English, _we_, _us_. Letter _N_. 

1st form. _nŷ_. _nŷ a vedn_, we will. 

2nd form. _nŷ_. _na_, _blamyough nŷ_, do not blame us. 

3rd form. ’_n_. _ev a’n doro_, he will bring us. This form, perhapsowing to its beingthe same as the 3rdform of the thirdperson singular, israre even in theolder MSS. Thepossessive ’_gan_(for _agan_) isgenerally usedinstead of it, _ev a_’_gan doro_. 

4th form. ’_n_, preceded by _ragon_, for us; _genen_, almost any vowel. With us; _dhen_, to us; _warnan_, on us. 

6. Second Person Singular. English, _you_. Letter, _Wh_, _Gh_, or _S_. 

1st form. _whŷ_. _whŷ a vedn_, you will. 

2nd form. _whŷ_. _nî wreugh whŷ_, you do not. 

3rd form. ’_s_. _ev a’s doro_, he will bring you. This form is very rare even inthe older MSS. The possessive’_gas_ (for _agas_) is generallyused instead. 

4th form: ’_ugh_. _genough_, with you; _dheugh_, to you. 

7. Third Person Plural. English, _they_, _them_. 

1st form. _ŷ_, _jŷ_, _an _ŷ a vedn_, _jŷ a vedn_, jŷ_. Or _an jŷ a vedn_, theyThis last is the regular will. Form in the latestCornish. In the earlierMSS. _y_ only is usedfor _they_; later _angy_ or _an dzhei_ (asLhuyd writes it) becameusual. It is only foundin the MSS. Of the endof the seventeenth andbeginning of theeighteenth century, andprobably originated in awrong division of words. The third person pluralof most inflected tensesof verbs ends in _ons_, _ans_, _ens_. If thepronoun were added, thiswould take the form of_ons ŷ_, etc. , as in_carons ŷ_ (_amantilli_), they love, andthe usual pronunciationof _s_ would soon bringthis combination to_caronjy_, which iseasily divided into _caronjy_. The compoundpreposition form inlater Cornish oftenended in _ans_, followedor not followed by the1st or 2nd form of thepronoun. Thus inJordan’s _Creation_(1611) we find _anodhansy_ (from them) for anolder _anodhe_. Thiswould give an additionalreason for theconfusion. 

2nd form. _ŷ_. _medhons ŷ_ (often written _medh an jy_), said they. 

3rd form. ’_s_. _mî a’s agor_, I will open them. 

4th form. ’_ns_, _e_. _dhodhans_, to them; _gensans_ or _genjans_, with them. 

The form in _e_ is older (_dhethe_, _ganse_, etc. ), but became obsoleteby the middle of the seventeenth century. It will have been seen:—

1. That the first and second persons singular are the only ones whichpossess the four separate forms complete. 

2. That the second form of all but these two persons is usually the sameas the first form. 

3. That the third form is not much used in later Cornish except for thesame two persons. 

It may also be noted that though the full and emphatic pronunciation of_hŷ_, _nŷ_, _whŷ_, and _jŷ_ is that of the English words _high_, _nigh_, _why_, and the first syllable of _jibe_, when, as is often the case, there is no emphasis of any sort on them, the same thing happens to themas commonly happens in rapid speech in English to the word _my_, and the_y_ ceases to have the sound of _î_ English, but has the sound of a short(not obscure) _e_ English. Thus in the common Cornish “Thank you, ” _mêr_’_ras dhô whŷ_, which is sounded as one word, _merásdhawhy_, the _y_ hasthe short sound which the same letter usually has at the end of a word. But it might happen otherwise. Thus the following sentences are withinthe experience of most of us at the end of some simple commercialtransaction:—

Customer (carelessly, having received the article and paid the money), “Thánk you. ”

Shopkeeper (in a half-reproving tone), “Thank _you_, sir. ”

In Cornish the customer would say “_Merásdkawhy_, ” in the ordinary tone, but the shopkeeper might answer “_Merasdha whý_, _sira_, ” and would soundthe pronoun like the English word _why_, unless, being a good Cornishspeaker, he preferred to say “_Mêr_ ’_ras dhô_ ’_gas honan_” (Thanks toyourself). 

The same principle applies to _hŷ_, _nŷ_, and _an jŷ_, but less with thelast, which is generally treated as a dissyllable with the accent on thelast syllable. 

§ 2. The Possessive Pronouns. 

1. First Person Singular. English, _my_. 

 _ow_, governing the third state. 

When the initial of the noun has no third state, _ow_ governs the firststate:—

 _ow thâs_, my father; _ow gwlas_, my country. 

After a preposition ending in a vowel, after _en_, in, changed to _e_, orafter the conjunction _ha_, and, _my_ is generally represented by ’_m_, which governs the first state:—

 _dhô’m tâs_, to my father; _ha’m tâs_, and my father. 

 _e’m corf_, in my body. 

Sometimes in these cases the preposition or conjunction is combined with_ow_. This is especially common in Jordan’s play of _The Creation_. Theinitial, if possible, is then in the third state:—

 _me haw mab_, I and my son; _thow thas_, to my father. 

2. Second Person Singular. English, _thy_. 

 _dha_ (older form _dhe_, _dhy_), governing the second state:—

 _dha dâs_, thy father. 

After a preposition ending in a vowel, after _en_, or after _ha_, _thy_is represented by ’_th_, generally governing the second state, butsometimes, when the initial following it is _d_, the fourth. 

 _dhô’th dâs_, to thy father; _ha_ ’_th dâs_, and thy father. 

 _e_ ’_th gorf_, in thy body; _a_ ’_th trôk_ (_R_. _D_. , 1730), from thy evil. 

Very often these mutations were not written in the Dramas. In laterCornish this form was not always used, but one often finds _dhô dha_, _hadha_, _en dha_, etc. Instead. 

3. Third Person Singular, masculine. English, _his_. 

 _e_ (older form _y_), governing the second state. 

This, altered to _y_, coalesces with a preposition ending in a vowel, forming a diphthong, which is written with an apostrophe between the twovowels. It still governs the second state:—

 _e dâs_, his father; _dhô’y_ (pron. _dhoy_) _dâs_, to his father; _ha’y dâs_, and his father. 

4. Third Person Singular, feminine; English, _her_. 

 _î_, governing the third state, or when there is no third state, the first. It coalesces with prepositions ending in a vowel and with _ha_ in the same way as the masculine:—

 _î thâs_, her father; _î gwlas_, her country; _ha’i thâs_, and her father. 

In the earlier MSS. Both these possessive pronouns were written _y_, theonly distinction being in the initial mutation which followed. In thelater MSS. _î_ is often written _e_. 

5. First Person Plural. English, _our_. 

 _agan_, governing the first state:—

 _agan tâs_, our father. 

6. Second Person Plural. English, _your_. 

 _agas_, governing the first state:—

 _agas tâs_, your father. 

7. Third Person Plural. English, _their_. 

 _aga_, governing the third, or failing that, the first state:—

 _aga thâs_, their father; _aga gwlas_, their country. 

When preceded by a preposition ending in a vowel or by _ha_, the threeplural possessive pronouns lose their initial _a_:—

 _dhô_ ’_gas_, _ha_ ’_gan_, etc. 

The _a_ of the last syllable of _agan_, _agas_, _aga_ is obscure, and isoften found represented by _e_, _o_, or _u_ in the MSS. Even when notpreceded by a vowel these words are often found as _gan_, _gas_, _ga_(_gun_, _gen_, _gon_, _gus_, _guz_, _ges_, _go_). 

When a pronoun is the object of a verb in the infinitive or of a verbformed with the auxiliary verbs _gwîl_, to do, _menny_, to will, etc. Andan infinitive, the pronoun-object is represented by the possessivepronoun preceding and governing (as to initial mutation) thisinfinitive:—

 _ev a wrîg ow tholla_, he did deceive me. 

 _mî a vedn e grejy_, I will believe it. 

 _mî a wrîg agas danvon_, I did send you. 

The reason of this is that in Cornish, as in the other Celtic languages, the infinitive is counted as a verbal noun, signifying _the act ofdoing_. This conception of the infinitive explains many Celticconstructions. The literal force of the above examples would be “he did(or made) the deceiving of me, ” “I will the believing of it, ” “I did thesending of you. ” Similarly, when the object is a noun, it really followsthe infinitive as an appositional genitive. 

Frequently the second form of the corresponding personal pronoun followsa noun preceded by a possessive pronoun. This ought to be for emphasis, and, when it is so, the sound of the personal pronoun would be its fullsound; but it is frequently merely redundant, and then it is enclitic, forming as it were an unaccented additional syllable tacked on to thenoun:—

 _agan Tâs ny_, Our Father (nearly ’_gun Tázny_). 

 _dhô_ ’_m brodar vî_, to my brother. 

 _agas levar why_, your book. 

 _herlya yu_ ’_gan gwary ny_, hurling is our sport. 

The last sentence is a good example of possible pronunciations. If it isan independent statement, the phrase emphasis being on _hurling_ and_sport_, it would be accented _hérlya yugan guaryny_. If, however, wewish to say that hurling is _our_ sport but football is _yours_ (_herlyayu_ ’_gan gwary nŷ_, _mes pella-drôs yu_ ’_gas gwary whŷ_), the secondphrase-emphasis would be on _nŷ_ and _whŷ_, and they would be sounded asthe English words _nigh_ and _why_. 

Sometimes the personal pronoun as a genitive following the noun, with orwithout the preposition _a_, of, was used instead of a possessivepronoun, but in this case it was probably not enclitic. Thus in a letterin verse by John Boson, in the Gwavas MS. , dated 1710, we find:—

 _Ma goz screfa compaz_, _den fir o_ (for _a_) _vî_, your writing is correct, my wise man, or, wise man of me. 

And in a song by John Tonkin of St. Just in the same MS. , the probabledate of which is about 1700, we find:—

 _An Prounter ni ez en Plew East_, our parson who is in the parish of St. Just. 

Or perhaps more correctly in a copy of one verse of this song in theBorlase MS. :—

 _Prounter nei (ez_) _en pleu Est_, for the article _an_ before a noun followed by an appositional genitiveseems incorrect, though one finds in the earliest known version of theLord’s Prayer, given in John Davies’s Welsh translation of RobertParsons’ _Booke of Christian Exercise_ (1632), _An Tas ni_, though thismay be a mistake for _agan_. In the song quoted above one finds also:—

_Dewe reffa sowia an eglez ni_, _Ha an prounterian da eze et an gy_, Godsave our churches and the good parsons that are in them. And in Boson’sversion of the Commandments we find _gwitha gerrio ve_ for “keep mycommandments. ”

§ 3. Pronominal Prepositions. 

The prepositional form of the pronouns may be applied to almost anypreposition, but there are a certain number of common cases in which theprepositions are modified by the composition, vowels being altered orletters being inserted between the preposition and this fragmentarypronoun, either for euphony or as survivals of archaic forms of thepreposition or pronoun. The most usual of these modified forms occur inthe composition of the prepositions _a_, of or from, _dre_, through, _gans_, with, _dhŏrt_ (earlier _dheworth_ and _adheworth_, Welsh_oddiwrth_), from, _orth_ (or _worth_), at, to, _rag_, for, _dhô_, to, _war_, upon, _en_ or _idn_, in. 

_ahanav_, from me. _dredhov_, through me. 

_ahanas_, from thee. _dredhos_, through thee. 

_anodho_, from him. _dredho_, through him. 

_anedhi_, from her. _dredhi_, through her. 

_ahanan_, from us. _dredhon_, through us. 

_ahanough_, from you. _dredhough_, through you. 

_anodhans_, from them. _dredhans_, through them. 

Other instances are:—

 _genev_, _dhortam_, _orthev_, _ragov_, _dhem_, _warnav_. 

 _genes_, _dhortas_, _orthes_, _ragos_, _dhes_, _warnas_. 

 _ganso_, _dhorto_, _orto_, _ragdho_, _dhôdho_, _warnodho_. 

 _gensi_, _dhorti_, _orti_, _ragdhi_, _dhedhi_, _warnedhi_. 

 _genen_, _dhorten_, _orthen_, _ragon_, _dhen_, _warnan_. 

 _genough_, _dhortough_, _orthough_, _ragough_, _dheugh_, _warnough_. 

 _gensans_, _dhortans_, _ortans_, _ragdhans_, _dhodhans_, _warnodhans_. 

and—

 _ennov_ or _idnov_ or _ettov_. 

 _ennos_ or _idnos_ or _ettos_. 

 _enno_ or _idno_ or _etto_. 

 _enni_ or _idni_ or _etti_. 

 _ennon_ or _idnon_ or _etton_. 

 _ennough_ or _idnough_ or _ettough_. 

 _ennans_ or _idnans_ or _ettans_. 

There are many various spellings of these words in the manuscripts, andespecially there is great uncertainty as to the vowel which precedes thepronominal suffix. As the accent is always on the preposition, the vowelof the pronoun is usually obscure, and there is not so very muchdifference of sound in the last syllables of _dredhov_, _genev_, and_warnav_, but still there is a slight difference, and there must havebeen even more in early days. 

The older form of the third person plural ended in _e_ or _a_, _anedha_, _dredha_, _ganse_, _orte_, _ragdha_, _dhedhe_, _warnedhe_, _ynna_; butthis form became obsolete by the middle of the seventeenth century, andthese pronominal prepositions were assimilated to the third person pluralof verbs. In this the Cornish began by resembling Breton and ended byapproaching more nearly to Welsh. 

The pronominal preposition form of _dhô_ has variants for the first andsecond persons singular and first person plural, _dhemmo_, to me, _dheso_, _dheso dî_, to thee, and _dhenny_, to us. These are formed bythe addition of the personal pronoun in a fuller form. In the cases ofthe other prepositions it is not uncommon to add the personal pronouns atthe end of the pronominal compound, forming thereby a single word withthe accent on the last syllable. Thus:—

 _genev vî_, with me, pronounced _genavî_. 

 _genough whŷ_, with you, pronounced _genowhŷ_. 

 _ragon nŷ_, for us, pronounced _ragonŷ_. 

In later Cornish these pronominal prepositions compounds were oftenneglected, and the prepositions were often used with the second form ofthe personal pronoun, but this was only a corrupt following of English, not to be imitated. 

§ 4. The Relative Pronoun. 

1. A simple relative, who or which, whether in the nominative oraccusative, is represented most frequently by the particle _a_, governingthe second state of the verb. Thus:—

 _An Tâs a wrîg Nêv_, the Father who made heaven. 

 _An Nêv a wrîg an Tâs e_, the Heaven which the Father made. 

If the verb following the relative begins with a vowel, _a_ is oftenomitted. Thus:—

 _Ow thîs es genev_, my people who are with me. 

If the relative sentence is negative, _ni_, not, coalesces with _a_, producing _na_. Thus:—

 _En le na vê dên bisqweth_, in a place in which man never was. 

When the relative is the object of the verb, or is preceded in English bya preposition, a redundant personal pronoun is added after the verb, withor without a combined preposition, but a preposition is never placedbefore the relative particle _a_ itself. Thus:—

 _An dên a dhanvonas Dew e_, the man whom God sent (lit. Whom God sent him). 

 _An dên a vê an gêr cowses ganso_, the man by whom the word was spoken (lit. Whom the word was spoken by him). 

2. _Neb_ (earlier _nep_, and in late Cornish sometimes _leb_) is alsoused as a relative, with similar construction to that of _a_ in theobjective or prepositional condition. Properly it includes theantecedent, and should mean _he who_, _those who_, _that which_, _thosewhom_, etc. , but it is commonly used as a simple relative, especially inlate Cornish. Thus:—

 _Agan Tâs ny neb es en Nêv_, Our Father who art in heaven, in one of the many extant versions of the Lord’s Prayer. 

 Another version is _Agan Tâs ny leb es en Nêv_. 

 _Dhe_ [_tî_] _nep yu ioy ow holon_, thou who art the joy of my heart (_Res. Dom. _, 456). 

 _An dên neb na’n gwrîg_, the man who did not do it. 

 _Neb yu moyha_, he who is greatest. 

 _An dên neb Dew a wrîg e dhanvon_, the man whom God did send. 

 _An dên neb an gêr a rê cowses ganso_, the man by whom the word was spoken. 

 _Neb mî e wrîg ragdho_, for whom I did it (lit. Whom I did it for him). 

But, unlike _a_, _neb_ can have a preposition before it on occasions, with or without the redundant pronoun. Thus:—

 _Chŷ en neb na vê dên vîth_ (_enno_), a house in which no man was. 

§ 5. The Demonstrative Pronouns. 

1. Absolute. _Hem_, _hebma_ (orig. _hemma_), this, masculine; _hom_, _hobma_ (_homma_), feminine. 

 _Hen_, _hedna_ (ong. _henna_), that, masculine; _hon_, _hodna_ (_honna_), feminine. 

 _An remma_ (=_an re-ma_) is used also for the plural _these_, _an renna_ for _those_. 

2. In agreement. _An_—_ma_, this, these, e. G. _an bês-ma_, this world. 

 _An_—_na_, that, those, e. G. _an dên-na_, that man. 

The noun is placed between _an_ and _ma_ or _na_, the latter being joinedto it by a hyphen. In some cases when the noun ends in a vowel the _m_of _ma_ is doubled, and the noun and demonstrative are written as oneword:—

 _an dremma_, this town (for _an dre-ma_); _an chymma_, this house (for _an chŷ-ma_); _alemma_, hence (for _a le-ma_), from this place. 

The same applies to the _n_ of _na_. 

When the noun is preceded by a preposition, _an_ is omitted: _warvenedh-ma_, on this mountain, not _war an menedh-ma_. 

For emphasis, _keth_ (same) is added after _an_: _an keth dên-ma_, thisvery man, this same man. 

In very late Cornish, _hebma_, _hobma_, _hedna_, _hodna_ were oftencorrupted into _hebba_, _hobba_, _hedda_, _hodda_. 

In the _Life of St_. _ Meriasek_, _helma_ and _holma_ are used for _this_, and it is easy to imagine _helna_ and _holna_ for _that_. Theexplanation suggested in Dr. Whitley Stokes’s note is “_helma_=_henlemma_, this in this place. ” Cf. “this here” and “that there” of vulgarEnglish. 

§ 6. The Interrogative Pronouns. 

 _Pyu_ or _pyua_ (written also _pu_, _piwa_, _pew_), who? A contraction of _pe yu_, who is? or, _pe yu a_, who is it who?

 _Pa_, what?

 _Pandra_ (i. E. _pa an dra_, what the thing), what? e g. _pandra vednough why gwîl_, what will you do?

 _Panin_ (i. E. _pa an in_, which the one), whether of them?

 _Penîl_ (i. E. _pa nîl_, which of the two), which one?

§ 7. The Indefinite Pronouns. 

_Nep_, _neb_, some or any. 

_Neppeth_, somewhat (_neb peth_, some thing), anything. 

_Nebin_ (_neb idn_), some one. 

_Nebas_, somewhat, a little, a few; also used to signify little, few, orhardly any. 

_Pyupennak_ (sometimes _bennak_), whoever. 

_Pa_ (or _pandra_) _pennak_, whatever. 

_Papennak ŏl_, whatsoever. 

_Ketep_, every. 

_Kenifer_, each; _kenifer ŏl_, every one, as many as there are. Lhuydgives a very emphatic form, _pebs kenifer ŏnen_, which would mean “everysingle one. ”

_Pŭb_ or _peb_, all, every. Placed before the noun. _Pŭb dên_, everyman. 

_Ŏl_ (or _ŭl_), all. Placed before or after the noun. When placedbefore the noun the latter is preceded by _an_: _ŏl an dîs_, all thepeople. 

_Bîth_ or _vîth_, any; _travîth_, anything; _dên vîth_, any man. Withnegatives it signifies _at all_; _ni wôr dên vîth_, no man at allknoweth; _nynsyw travîth_, there is nothing at all. 

_Mens_ (earlier _myns_), all, whatever; _ŏl mens o_, all that there was;_cowsens dên mens a vedn_, let a man say all that he will. It isgenerally used as a relative combined with the antecedent “all, ” but isalso used without an expressed verb to follow it, though in such caseprobably the verb substantive is understood. 

_Kemmes_, _kebmes_, as many as, whosoever; _kemmes a wrîg bodh ow Thas_, as many as have done the will of my Father. 

_Nîl_ or _an nîl_ and _e gîla_ (formerly _nyl_ and _y gyle_) signify “theone” and “the other. ” _Nîl_, originally _an ail_, the second, a wordwhich, except in this case, has dropped out of Cornish in favour of_secund_ and _nessa_ (=the next), though it remains in Welsh and Breton, signifies “one of two”; _e gîla_ (once _y gyle_ or _y gele_) literallysignifies “his fellow, ” from _e_, his, and _kîla_ (formerly _kyle_), fellow, companion. Thus:—

_Voz_ [_bes_] _an Frenkock feen parrez tho_ [_dhó_] _cummeraz telhar waraniel_ [_war an nîl_] _ha an sousenack nobla war e gilla_, for the fineFrench seems to take place upon the one [_i_. _e_. On Breton] and thenobler English on the other [_i_. _e_. Cornish] (from _Nebbaz Gerriau drotho Carnoack_, by John Boson, _circ_. 1700). 

The same expression occurs in the early Dramas, e. G. _an nyl a delle pympcans_, _ha hanter cans y gyle_, the one owed five hundred and half ahundred the other. 

_Aral_, other, plural _erel_, is sometimes used for _e gîla_. It is theusual word for _other_ or _another_: _dên aral_, another man. 

Another form occasionally used in Cornish for either gender, though inBreton it is only used for the regular feminine of _e gîla_ (_e gile_) is_eben_, older form _yben_:—

 _Heys Crist a gemeras a’n neyll lêf bys yn yben_ (_Poem of Passion_, 178), the length of Christ they took from one hand to the other. 

 _Ken_ is also used for _another_:—

 _Dhe ken pow_, to another country; _yn ken lyu_, in another colour. 

_Nanîl_, neither one, neither of two; it is _nîl_ with the negative, andis sometimes written _noniel_. Boson uses it in a peculiar way:—

 _Nanagu_ [_na nag yu_] _an pobel coth tho bose skoothez_, _war noniel_, nor are the old people to be depended upon neither. 

_Panîl_, “which of two” (see above), is compounded with _pa_, which, and_nîl_. 

_Lîas_, many, is used, like a numeral, with a substantive in thesingular: _lîas dôrn_, many hands. 

_Re_, some (see § 5), “ones, ” “things, ” is used also as a noun: _an remarow_, the dead; _an re bîan_, the little ones; _ma re a lavar_, thereare some who say. Cf. Welsh _rhai_; Breton _re_. 

_Radn_ or _ran_, part, is also used in the sense of “some. ”

_Honan_, self, is used with possessive pronouns as in English: _owhonan_, myself; _dha honan_, thyself, &c. 

CHAPTER VIII—THE VERB IN GENERAL

§ 1. The nucleus of a Cornish verb is its root. This is used withoutany variation or addition for the third person singular of the presenttense, and for the second person singular of the imperative. 

Other parts of the verb are formed on this root in three ways:—

1. By the inflected form, that is to say by the addition of certainsyllables indicating person, tense, etc. , with or without a modificationof the root vowel. In older Cornish the word thus formed indicated_person_ as well as _tense_ without the addition of a pronoun, though ifemphasis on the subject was intended the pronoun was used before or afterit. In later Cornish the pronoun was almost always added after the verb, and as the latter word often ended with the same consonant as the formerbegan with, the final consonant of the verb was often, but incorrectly, omitted in writing, as it was in sound. Thus:—

 Root _car_, love; first pers. Sing. Pres. , _carav_, I love, with pronoun, _carav vî_, pronounced and often written _cara vî_; plur. , _caron_, we love, _caron nŷ_, often written _caro nŷ_. 

The inflected form is common in early Cornish, but in the later stages ofthe language it is hardly ever used, except _in negative_, _interrogative_, _and dependent sentences_, and in certain tenses of theverb _to be_. Even when it is used, it is more frequently the inflectedform of an auxiliary verb with the infinitive or participle of the mainverb. 

2. By the impersonal form, as the Breton grammarians call it. This hasinflections of tense but not of person, the latter being indicated by thepersonal pronouns, placed before the verb, which, being immediatelypreceded by the particle _a_, has its initial in the second state. Thisverb is the third person singular of the required tense. Thus:—

 Root _car_, third pers. Sing. Past, _caras_. 

 Impersonal form. _Mî a garas_, _tî a garas_, _ev a garas_, etc. 

This form is frequently used in early and late Cornish for a directaffirmative sentence, beginning straight off with its nominative, orpreceded only by _and_ or _but_, etc. ; but not so frequently in lateCornish, as the impersonal form of an auxiliary verb, with the infinitiveof the main verb. 

3. By the auxiliary form, either inflected or impersonal, with theinfinitive or a participle of the main verb. The auxiliaries are:—

 _Gîl_ or _gwîl_ (older forms _gwrthil_, _gwithil_, etc. ), to do. 

 _Menny_, to wish, to will. 

 _Gally_, to be able. 

 _Gŏthvos_, to know. 

 _Bos_, to be. 

(a). _Gwîl_ is used to form several tenses, and is used (1) in itsimpersonal form in principal affirmative sentences, (2) in its inflectedform in negative, interrogative, or dependent sentences, with theinfinitive of the main verb, more frequently than any other form, for thepresent, preterite, conditional, and imperative. Its use is similar tothat of _do_, in the Cornish manner of speaking English. Thus:—

 _Mî a wra cara_, I love, lit. I do love. 

 _Tî a wrîg cara_, thou didst love. 

In these two sentences, _wra_ and _wrîg_ are _proclitics_, unaccentedsyllables joined in sound to the word which follows. 

 _Mar qwressa an dên cara_, if the man would love. 

 _Gwra cara_, love thou (do thou love); _gwreugh why cara_, love ye. 

 _Gwrens e bos_, let him be. 

(b). _Menny_ is used as an auxiliary of the future and conditional. Inprincipal affirmative sentences it is usually in its impersonal form, innegative, interrogative, or dependent sentences always in its inflectedform. Thus:—

 _Mî a vedn môs_, I will go. 

 _Mî a venja môs_, I would go. 

 _A vednough why môs_? will you go?

(c). _Gally_ is used, chiefly in the present and preterite, for “can”and “could, ” but also for “may” and “might. ” Thus:—

 _Mî a el môs_, I can (or may) go. 

 _Mî a alja môs_, I could (or might) go. 

(d). _Gŏdhvos_ in the present is sometimes used for “can. ” Thus:—

 _Mî ôr mos_, I can go (lit. I know [how] to go). 

These follow the same rule as the others with regard to the use of theirimpersonal and inflected forms. 

(e). _Bos_, to be, as an auxiliary, is used, much as in English, withthe present or past participle, to form the continuous present, thecontinuous past, and the passive. It is generally used in the inflectedform in its present and imperfect in any sort of sentence, but inprincipal affirmative sentences it is generally used in the impersonalform for other tenses. It can also be used with _gwîl_ or _menny_ and_gally_ as an auxiliary to it, while it is itself an auxiliary to anotherverb, but this is only what is done in English with such expressions as“can be, ” “will be, ” “shall be, ” etc. 

The use of the various forms of the verb will be found more fullyexplained in the chapter on the construction of sentences. 

When the auxiliaries _gwîl_ and _gally_ are used to form a passive, it issometimes the auxiliary that takes the passive form. Thus:—

 _Mar ny_ wrer _y wythe_, if he be not guarded (_Res. Dom. _, 341), _mar _keller _y wythe_, if he can be kept (_Pass. Chr. _, 3058). 

But in modern Cornish this would be more likely to be formed with adouble auxiliary:—

 _Mar ni wrello bos gwithes_. 

 _Mar callo bos gwithes_. 

$ 2. The Tenses Of The Inflected Verb. 

The inflected verb is reducible to five tenses, with an imperative, twoparticiples, and a verbal noun or infinitive. These are all formed onthe root by the addition of terminations, and sometimes by a modificationof the root vowel (indicated below by _m_). 

The tenses and their terminations are:—

I. Present or Future. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _—av_ or _am_ _—on_ [earlier _—m—en_]. 

2. _—m eth_ or _es_. _—ough_. 

3. Root alone. _—ons_ or _ans_. 

II. Imperfect or Secondary Present. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _—en_. _—en_. 

2. _—es_. _—eugh_. 

3. _—a_. _—ens_. 

III. Preterite. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _—m—ys_. _—son_ [earlier_—m—sen_]. 

2. _—m—ses_. _—sough_. 

3. _—as_. _—sons_ or _sans_. 

_Re_ prefixed to this tense turned it into a preterperfect in middleCornish, but in the later form _re_ is only used for the optative. {119}

IV. The Pluperfect or Secondary Perfect, largely used in late Cornish asa Conditional. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _—sen_ (or _jen_). _—sen_ (or _jen_). 

2. _—ses_ (or _jes_) _—seugh_ (or _jeugh_). 

3. _—sa_ (or _ja_). _—sens_ (or _jens_). 

V. The Subjunctive Present. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _—m—ev_. _—m—en_. 

2. _m—y_. _—m—eugh_. 

3. _—o_. _—ens_ or _ons_. 

Extra tense to some verbs: Second Future. Found in the early MSS. In theimpersonal form as a simple future. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _—fym_, _vym_, _vyv_. _—fan_, _von_. 

2. _—fyth_, _vyth_. _—fough_, _vough_. 

3. _—iv fyth_, _vyth_, _—fyns_, _vyns_, _vons_. _vo_. 

The Imperative. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. Wanting. _en_. 

2. Root alone. _eugh_. 

3. _—ens_ or _es_. _ens_. 

The Present Participle is formed by prefixing _ow_ to the infinitive, theinitial of which, if mutable in that manner, is changed to its fourthstate. If a present participle governs a pronoun object, the latter inits possessive form immediately precedes (and governs as to initial) theinfinitive, and is itself preceded by the preposition _worth_. In lateCornish _ow_ was often written _a_ or _o_. 

Another participial form, common in Breton and occasionally found inCornish, has been already mentioned in Chap. III. § 2. This is made byplacing the preposition _yn_, _en_, in, and the indefinite article _idn_, _un_, before the infinitive or verbal noun. Its use is chieflyadverbial. Thus, in the _Poem of the Passion_ we find, _yn un scolchye_, skulking; _yn un garme_, crying out; _yn un fystyne_, hurrying. 

The Infinitive or Verbal Noun is formed by adding _a_, _ya_, _y_, _as_ or_es_, _al_ or _el_, to the root. In some verbs the root itself, withoutany addition, is the verbal noun. 

The Past or Passive Participle is formed by adding _es_ to the root, withor without modification of the root vowel. 

The Passive termination is _er_ for the present and _es_ for thepreterite, but in Modern Cornish the Passive is almost always formedafter the English model by the auxiliary verb _bos_, to be, with the pastparticiple. 

The terminations _ma_ and _ta_ are often added to the first and secondpersons singular of various tenses in interrogative and subjunctivesentences, and in the case of the first person even in ordinarynarration. Norris maintains that these are not forms of _mî_ and _tî_, but only an _a_ suffixed to the verb termination, which in the firstperson reverts to a primary _m_ for _v_, and in the second personreassumes a dropped _t_. This theory is rather supported by our finding_a_ occasionally added to the third persons of tenses of the verb _tobe_, but _va_ is also found. Whether this is the explanation or not, wefind such forms as:—

 _Pandra venta_? what wilt thou?

 _A wresta_? dost thou? _Mar menta_, if thou wilt. 

 _Pandra wrama_? what shall I do?

There are some few differences between the inflected verb of the earlierMSS. And that of modern Cornish, and among other changes the lightertermination _en_ or _yn_ of the first person plural, and _ens_ or _yns_of the third person plural, in some cases had changed by Lhuyd’s time to_on_ or _an_, and _ons_ or _ans_, but probably really the vowel isobscure. There was also considerable uncertainty about the modificationof the vowel. Even in the early MSS. The change of vowel is rathervague, but the general rule seems to have been that when the terminationhas a thin vowel (_e_, _i_, or _y_), a broad root vowel (_a_, _o_, _u_)is changed to a thin vowel, usually in late Cornish to _e_ (cf. TheGaelic rule of _leathan le leathan agus caol le caol_, broad with broadand thin with thin). But this is by no means universal, and in sometenses, as in the imperfect and pluperfect, is not found at all. 

There is some confusion in modern Cornish about the subjunctive or fifthtense. Norris considers that Lhuyd’s subjunctive is really, except forthe third person singular, the imperfect or second tense of the olderMSS. But it seems to be more like a form of the present indicative, except in the third person singular, which is the old subjunctive. Lhuyd’s change of the first person singular to _am_ instead of _av_ isnot uncommon in certain verbs of late Cornish, when this tense is used ina subjunctive clause. 

The inflected verb at the beginning of a sentence is often preceded inMiddle Cornish by the verbal particle _y_ (or before a vowel _yth_), which does not mean anything in particular. _y_ causes the third statein verbs whose radical is _p_, _c_, _t_, and the fourth state in thosewhose radical is _d_, and changes _gw_ to _wh_. In late Cornish it israrely used except with the present of _môs_, to go, and (in itsapocopated form _th_ or as _ăth_) with the present and imperfect of_bos_, to be. 

A reflexive verb may be formed from any transitive verb by prefixing _ŏm_(older forms _ym_, as in Welsh, and _em_, as in Breton), changing theinitial to the second state. 

 _cregy_, to hang; _ŏmgregy_, to hang oneself. 

 _brêsy_, to judge; _ŏmvrêsy_, to judge oneself. 

 _disqwedhas_, to show; _ŏmdhisqwedhas_, to show oneself. 

 _gweras_, to help; _ŏmweras_, to help oneself. 

Sometimes the prefix gives a mutual rather than a reflexive sense. 

 _ŏmsewa_, to follow one another. 

 _ŏmladha_, to fight, contend (cf. French _se battre_). 

CHAPTER IX—THE AUXILIARY VERBS

§ 1. _Bos_, to be. 

The verb _to be_ in Cornish, as in other Aryan languages, is made up ofmore than one verb. In Cornish it may be divided in two parts. Thefirst of these consists of two tenses, a present and an imperfect, thesecond of the usual five tenses, the imperative and the infinitive. 

The first division, by means of reduplications and additions, takes avariety of forms in the early literature, and there is a considerableuncertainty about the exact force of these forms. Some of them evidentlymean little more than elongations and contractions for the sake of metre. The second division is formed with greater regularity on a root _b_, changing under certain conditions to _v_ (often written _f_) and _p_. 

I. FIRST DIVISION. PRESENT TENSE, _I am_. 

Sing. 1. _ov_ (old form _of_), _âthov_, _thov_, _oma_, _ăthoma_, _thoma_. 

 2. _os_, _ăthos_, _thos_, _osta_, _ăthosta_, _thosta_. 

 3. _yu_, _ăthyu_, _thyu_, _yua_, _ăthyua_, _thyua_. 

Plur. 1. _on_, _ăthon_, _thon_. 

 2. _ough_, _ăthough_, _though_. 

 3. _ens_, _ăthens_, _thens_. 

There is little or no difference of meaning in these forms. Thelengthened form _ăthov_, or its apocopated _thov_, is generally found atthe beginning of an assertion. _Oma_, _osta_, _yua_ and their lengthenedforms are used interrogatively or after certain conjunctions. In theearly literature the lengthened forms were written _ythof_, _assof_, _ossof_, _esof_, and even, with double lengthening, _ythesaf_, _ythesef_, _ythesof_. The first vowel is probably the obscure vowel (as _u_ in_until_), and the stress accent is on the syllable that follows theverbal prefix, so that even the consonant of the prefix is a littleuncertain. Williams makes it _dh_, but _th_ seems more probable. Inlate Cornish the vowel of the prefix was usually dropped. The personalpronouns are generally added after this tense, so that it practicallybecomes:—

 _Thov vî_, _thos dî_, _yu ev_ (or _ev yu_), _thon ny_, _though why_, _thens y_ (pronounced _thenŷ_). 

Occasionally the impersonal form of this verb is used, _mî yu_, _tî yu_, _ev yu_, _nŷ yu_, _whŷ yu_, _ŷ yu_. The negative is formed by adding_nyns_ to the short form, _nynsov_ or _nynsoma_, _nynsos_ or _nynsosta_, _nynsyu_, etc. Similarly this tense may be compounded with _mar_, if, _ken_, though, _may_, that, into _marsov_, _kensov_, _maythov_. The _s_, which is sometimes altered to _th_, is probably the _th_ of the verbalprefix. 

There are two other forms of the third person present, _ema_ (or _ma_), plural _emons_ (or _mons_), and _es_ (older _us_), or _esy_ or _ejy_(older _usy_, _ugy_). 

(a). _ema_, _ma_, _emons_, _mons_ must, according to Lhuyd, always beused narratively, never negatively, interrogatively (except after _ple_, where), or with relatives. They must always precede their subject. Thus:—

 _Ema ’n levar en ow chŷ_, the book is in my house. 

 _Ema levar en ow chŷ_, there is a book in my house. 

 _Nynsyw levar en ow chŷ_, there is not a book in my house. 

 _Ple yu ’n levar_? / _Ple ma ’n levar_? } where is the book?

 _’Yu ’n levar ŭbma_? is the book here?

(b). _emons_ is only used when the pronoun _they_ is the subject. Whena noun is the subject, whether singular or plural, a singular verb isused. 

 _Emons ŷ en ow chŷ_, they are in my house. 

 _Ema ’n levrow en ow chŷ_, the books are in my house. 

(c). _es_, _esy_, _ejy_, are chiefly used with relatives orinterrogatively in the sense of “is there, ” “is there not. ”

 _An levar es en ow chŷ_, the book which is in my house (in this case _es_=_a es_, which is). 

 _’Es levar en ow chŷ_? Is there a book in my house?

 _Nag es levar en ow chŷ_? Is there not a book in my house?

In the first of these two interrogations the interrogative particle _a_coalesces with _es_, in the second _nag_=_ni ag_, _ag_ being the sameinterrogative particle, with a _g_ added before a vowel. 

The ordinary interrogative of this tense is merely the form _’oma_, _’osta_, _’yua_, _’on nŷ_, _’ough whŷ_, _’ens ŷ_ (pron. _enjŷ_), whichshould be preceded by an apostrophe to show that the interrogativeparticle _a_ is elided. The negative interrogative is the same precededby _nag_. 

The difference between the use of _ema_, _yu_, and _es_ is not quite sodistinct in Cornish as between the corresponding _y mae_, _yw_, and _oes_in Welsh, but if there is any difference in meaning between _ema_ and_yu_, it is that _ema_ has more often the sense of _there is_, _it is_, and _yu_ more commonly that of _is_ only; also _yu_ can be usedinterrogatively and negatively, while _ema_, except after _ple_, where, should not be used interrogatively, and is never used negatively at all. Its negative and interrogative equivalent is _es_. 

II. FIRST DIVISION. IMPERFECT TENSE, _I was_. 

 _Old form_. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _esen_, _ythesen_, 1. _esen_, _ythesen_. _en_. 

2. _eses_, _ytheses_, 2. _eseugh_, _ytheseugh_. _es_. 

3. _esa_, _ytheses_. 3. _esens_, _ythesens_. 

 _Late form_. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _erav_, _eram_, _erama_, _therav_, 1. _eron_, _theron_. _theram_. 

2. _eras_, _erasta_, _theras_. 2. _erough_, _therough_. 

3. _era_, _thera_. 3. _erons_, _therons_. 

The change from _s_ to _r_ in this tense, and the assimilation of theinflections to the present, does not occur in the written language untilthe middle of the seventeenth century. The personal pronouns were alwaysused with this tense in its late form, and the final consonants of thepersonal inflections generally coalesced with the pronouns, and so wereomitted in writing, thus _therav vî_, _theron nŷ_, _therough whŷ_, werewritten, though incorrectly, _thera vî_, _thera nŷ_, _thero whŷ_. 

An alternative third person singular is _o_. It is used with relativesas an equivalent of _a o_, who was, and with negatives as _nynso_=therewas not. It is in fact the past equivalent of _es_, but it is often usedin a simple assertion also. The simple interrogative is _’erama_, was I?the negative interrogative is _nag erama_, was I not? and the simplenegative _nynseram_, I was not. 

SECOND DIVISION. INFINITIVE, _bos_, to be, older form, used chiefly whenan extra syllable was required for a verse, _bones_. 

I. FUTURE TENSE, _I shall be_. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _bedhav_ (older _bydhaf_). 1. _bedhon_. 

2. _bedheth_ (_bydhith_). 2. _bedhough_. 

3. _bedh_ (_bydh_). 3. _bedhons_ (_bedhens_). 

This tense is used more commonly in the impersonal form, _mî a vedh_, _tîa vedh_, etc. Another common future is _mî a vedn bos_, formed with_menny_, to will. 

II. IMPERFECT OR SECONDARY PRESENT, _I was being_. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _bedhen_, _ben_. 1. _bedhen_, _ben_. 

2. _bedhes_, _bes_, 2. _bedheugh_, _beugh_. _besta_. 

3. _bedha_, _be_, _beva_. 3. _bedhens_, _bens_. 

This tense is used rather as a conditional, _I should be_, or asubjunctive after _pan_, when, _mar_, if, etc. 

II. PRETERITE, _I was_, _I have been_. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _bêv_ (older _buf_, _buef_). 1. _bên_ (older _buen_). 

2. _bês_ (older _bus_, _bues_) _besta_. 2. _beugh_. 

3. _bê_ (older _bue_). 3. _bons_. 

This tense is more frequently used in the impersonal, _mî a vê_, _tî avê_, etc. 

IV. PLUPERFECT, _I had been_. 

 Singular. Plural. 

 1. _bîen_ (older written 1. _bîen_ (_byen_). _byen_). 

2. _bîes_ (_byes_). 2. _bîeugh_ (_byeugh_). 

3. _bîa_ (_bye_). 3. _bîens_ (_byens_). 

Lhuyd gives a pluperfect _beazen_, _beazes_, etc. Corresponding with theWelsh _buaswn_, but it does not appear to be used. 

V. SUBJUNCTIVE, _I may be_. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _bev_ (older _byf_, 1. _ben_. _beyf_). 

2. _by_. 2. _beugh_. 

3. _bo_. 3. _bons_. 

This and the second tense are not very clearly distinguished. 

IMPERATIVE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. Wanting. 1. _bedhon_, let us be. 

2. _bedh_, be thou. 2. _bedhough_, be ye. 

3. _bedhens_ (_bedhes_, _boes_, 3. _bedhens_, let them be. _bes_), let him be. 

A common variant of the imperative is formed with the auxiliary _gwîl_, to do. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. Wanting. 1. _gwren ny bos_. 

2. _gwra bos_. 2. _gwreugh bos_. 

3. _gwrens e bos_. 3. _gwrens y bos_. 

§ 2. _Gwîl_ (older _guthil_, _gruthil_, _guil_, _gul_), to do. 

I. PRESENT OR FUTURE TENSE, _I do_, or _I shall do_. 

(a). Inflected. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _gwrav_, _gwrama_. 1. _gwren_, _gwron_. 

2. _gwreth_, _gwrês_, 2. _gwreugh_, _gwrough_. _gwresta_. 

3. _gwra_. 3. _gwrons_. 

_Gwrama_, _gwresta_, in the second mutation _wrama_, _wresta_, are usedin interrogative and negative sentences, and after _mar_, if, in thefourth mutation _qwrama_, _qwresta_. The older form of _gwresta_ was_gwreta_. Occasionally in late Cornish a form of this present is foundexactly like the imperfect of _bos_; _therama_, _thera_, etc. This isprobably _wrama_, _wra_, with the verbal particle _ăth_ (_yth_) prefixed. It occurs in cases where it cannot possibly be the imperfect of _bos_. Lhuyd (pp. 246, 253) was rather puzzled by it, but with his usualclearness of sight was able to find out the real facts. 

(b). Impersonal. 

 _Mî a wra_, _tî a wra_, _ev a wra_, etc. 

II. THE IMPERFECT TENSE, _I was doing_. 

(a). Inflected. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _gwrellen_, _gwren_. 1. _gwrellen_, _gwren_. 

2. _gwrelles_, _gwres_. 2. _gwrelleugh_. 

3. _gwrella_, _gwre_. 3. _gwrellens_. 

(b). Impersonal. 

 _Mî a wrella_, _tî a wrella_, etc. 

This tense is seldom used as an auxiliary, and is often confused with thesubjunctive. 

III. THE PERFECT TENSE, _I did_. 

(a). Inflected. 

 _Old form_. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _gwrugaf_, _gwruge_. 1. _gwrussyn_. 

2. _gwrussys_. 2. _gwrussough_. 

3. _gwruk_. 3. _gwrussons_. 

 _Later form of old form_. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _gwrîgaf_, _gwrîga_. 1. _gwressen_, _gwreithen_. 

2. _gwresses_. 2. _gwressough_, _gwreithough_. 

3. _gwrîg_. 3. _gwressons_, _gwreithons_. 

 _Modern form_. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _gwrîgav vi_. 1. _gwrîgon ny_. 

2. _gwrîs_, _gwrîsta_, _gwrîges 2. _gwrîgough why_. Dî_. 

3. _gwrîg_, _gwrîga_, _gwrês_. 3. _gwrîgans y_. 

The last form seems to have completely superseded the other in lateCornish. It seems to be formed by taking the irregular third personsingular as a root, and forming the rest of the persons from it on theanalogy of the present tense. Where it is found—and the first personoccurs as early as Jordan’s Drama of _The Creation_ (e. G. _ny wrugaf_, 1. 1662)—it is generally written without the final consonants of the verb, which, as in the imperfect tense of the verb _to be_, seem to coalescewith the initials of the pronouns. One finds the forms _rig a vee_, _rigga vee_, _rigon ny_, _rigo why_, _rig an jy_, these being preceded byadverbs, conjunctions, etc. , such as _na_, _pan_, etc. , which put theinitial in the second state, and the _w_ being almost silent is omitted. The form _wruge_ (=_wrîga_), occurs in _Origo Mundi_, 2250, and _PassioChristi_, 930, for the first person singular, preceded by _pan_, when. The same word occurs for the third person in _O_. _M_. 423, and in theform _wrega_ in Jordan’s _Creation_, 2216. This is _wrîg_ with the added_a_ (see p. 120). A form of the third person singular of this tense, _ros_ (for _wros_, second state of _gwros_), may possibly be found in the_Ordinalia_ and in _St. Meriasek_, in the expression, _re Thu am ros_, byGod who made me. But it is more probably the preterite of _ry_, to give, as it occurs also in the phrase _re’n arluth dhen beys am ros_, by theLord who gave me to the world. _Wraze_ (=_wrês_, cf. Breton, _greaz_)occurs in Gen. Iii. 7. 

(b). Impersonal. 

 _Mî a wrîg_, _tî a wrîg_, etc. 

IV. THE PLUPERFECT OR CONDITIONAL TENSE, _I had or would have done_. 

(a). Inflected. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _gwressen_ (older form _gwrussen_). 1. _gwressen_. 

2. _gwresses_. 2. _gwresseugh_. 

3. _gwressa_. 3. _gwressens_. 

(b). Impersonal. 

 _Mî a wressa_, _tî a wressa_, etc. 

V. THE SUBJUNCTIVE, _I may do_. 

(a). Inflected. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _gwrellev_ (older 1. _gwrellon_, _gwrellen_. _gwryllyf_). 

2. _gwrelly_, _gwrelles_. 2. _gwrellough_, _gwrelleugh_. 

3. _gwrello_, _gwreffa_. 3. _gwrellens_, _gwrons_. 

There is rather a confusion of the subjunctive and imperfect, and the twoare used rather indiscriminately. The third person plural, _gwrons_, isborrowed from the imperative. 

(b). The Impersonal. 

 _Mî a wrello_, _tî a wrello_, etc. 

 _Mî a wreffa_, _tî a wreffa_, etc. 

VI. THE IMPERATIVE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. Wanting. 1. _gwren_, let us do. 

2. _gwra_, do thou. 2. _gwreugh_, do ye. 

3. _gwrens_, let him do. 3. _gwrens_, _gwrons_, let them do. 

INFINITIVE, _gîl_, _gwîl_, to do. 

PRESENT OR ACTIVE PARTICIPLE, _ow kîl_, doing. 

PAST OR PASSIVE PARTICIPLE, _gwrês_, done. 

When this verb is used otherwise than as an auxiliary, the future is _mîa vedn gwîl_, I will do, etc. It means, as a principal verb, to do or tomake, and tenses may be formed with its own tenses as auxiliaries to itsinfinitive. Thus:—

 _Mî a wra gwîl_, I do or I make. 

 _Tî a wrîg gwîl_, thou hast made. 

 _Mar qwressa ’n den e wîl_, if the man would make it. 

§ 3. _Gally_, to be able. 

I. PRESENT OR FUTURE, _I can_ or _I may_. 

(a). Inflected. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _gellam_, _gallam_, 1. _gellen_. _gellav_. 

2. _gallos_, _gelleth_. 2. _gellough_, _gallough_. 

3. _gel_. 3. _gellons_. 

(b). Impersonal. 

 _Mî a el_ or _mî el_, etc. 

II. PAST (mixed preterite and pluperfect), _I could_ or _I might_. 

(a). Inflected. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _galjen_, _gelles_. 1. _galjen_, _gelsen_. 

2. _galjes_. 2. _galjeugh_, _gelseugh_. 

3. _galja_, _gallas_. 3. _galjens_, _gellens_. 

(b). Impersonal. _Mî alja_, etc. 

III. SUBJUNCTIVE, _I may be able_. 

(a). Inflected. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _gellev_, _gallen_. 1. _gellen_. 

2. _gelly_. 2. _gelleugh_, _gallough_. 

3. _gallo_, _gelly_. 3. _gallons_. 

This verb is chiefly used (as has been said) as an auxiliary in thepresent and past tenses, in the sense of _can_, _could_, or _may_, _might_. In direct sentences the impersonal form is most usual, innegative, interrogative, and dependent sentences the inflected form inthe second state of the initial, which is influenced by the particle _a_, generally, however, not expressed, or by _na_, not. When the inflectedform has been used in the question, the inflected form is often usedalso, preceded by the personal pronoun, in affirmative answers. Thus:—

 _’Ellough why clappya Kernûak_? Can you speak Cornish?

 _Mî ellam_ (not _mî a el_). I can. 

 _’Aljesta scrifa a Sowsnak_? Couldst thou write English?

 _Mî aljen_. I could. 

 _’Allosta môs dhô’n chŷ_? Canst thou go to the house?

 _Mî ellam_. I can. 

 _Na orama dr ’el an Kembrîan gwîl rag dhô witha ’ga thavas_. {133} I know not what the Welsh may do to preserve their language. (Boson’s _Nebbaz Gerriau_. )

 _Radn alja bos parres dhô lavarel_. {133} Some might be prepared to say. (Boson’s _Nebbaz Gerriau_). 

Sometimes the verb _gŏthvos_, to know (for which see Chapter XI. ), isused to express _can_, especially when mental capability is more or lessintended. _Mî ôr_ (or _mî wôr_) _cowsa Sowsnak_, I can speak English. Compare a similar use of _savoir_ in French. 

§ 4. _Menny_, to will, to wish. 

I. PRESENT, _I will_. 

(a). Inflected. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _mennav_, _mednav_, 1. _mennon_, _mednon_. _mednama_. 

2. _menneth_, _medneth_, 2. _mennough_, _mednough_. _menta_. 

3. _medn_. 3. _mennons_, _mednons_. 

(b). Impersonal. 

 _Mî a vedn_, _tî a vedn_, etc. 

II. PAST, _I would_. This is really the pluperfect. 

(a). Inflected. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _menjon_, _menjam_ (older 1. _menjon_ (_mensen_). _mensen_). 

2. _menjes_ (_menses_). 2. _menjough_ (_menseugh_). 

3. _menja_ (_mensa_). 3. _menjons_ (_mensens_). 

(b). Impersonal. 

 _Mî a venja_, _tî a venja_, etc. 

These are the only two tenses in common use as auxiliaries. Lhuyd givesanother of mixed imperfect and preterite, _mennen_, _mennyz_, _mennaz_, _mennen_, _menneh_, _mennenz_. 

CHAPTER X—PARADIGM OF A REGULAR VERB

The following is a complete paradigm of a regular verb, showing thevarious forms. Most tenses have at least two forms, the simple verb, whether in the inflected or impersonal conjugation, and the compound, orverb with auxiliaries. In late Cornish the compound is by far the moreusual in almost every tense. The general principal on which thedifferent forms are used is:—

_Affirmative Sentences_. Simple Impersonal or Auxiliary Impersonal, generally the latter. 

_Negative_, _Interrogative_, _or Dependent Sentences_. Inflected Simpleor Inflected Auxiliary, generally the latter, but the Simple Inflected ismore common in these than the Simple Impersonal is in affirmativesentences. 

 ROOT. _Car_, love. 

 VERBAL NOUN OR INFINITIVE. _Cara_, the act of loving, to love. 

 PRESENT PARTICIPLE. _Ow cara_, loving. 

 Past or Passive Participle. _Keres_, loved. 

I. PRESENT, originally used also as future. 

(a). Inflected form. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _carav_ (_vî_), {135} I love. 1. _caron_ (_nŷ_), older _keryn_, we love. 

2. _keres_, or _kereth_ (_dî_), 2. _carough_ (_whŷ_), you love. Thou lovest. 

3. _car_ (_ev_), he loves. 3. _carons_ (_ŷ_), or _carans_, they love. 

As this form, except occasionally in verse, is only used in negative, interrogative, or dependent sentences, the initial is generally changedto the second state by some preceding particle, such as _a_, _ni_, _pan_, etc. 

(b). Impersonal form. 

 _Mî_, _tî_, _ev_, _nŷ_, _whŷ_, _ŷ_ (late form often _anjŷ_ or _jŷ_) _a gar_. 

(c). Inflected Auxiliary. 

 _Gwrav vî cara_. 

For the rest of the tense see the present of _gwîl_, to do. 

(d). Impersonal Auxiliary. 

 _Mî_, _tî_, _ev_, _nŷ_, _whŷ_, _ŷ_ (or _anjŷ_ or _jŷ_) _a wra cara_. 

The forms _wrama_, _wresta_ are generally used for the inflectedauxiliary first and second persons singular in interrogative anddependent sentences, _a wrama cara_, do I love? _pan wresta cara_, whenthou dost love. The particle _a_ of the impersonal form is notinfrequently omitted, especially when the pronouns ending in vowelsimmediately precede it. {136}

I. A. THE CONTINUOUS OR HABITUAL PRESENT. 

 _Thov vi ow cara_, I am loving. 

The rest as in the present tense of _bos_, to be, followed by the presentparticiple. The negative form of this is:—

 _Nynsoma_ or _nynsov ow cara_, etc. 

I. B. THE PASSIVE PRESENT. 

 _Dhov vî keres_, I am loved. 

The rest as the present of _bos_, followed by the past participle. 

Or the older passive:—

 _Mî_, _tî_, _ev_, _nŷ_, _whŷ_, _ŷ_ (or _anjŷ_ or _jŷ_) _a gerer_. 

Or the auxiliary form of the older passive:—

 _Mî_, _tî_, etc. , _a wrer cara_. 

In this case _wrer_ is for _gwrer_, the passive of _gwîl_, to do. 

II. THE IMPERFECT, used also more or less as a Subjunctive. 

(a). Inflected form. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _caren_, I was loving. 1. _caren_, we were loving. 

2. _cares_, thou wert loving. 2. _careugh_, you were loving. 

3. _cara_, he was loving. 3. _carens_, they were loving. 

(b). Impersonal form. 

 _Mî_, _tî_, etc. , _a gara_. 

(c). Auxiliary form. 

 _Therav vî ow cara_. 

The rest as the imperfect of _bos_, to be, with the present participle. 

The negative form of this tense is either:—

 _nî garen_, etc. , or

 _nynseram ow cara_, etc. 

The interrogative is either:—

 _a garen_? etc. , or

 _’erama_, etc. , _ow cara_?

III. THE PRETERITE OR PAST TENSE. 

(a). Inflected. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _kerŷs_, I loved. 1. _carson_, or _kersen_, we loved. 

2. _kerses_, thou lovedst. 2. _carsough_, you loved. 

3. _caras_, he loved. 3. _carsons_, or _carsans_, they loved. 

(b). Impersonal. 

 _Mî_, _tî_, etc. , _a garas_. 

(c). Inflected auxiliary. 

 _Gwrîgav vî cara_. 

The rest as the past tense of _gwîl_, to do, followed by the infinitive. 

(d). Impersonal auxiliary. 

 _Mî_, _tî_, etc. , _a wrîg cara_. 

Sometimes _re_ is prefixed to this tense, as:—

 _mî re garas_, _mî re wrîg cara_. 

This turns it into a preterperfect, “I have loved, ” but in late Cornishthere is usually no distinction between preterite and perfect, exceptthat the latter is seldom expressed by anything except the auxiliaryform, while either may be used for the former. 

The passive of this tense is either:—

 _mî_, _tî_, etc. , _a gares_, or

 _mî_, _tî_, etc. , _a vê keres_. 

The latter is the more usual. 

IV. THE PLUPERFECT, SECONDARY PERFECT, OR CONDITIONAL. 

(a). Inflected. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _carsen_, I had loved, or I 1. _carsen_, we had loved. Would love. 

2. _carses_, thou hadst loved. 2. _carseugh_, you had loved. 

3. _carsa_, he had loved. 3. _carsens_, they had loved. 

Pronounced and sometimes written _carjen_ (or _cargen_ with soft _g_ inMSS. ), etc. 

(b). Impersonal. 

 _Mî_, _tî_, etc. , _a garsa_. 

(c). Inflected auxiliary. 

 _Gwressen cara_, etc. , or _menjam cara_, etc. 

The rest as the pluperfect of _gwîl_, or of _menny_, to will, with theinfinitive. 

(d). Impersonal auxiliary. 

 _Mî_, _tî_, etc. , _a wressa cara_, or _a venja cara_. 

The passive of this tense is formed by the pluperfect of _bos_, to be, followed by the past participle. 

V. THE SUBJUNCTIVE. 

(a). Inflected. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _kerev_, or _carev_, I may 1. _keren_, or _caren_, we may love. Love. 

2. _kery_, or _cary_, thou 2. _kereugh_, or _careugh_, you maymayest love. Love. 

3. _caro_, he may love. 3. _carens_, or _carons_, they may love. 

(b). Impersonal form. 

 _Mî_, _tî_, etc. , _a garo_. 

(c). Inflected auxiliary. 

 _Gwrellev vî_ (or _gwrellen_) _cara_. 

And the rest as the subjunctive or imperfect of _gwîl_ with theinfinitive. 

(d). Impersonal auxiliary. 

 _Mî_, _tî_, etc. , _a wrello_ (or _wreffa_) _cara_. 

The passive of this tense is formed by the present tense of _gally_, tobe able, followed by the infinitive _bos_, to be, and the past participleof the main verb:—

 _Mî_, _tî_, etc. , _a el bos keres_, I, thou, etc. , may be loved. 

This tense is not necessarily used after conjunctions which in otherlanguages (Latin, for example) govern a subjunctive, but rather whenuncertainty, expectation, or contingency is signified, in fact, when inEnglish one would use _may_ as an auxiliary. There is a good deal ofconfusion between this tense and the imperfect. 

 _Re_ prefixed to the inflected or inflected auxiliary form of this tense makes it an optative:—

 _Re wrellen cara_, would that I might love, etc. 

VI. THE FUTURE. 

In older Cornish the present, whether in its inflected, impersonal, orauxiliary form, was commonly used to express a future, and sometimes thesubjunctive was used as a future. Some verbs have an extra tense whichis a specially inflected future, resembling one form of the Bretonconditional, as follows:—

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _carvym_, _carvyv_. 1. _carvon_. 

2. _carvyth_. 2. _carvough_. 

3. _carvyth_, _carvo_. 3. _carvons_. 

This is more commonly found in the impersonal form, _mî_, _tî_, etc. , _agarvyth_. It is formed, as may be clearly seen, by suffixing the futureor subjunctive of _bos_, to be (perhaps in its sense of “to have” {140}), to the root of the verb. (Cf. The suffixing of the present of _avoir_ toan infinitive to form a future in French, _je parler-ai_, and itsunamalgamated prototype, the future form, _resurgere habent_, in the verylow Latin of the antepenultimate verse of the Athanasian Creed. ) But inlate Cornish the regular future was formed by the auxiliary verb _menny_, to will:—

 _Mednav vî cara_, etc. 

 _Mî_, _tî_, etc. , _a vedn cara_, etc. 

The forms _mednama_, _menta_, usually in the second state of the initial, are used for interrogative and dependent sentences:—

 _A vednama cara_? shall I love?

 _Mar menta cara_, if thou wilt love. 

The negative is either _nî vednav vî cara _or _mî ni vednav cara_. 

The latter form, with the _v_ of the termination omitted as being nearlyinaudible, is used in Carew’s phrase, _meea navidua cowzasawzneck_, Iwill speak no English, for _mî na vednav cowsa Sowsnak_. 

The passive is formed by the present of _menny_, the infinitive of _bos_, and the past participle:—

 _Mî_, _tî_, etc. , _a vedn bos keres_. 

VII. THE IMPERATIVE. 

(a). Inflected. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. Wanting. 1. _caren_, let us love. 

2. _car_, love thou. 2. _careugh_, love ye. 

3. _cares_ (or _carens_), let him 3. _carens_, let them love. Love. 

(b). The auxiliary. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. Wanting. 1. _gwren cara_. 

2. _gwra cara_. 2. _gwreugh cara_. 

3. _gwrens cara_ or _gwrens e cara_. 3. _gwrens ŷ cara_. 

CHAPTER XI—THE IRREGULAR VERBS

The irregular verbs are:—

 _môs_ (earlier _mones_), to go. 

 _dôs_ (earlier _dones_), to come. 

 _dôn_, to bear or carry. 

 _drŷ_, to bring. 

 _rŷ_, to give. 

 _gǒdhvos_, to know. 

Of these, _môs_ and _dôn_ are each made up of two different verbs. Theirregularities of _dôs_, _drŷ_, and _rŷ_ are due to contractions, andthose of _gŏdhvas_ chiefly to its being compounded with _bos_, to be. 

There are irregularities also in the auxiliary verbs _gwîl_, to do, and_gally_, to be able, but these have been already given in Chapter IX. 

In earlier Cornish the inflected forms of the irregular verbs were freelyused, but later these are comparatively rare, and the impersonal andauxiliary forms became so much commoner that the full inflected form canonly be gathered from the early writings and from the rather imperfectparadigms given by Lhuyd. 

It is not necessary to give anything more than the inflected verbs here, for the impersonal and auxiliary tenses can easily be worked out fromthese on the model of the regular verb. These are given withoutpronouns, though of course pronouns are used, as with other verbs. 

In the latest Cornish the infinitives of _môs_, _dôs_, _drŷ_, _rŷ_, wereoften used colloquially to express the imperative, without muchdiscrimination between singular and plural. These verbs, especially_môs_ and _dôs_, are generally found in late Cornish in the auxiliaryform with _gwîl_ and _menny_, but rarely in the simple inflected. 

§ 1. _Môs_, to go. 

I. PRESENT OR FUTURE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _av_ or _ăthov_ (older 1. _en_ or _ăthen_. _af_). 

2. _eth_ or _ătheth_. 2. _eugh_ or _ătheugh_. 

3. _a_ or _ătha_. 3. _ans_ or _ăthans_. 

II. IMPERFECT OR SECONDARY PRESENT. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _ellen_. 1. _ellen_. 

2. _elles_. 2. _elleugh_. 

3. _ella_. 3. _ellens_. 

III. PRETERITE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _êthen_. 1. _êthen_. 

2. _êthes_. 2. _êtheugh_. 

3. _êth_, _ellas_. 3. _êthons_. 

IV. PLUPERFECT OR CONDITIONAL (probable, but not found). 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _elsen_. 1. _elsen_. 

2. _elses_. 2. _elseugh_. 

3. _elsa_. 3. _elsens_. 

V. SUBJUNCTIVE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _ellev_. 1. _ellen_. 

2. _elly_. 2. _elleugh_. 

3. _ello_. 3. _ellons_. 

VI. IMPERATIVE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. — 1. _en_. 

2. _kê_, _kejy_, _kehejy_. 2. _eugh_. {144}

3. _ens_. 3. _ens_. 

 INFINITIVE, _môs_. 

 PRESENT PARTICIPLE, _ow môs_. 

 PAST PARTICIPLE, _gilles_ (supplied from _gylly_ or _gelly_, to go). 

In the impersonal form of the preterite, the verbal particle _a_ oftentakes an _s_ or _j_ at the end of it, _mî aj êth_, I went, but generallyin this form _a_ is omitted, _mî â_, I go; _mî eth_, I went; _mî ello_, Imay go, etc. In the _Ordinalia_ and other Dramas the forms _reseth_ and_regeth_ (_rejeth_) are found for the perfect. This is the preterite_êth_ with the particle _re_ and _s_ (_j_), for _th_, prefixed. 

§ 2. _Dôs_ (earlier _devonos_, _donos_, _devos_), to come. 

I. PRESENT. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _dov_ (older _duf_). 1. _down_ (_duen_, _dun_). 

2. _dêth_ (_dueth_). 2. _dough_, _deugh_. 

3. _dê_ (_due_). 3. _dons_, _desons_. 

II. IMPERFECT. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _deffen_. 1. _deffen_. 

2. _deffes_. 2. _deffeugh_. 

3. _deffa_. 3. _deffens_. 

III. PRETERITE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _dêtha_, _dêth_ (older 1. _dêthon_ (_duthon_). _duth_, _dueyth_). 

2. _dêthes_, _dês_ (older 2. _dêtheugh_ (_dutheugh_). _duthys_, _dues_). 

3. _dêth_ (older _dueth_, 3. _dêthons_, _desons_ (_duthens_). _duth_). 

IV. PLUPERFECT not found, except third person singular, _dothye_ or_dethye_, and third pl. _dothyans_. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _dothyen_, _dethyen_. 1. _dothyen_, _dethyen_. 

2. _dothyes_, _dethyes_. 2. _dothy eugh_, _dethyeugh_. 

3. _dothya_, _dethya_. 3. _dothyens_, _dethyens_. 

V. SUBJUNCTIVE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _deffev_. 1. _deffen_. 

2. _deffy_. 2. _deffeugh_. 

3. _deffo_. 3. _deffens_. 

IMPERATIVE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. Wanting. 1. _dewn_ (_dun_, _duen_). 

2. _dês_ (_dues_, 2. _deugh_ (_dugh_). _dus_). 

3. _dêns_. 3. _dêns_. 

 INFINITIVE, _dôs_. 

 PARTICIPLES. PRESENT, _ow tôs_; PAST, _devedhes_. 

 “I am come” is _devedhes ov_. 

The root vowels of this verb vary a good deal in the MSS. The _ue_ isevidently a single syllable according to the rhythm, and so is the _ye_or _ya_. 

§ 3. _Dôn_, to bear or carry (earlier also _doen_, _doyn_). 

I. PRESENT. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _degav_. 1. _degon_. 

2. _deges_. 2. _degough_. 

3. _deg_, _dog_. 3. _degons_. 

II. IMPERFECT, not found. 

III. PRETERITE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _dîges_ (older _duges_). 1. _dîgon_. 

2. _dîges_ (_duges_). 2. _dîgough_. 

3. _dîg_ (_dug_, _duk_). 3. _dîgons_. 

IV. PLUPERFECT, not found. 

V. SUBJUNCTIVE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _dogev_. 1. _dogen_. 

2. _dogy_. 2. _dogeugh_. 

3. _dogo_, _doga_. 3. _dogens_. 

IMPERATIVE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. Wanting. 1. _dogen_. 

2. _dog_, _doga_. 2. _degeugh_. 

3. _degens_. 3. _degens_. 

INFINITIVE, _dôn_, _doga_, or _degy_. 

 PARTICIPLE. PRESENT, _ow tôn_ or _ow tegy_; PAST, _deges_. 

§ 4. _Rŷ_, to give. 

I. PRESENT. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _rov_. 1. _ren_. 

2. _reth_. 2. _reugh_. 

3. _re_. 3. _rens_. 

II. IMPERFECT. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _ren_. 1. _ren_. 

2. _res_. 2. _reugh_. 

3. _re_. 3. _rens_. 

III. PRETERITE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _rês_. 1. _resen_. 

2. _resses_. 2. _rosough_. 

3. _ros_. 3. _rosons_. 

IV. PLUPERFECT. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _rosen_. 1. _rosen_. 

2. _roses_. 2. _roseugh_. 

3. _rosa_. 3. _rosens_. 

V. SUBJUNCTIVE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _rollen_. 1. _rollen_. 

2. _rolly_. 2. _rolleugh_. 

3. _rollo_. 3. _dollens_, _rollons_. 

IMPERATIVE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. Wanting. 1. _ren_. 

2. _ro_. 2. _reugh_. 

3. _roy_. 3. _rens_. 

 INFINITIVE, _rŷ_. 

 PRESENT PARTICIPLE, _ow rŷ_. 

 PAST PARTICIPLE, _reys_. 

§ 5. _Dry_, to bring. 

Except that the present is:—

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _dorov_ or _drov_. 1. _doren_ or _dren_. 

2. _doreth_ or _dreth_. 2. _dorough_ or _dreugh_. 

3. _dore_ or _dre_. 3. _dorens_ or _drens_. 

the second person singular of the imperative is _doro_ or _dro_, and thepreterite third person singular is _dres_ or _dros_, this verb is _rŷ_with a _d_ prefixed. The present participle is _ow trŷ_. 

§ 6. _Gŏdhvos_, or _gŏdhvas_, to know, compounded of _godh_ or_gŭdh_=knowledge, and _bos_, to be. 

I. PRESENT. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _gôn_ or _goram_. 1. _gŏdhon_. 

2. _gŏdhas_. 2. _gŏdhough_. 

3. _gôr_ (second state _wôr_ or ’_ôr_). 3. _gŏdhons_. 

II. IMPERFECT, used also as Perfect. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _gŏdhen_, _gŏdhyen_. 1. _gŏdhen_, _gŏdhyen_. 

2. _gŏdhes_, _gŏdhyes_. 2. _gŏdheugh_, _gŏdhyeugh_. 

3. _gŏdha_, _gŏdhya_. 3. _gŏdhens_, _gŏdhyens_. 

III. PRETERITE. The second form, given by Lhuyd, is a rather improbabletense, and is not found elsewhere. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _gŏdhvên_, _gwedhun_. 1. _gŏdhvên_, _gwedhyn_. 

2. _gŏdhvês_, _gwedhys_. 2. _gŏdhveugh_, _gwedheugh_. 

3. _gŏdhvê_, _gwedhewys_. 3. _gŏdhvons_, _gwedhans_, _gweians_. 

IV. PLUPERFECT OR CONDITIONAL. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _gŏdhvîen_. 1. _gŏdhvîen_. 

2. _gŏdhvîes_. 2. _gŏdhvîeugh_. 

3. _gŏdhvîa_. 3. _gŏdhvîens_. 

V. SUBJUNCTIVE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _gŏdhevav_, _gŏdhav_. 1. _gŏdhven_. 

2. _gŏdhvy_, _gŏdhy_. 2. _gŏdhveugh_. 

3. _gŏdhvo_. 3. _gŏdhvens_ or _gŏdhans_. 

VI. FUTURE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _gŏdhvedhav_, _gŏffedhav_. 1. _gŏdhvedhen_, _gŏffedhen_. 

2. _gŏdhvedhes_, _gŏffedhes_. 2. _gŏdhvedheugh_, _goffedheugh_. 

3. _gŏdhvedh_, _gŏffedh_. 3. _gŏdhvedhens_, _gŏffedhens_. 

VII. OPTATIVE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. _re wŏffen_. 1. _re wŏffen_. 

2. _re wŏffas_. 2. _re wŏffeugh_. 

3. _re wŏffa_. 3. _re wŏffens_. 

IMPERATIVE. 

 Singular. Plural. 

1. Wanting. 1. _gŏdhvedhen_. 

2. _gŏdhvedh_. 2. _gŏdhvedheugh_. 

3. _gŏdhvedhens_. 3. _gŏdhvedhens_. 

 INFINITIVE, gŏdhvos, gŏdhvas, gŏvos. 

 PRESENT PARTICIPLE, _ow cŏdhvos_. 

 PAST PARTICIPLE, _gŏdhvedhes_. 

 INFLECTED PASSIVE, _gŏdher_. 

In the impersonal form and elsewhere, when this verb has its initial inthe second state, _w_ is substituted for _g_. 

The Optative _re wŏffen_, etc. Seems to be formed on the imperfect mixedup with the subjunctive. 

CHAPTER XII—PREPOSITIONS, CONJUNCTIONS, ADVERBS

§ 1. Prepositions are of two kinds, simple and compound. Simpleprepositions govern various states of the initial. Compoundprepositions, when, as is generally the case, they are made up of asimple preposition and a noun, govern the first state, for the noun whichfollows is really in the appositional genitive. If a compoundpreposition govern a personal pronoun, the latter is often placed, in itspossessive form, between the two component parts of the preposition, governing the initial of the noun-half of it. Sometimes, however, thesecond part of a compound preposition is a simple preposition, and inthat case the government is that of the last preposition of the compound. 

SIMPLE PREPOSITIONS. 

 _a_, of, from, governs second state. 

 _avel_, _vel_, like, as. 

 _bis_, up to, as far as (_usque ad_). 

 _dadn_ or _en dadn_, under. 

 _der_, _dre_, by, through, governs second state. 

 _dres_, over, beyond, above. 

 _dhô_, to, governs second state. 

 _en_, _edn_, _et_, in. {149}

 _er_, see _war_. 

 _gan_, _gans_, with, by. 

 _heb_, without, governs second state. 

 _kens_, before (of time). 

 _lebmen_, _lemmen_, except, but. 

 _ŏja_, _wŏja_, after (older form, _wose_). 

 _rag_, for, because of. 

 _re_, by (in swearing), governs second state. 

 _reb_, by, near, beside. 

 _saw_, save, except, but. 

 _treba_, _tereba_, until. 

 _troha_, towards. 

 _tewa_ (_tewaha_, _tyha_, _tîgh_), towards. 

 _war_, on, upon (also _er_), governs second state. 

 _worth_, _orth_, at, to, against. 

COMPOUND PREPOSITIONS. 

 _adres_, across, beyond. 

 _adro dhô_, _drodho_, about, concerning, govern second state. 

 _abarth_, _abarh_, beside, on the side of. 

 _aberth_, _aberh_, within, inside of. 

 _adheller dhô_, _dheller dhô_ (originally _a dhellergh_), behind, governs second state. 

 _a dhirag_, _dhirag_, before, in the presence of. 

 _adheworth_, _dheworth_, _dhŏrt_, from. 

 _ajŷ_, ’_jŷ_, within (_a_+_chy_, house), generally followed by _dhô_, governing the second state. 

 _a eugh_, above, over. 

 _a mes_, _a ves_, _mes_, _en mes_, out of. 

 _a mesk_, _mesk_, _en mesk_, among. 

 _a wos_, because of, for the sake of. 

 _entre_, among. 

 _erbidn_ or _erbyn_, _warbidn_, against. 

 _herwedh_, according to. 

 _marnas_, except, but. 

 _rag carenja_, for the sake of. 

 _warlergh_, after. 

 _ogastî dhô_, near to (_ogastî ogas_, near, _tî_=_tew_, side). 

Of these _abarth_, _a mesk_ or _en mesk_, _erbidn_, _rag carenja_, and_warlergh_, are separable when they govern pronouns. Thus:—

 _a_ ’_gan parth_, beside us. 

 _en agas mesk_, among you. 

 _er ow fyn_, against me. 

 _rag dha garenja_, for thy sake. 

 _war e lergh_, after him. 

§ 2. Conjunctions. 

 _ha_, and. Before a vowel, _hag_, except when followed by the article _an_, or by a pronoun beginning with a vowel, in which case the vowel of the second word is elided. 

 _bes_, _mes_, but. 

 _saw_, but, except. 

 _ma_, _may_, that, in order that. 

 _dre_, _dro_, that. 

 _erna_, until. 

 _bis pan_, until. 

 _treba_, _tereba_, until. 

 _ken_, though, although. 

 _awos_, although, notwithstanding. 

 _pan_, _pa_, _pur_, or _pêr_ (=_pa-êr_) when, govern second state. 

 _hedre_, whilst. 

 _spas_, whilst. 

 _perag_, _prag_, _fraga_, why, wherefore. 

 _po_, or. _po—po_—=either—or—

 _mar_, _mara_, _a_, if. Govern fourth state. 

 _marnas_ (_mar_+_na_+_es_), unless. 

 _ponî_, _ponag_, unless. 

 _aban_, since, because. 

 _dreven_, since, because. 

 _rag_, for. 

 _rag own_, lest, for fear. 

 _vel_, than. 

 _ages_, _es_, than. 

 _na_, nor. 

 _maga_, so, as much as. 

§ 3. Adverbs. 

Adverbs may be formed from adjectives by prefixing _en_, which generallychanges the initial to the second state. Thus _glan_, pure, _en ’lan_, purely. There are some exceptions to this change, _b_ and _m_ sometimeschange to _f_, not _v_, _bras_, great, _en fras_, greatly; _mas_, good, _en fas_, well; _d_ sometimes changes to the fourth state, _da_, good, _en ta_, well; and _t_ sometimes remains unchanged, _tin_, sharp, _entin_, sharply. But we find also _en dhiugel_, certainly, from _diugel_, secure. 

ADVERBS OF TIME. 

 _en êrma_, now (in this hour). 

 _lemman_, _lebman_, now. 

 _en tor-ma_, now (in this turn). 

 _nam_, _nana_, _nanna_, _nans_, now. 

 _agensow_, just now. 

 _hedhew_, to-day. 

 _avorow_, to-morrow. 

 _trenzha_, the day after to-morrow. 

 _jedreva_=_dedreja_=_dedh trûja_, the third day hence. 

 _an journa-ma war seithan_, this day week. 

 _de_, yesterday. 

 _genzhete_ (_kens de dedh_), the day before yesterday. 

 _ternos_, the next day. 

 _en kenzhoha_ / _boregweth_ } in the morning. 

 _dohajedh_, in the afternoon. 

 _gorthewer_, in the evening. 

 _zîlgweth_, o’ Sundays. 

 _fast_, presently. 

 _prest_, _scon_ / _dewháns_, _eskes_ / _defry_, _dhesempes_ } soon, quicky, immediately. 

 _whath_, still, yet. 

 _kens_, before (of time). 

 _kensemman_, ere now. 

 _kensenna_, ere that. 

 _ŏja_, _wŏja_, _ŏj’ henna_, _wŏja hedna_, afterwards. 

 _nenna_, _nana_, _en êrna_, then. 

 _ŏj’ hemma_, _wŏja hebma_, henceforth. 

 _warlergh_, afterwards. 

 _esos_, already. 

 _avar_, early. 

 _dewedhes_, late. 

 _arta_, again. 

 _kettoth_, _kettoth ha_, as soon as. 

 _nevra_, ever. 

 _rag nevra_, for ever. 

 _benary_, for ever. 

 _biken_, ever, _bis viken_, for ever. 

 _besca_, _besqweth_, ever. 

 _benethy_, _dho venethy_, for ever. 

 _bepprês_, always. 

 _hedre_, _spas_, whilst. 

 _pols_, a while. 

ADVERBS OF PLACE. 

 _ple_, where (either interrogative or not). 

 _a pele_, _a ble_, whence (either interrogative or not). 

 _ŭbma_, _ŭmma_, here, hither. 

 _enna_, there. 

 _lemma_, _lebma_, here (in this place). 

 _alemma_, _alebma_, hence. 

 _alenna_, _en mes alenna_, thence. 

 _aban_, _avan_, up, above, on high. 

 _aman_, up, upwards. 

 _awartha_, above, over. 

 _awollas_, _warwollas_, below. 

 _warban_, on high, up above. 

 _warnans_, down below. 

 _en hans_, _en nans_, down. 

 _lĕr_, _lŏr_ (_luer_), down. 

 _aberth_, _aberh_, within. 

 _ajŷ_, _jŷ_, within. 

 _aves_, _ames_, outside. 

 _tre_, at home. 

 _adre_, homewards. 

 _ales_, abroad (_scattya ales_, to “scat” abroad). 

 _dhô ves_, away. 

 _kerh_ (formerly _kerdh_), away (_môs kerh_, to go away). 

 _pel_, far. 

 _enogas_, _ogas_, near, _ogastî_, near by. 

 _a rag_, in front. 

 _en rag_, forward. 

 _dirag_, forth, before (of place). 

 _dheller_ (_dellergh_), behind. 

 _war dheller_, backwards. 

 _adro_, around. 

 _adres_, athwart. 

 _a hes_, along. 

ADVERBS OF QUANTITY. 

 _mêr_, much. 

 _îthek_, hugely. 

 _îthek tra_, ever so much. 

 _vîth mar_, ever so. 

 _nepeth_, _nebas_, a little. 

 _lour_, _lŭk lour_, _lŭk_, enough. 

 _re_, too much. 

 _kemmes_, _kebmes_, as much. 

 _vîth_, at all. 

 _hanter_, half. 

ADVERBS OF COMPARISON. 

 _mar_, so, as. 

 _ky_—_mal_ / _ky_—_vel_ } as—as (_ky gwerdh velgwels_, as green as grass). 

 _del_, as. 

 _della_, _en della_, _en delna_, so, in such manner. 

 _cara_, _pocara_, _kepara_, _kepar del_, like as, even as, likewise. 

 _maga_ (governing fourth state), as: _maga ta_, as well, likewise. 

 _keffres_, _kekeffres_, likewise, also. 

 _hagŏl_, _hagensŏl_, also. 

 _a wedh_, _enwedh_, also. 

 _gwell_, better. 

 _lakkah_, worse. 

 _moy_, more. 

 _leh_, less. 

 _kens vel_, rather than. 

MISCELLANEOUS ADVERBS

 _cowal_, _cowl_, quite. 

 _namna_, almost. 

 _ken_, else. 

 _martesan_, perhaps. 

 _betegens_, nevertheless. 

 _moghya_, mostly. 

 _ketel_, _ketella_, so. 

 _pŭr_ (governing second state), very. 

 _brâs_ / _fest_ } (placed after an adjective), very. 

 _ogastî_, nearly, almost. 

 _warbarth_, _warbarh_, together. 

 _ni_, _nyns_, _nig_, _na_, _nag_, not. {153}

 _hepmar_, doubtless. 

 _perag_, _prag_, _fraga_, why. 

 _patla_, _fatel_, _fatla_, how. 

 _pelta_, much, _pelta gwel_, much better. 

 _otta_, _welta_, behold. 

 _nahen_, otherwise. 

CHAPTER XIII—SWEAR-WORDS AND EXPLETIVES

Cornish is a disappointing language in respect of swearwords, for it isby no means rich in those “ornaments to conversation. ” Except for a fewvery distressing expressions, now better forgotten, which are put intothe mouths of the evil characters in the Dramas, the swears are mostlyquite harmless, and even pious. It is not at all difficult or morallydangerous to learn to swear in Cornish. 

Surprise is generally expressed by _Re Varîa_! By Mary! By Our Lady!shortened at times to _Arîa_! and _Rîa_! This is used as an Englishmanmight say “By Jove!” or “By George!” or a Frenchman “_Dame_!”

If there is an element of annoyance mingled with the surprise, _An Jowl_!The Devil, may be mentioned with effect, perhaps by those to whom _ReVarîa_! savours too much of Popery; but _Re Varîa_! is in better taste. _An Jowl_ may be used, as in English, after words signifying _where_, _what_, _why_, _when_, to strengthen a question. 

An assertion is strengthened by the use of the name of a saint, preferably the patron of one’s own parish (though any Cornishman mayswear by St. Michael {154}), with or without the particle _re_, whichputs the initial in the second state, prefixed. The title “saint” isusually omitted. Thus:—

 _Re Yêst_! By St. Just! _Re Gŏlom_! By St. Columb! _Re Îa_! By St. Ia [Ives]. _Re Vihal_! or _Mîhal_! By St. Michael. 

A little stronger, for those whose principles will allow them to mentionit, is _Re’n Offeren_! By the Mass! and some bold, bad persons have beenknown under great pressure to say _Re Dhew_! In the Dramas, _Re thu amros_ (_Re Dhew a’m ros_), By God who made me! (or who gave me) is a moreelaborate form of this swear. One also finds _Abarth Dew_, On God’spart=In God’s name, and in the mouths of pagans, _Abarth Malan_ (a Celticgoddess) and even _Abarth Satnas_. 

Ill-temper is generally expressed by variations on _mollath_, pl. _mollathow_, curse. A moderate amount of anger may be indicated by_Mollath_! or _Mollathow_! alone, or _Mollathow dheugh_! Curses to you!or _Mollath warnough_! A curse upon you! A little more is expressed byspecifying the number, generally large, of these curses, _Mil mollathwarnough_! or even _Cans mil mollath warnough_!

Some, moved by very great indignation, have been known to say _MollathDew warnas_! God’s curse upon thee! and Carew in his Survey of Cornwallof 1602 gives a by no means nice phrase (which he spells all anyhow andtranslates wrong), _Mollath Dew en dha ’las_! The curse of God in thybelly! Another serio-comic but rather cryptic expletive, peculiar toCamborne, or at any rate to the Drama of _St. Meriasek_, is _Mollath Dewen gegin_! God’s curse in the kitchen! It does not seem to mean anythingin particular, except perhaps that one’s food may not agree with one, though it makes quite as much sense as the “universal adjective” ofEnglish swearing, and is a good deal less offensive. _Venjens_, aborrowed English word, may be substituted for _Mollath_. {156} One finds_Mil venjens warnas_! and even _Venjens en dha ’las_! But all these lastexpressions represent unusually violent states of mind, and cannot berecommended for general use; for if one were to use up such expletives asthese on matters of little moment, there would be nothing left for stateoccasions. 

The expressions _Malbe_, _Malbew_, _Malbew dam_, _Malbe dam_, found in_The Creation_ and in _St. Meriasek_, are considered by Prof. Loth to bemaledictions referring to the French expression _Mal beau or Beau mal_, aeuphonism for epilepsy, so that _Malbe dam_ has no connection with thesimilar sound of part of it in English, but only means “Epilepsy to me!”

The seventeenth and eighteenth century speakers of Cornish sometimeswished to express contempt or dislike by abusive terms. These often takethe form of epithets added to the word _pedn_, head. Thus, _Pedn brâs_, literally “great head, ” is equivalent to the impolite English “fat-head”;_Pedn Jowl_, devil’s head; _Pedn mousak_, stinking head; these three aregiven as common terms of abuse by Carew. When the late Mrs. DollyPentreath was at all put out, she is reported to have used the term_Cronak an hagar deu_ (The ugly black toad), and there are severalequally uncomplimentary epithets scattered up and down among the Dramas. But these words do not accord with the polite manners of those who belongto the most gentlemanlike race, except the Scottish Highlanders, in allChristendom, and those Cornishmen who require that their conversationshould be a little more forcible than “yea” and “nay” (for which, by theway, there is no real Cornish) are recommended not to go beyond _ReVarîa_, _Re’n Offeren_, and an invocation of St. Michael of the Mount, orof the patron saints of their own parishes. What would happen if onewere to swear by the patron of some other parish does not appear, butprobably, if a St. Ives man were to strengthen his assertion by an appealto St. Meriasek of Camborne, instead of his own St. Ia, he might besuspected of a wilful economy of truth. The more forcible expressionsmay be left to the “Anglo-Saxon, ” for Cornishmen and Celts generally, even of the lowest position, are not, and never have been, foul-mouthed. 

The usual interjections, Oh! Ah! Alas! are borrowed from English. Woe!is expressed by _Trew_! Woe is me! is _Govî_! Woe to him! _Goev_!compounds of _gew_, woe, with pronouns. 

Lo, Behold (the _voila_, _voici_ of French) is expressed by _otta_ (olderforms _awatta_, _awatte_, _wette_, _otte_=perhaps _a wel dî_? dost thousee?). This combines with pronouns, e. G. _ottavî_, “me voici, ” _ottadî_, _ottavê_ or _ottensa_, _ottany_, _ottawhy_, _ottanjy_. These compoundsare often followed by a participle, e. G. _ottavî pares_, behold meprepared. The distinction of _voila_ and _voici_ is expressed by_ottama_ and _ottana_. 

CHAPTER XIV—THE CONSTRUCTION OF SENTENCES, IDIOMS, ETC. 

§ 1. In later Cornish there was a strong tendency to assimilate the orderof words and the construction of sentences to those of English, butnevertheless certain idioms persisted throughout. 

In English the normal order of words in a simple sentence is:—

 Subject—Verb—Complement of Predicate (Object, etc. ). 

This order is used in Cornish also when the impersonal form of the mainverb or of the auxiliary is used, and the object is not a personalpronoun. Thus:—

 _Dew a gar an bês_, God loveth the world. 

 _Dew a wra cara an bês_, God doth love the world. 

One of these two forms is the most usual in a direct affirmativeprincipal sentence when the object is not a pronoun. 

If the object is a pronoun, the order is:—

 Subject—Particle—Object—Verb. 

Thus:—

 _Dew a’th gar_, God loveth thee. 

Or:—

 Subject—Particle—Auxiliary—Pronoun in the Possessive Form—Infinitive of Main Verb. 

Thus:—

 _Dew a wra dha gara_, God doth love thee. 

If the auxiliary verb is _bos_, to be, it often happens that theinflected form of it is used in an affirmative sentence when the tense isthe continuous present or imperfect. In these cases the order is:—

 Auxiliary Verb—Subject—Participle of Main Verb—Complement. 

Thus:—

 _Thov vî ow môs dhô Loundres_, I am going to London. 

 _Therough why ow tôs adre_, you were coming home. 

But with the preterite tense the simple impersonal form is more usual. Thus:—

 _Mî a vê gennes en Kernow_, I was born in Cornwall. 

The same applies to the present and imperfect of _bos_ when it is not anauxiliary. Thus:—

 _Thov vî lowen dhô ’gas gwelas_, I am glad to see you. 

The inflected form of the verb is rare in simple direct affirmativesentences, except when it is used as a Celtic substitute for “yes. ” Itmay be used in verse, but it is rather affected in prose. In negative, interrogative, and dependent sentences it is the only form to use, buteven then it is the inflected auxiliaries, parts of _gwîl_, to do, _menny_, to will, _gally_, to be able, etc. , with the infinitive of themain verb that are more commonly used, rather than the inflected form ofthe main verb itself. In the third person singular it is of course onlydistinguishable from the impersonal form by the position of the subject, which in the inflected form would follow the verb. The inflectional formof the third person plural is only used when the pronoun “they” is thesubject. When the subject is a plural noun the verb is always in thesingular. The inflected form, either of the auxiliary _gwîl_ with theinfinitive of the main verb, or of the main verb itself, is always usedfor the imperative. In late Cornish, except in the case of answers for“yes” and “no, ” and of the peculiar forms of the first, second, and thirdpersons singular in _ma_, _ta_, and _va_, the subject personal pronoun isalmost always expressed, except, of course, when the subject is a noun. 

§ 2. Negative and Interrogative Sentences. 

For a negative sentence it is never correct to use the impersonal, butalways the inflected form of the verb or of the auxiliary, preceded bythe negative particle _ni_ (older, _ny_) or _nyns_. The order is:—

 1. Negative Particle—Verb—Subject—Complement of Predicate. 

Or:—

 2. Negative Particle—Auxiliary (inflected)—Subject—Infinitive of Main Verb—Complement. 

If the object is a pronoun, in the first case it follows the negativeparticle in its third form, in the second case it precedes the infinitivein the possessive form. Thus:—

 1. _Ni welav vî an dên_, I do not see the man. 

 _Ni wôr dên vîth an êr_, no man knoweth the hour. 

 2. _Ni wrígav vî gwelas an dên_, I did not see the man. 

 1. _Ni’th welav vî_, I do not see thee. 

 2. _Ni wrigav vî dha welas_, I did not see thee. 

In the case of the present and imperfect of _bos_, to be, the particle_nyns_ is often used, and it is sometimes found with other wordsbeginning with vowels, but its use is rare in late Cornish, and _ni_, orless correctly _na_ (or _nag_ before a vowel) is more usual. 

It is allowable to use the inflected form with the subject-pronounpreceding the negative particle, but it should only be used for emphasison the subject, and is better avoided. 

Interrogative sentences are formed with the interrogative particle _a_, or by the use of some interrogative pronoun or adverb. In all cases theinflected form of the main verb or auxiliary (usually the latter) followsthe particle, pronoun, or adverb, and usually with its initial in thesecond state. Thus:—

 _A wrîgough why besca gwelas_? Did you ever see?

 _A wreugh why agan gwelas_? Do you see us?

 _Fatla wreugh why crŷa hedna_? How do you call that?

 _Fraga wreugh why gwîl hebma_? Why do you do this?

 _A vednough why môs genev vî_? Will you go with me?

The particle _a_ is often omitted colloquially, but its effect isperceptible in the change of the initial of the verb. If the verb beginswith a vowel, _a_ is always omitted. 

With interrogative sentences should come the answers to them. It must beunderstood that by nature no Celt can ever say a plain “yes” or “no. ”There are “dictionary words” for “yes” and “no” in Welsh and Cornish, andthey are used a very little in translations from other languages; butthey do not “belong” to be used in speaking or writing Welsh or Cornish. In Gaelic there are not even “dictionary words” for them. In Breton _ia_and _nan_ are used freely for “yes” and “no, ” as in French, but that isprobably quite modern French influence. The Celtic practice is to repeatthe inflected verb of the question, affirmatively or negatively, in thenecessary person. Thus:—

 _’Ellough why cowsa Kernûak_? Can you speak Cornish?

 _Gellam_ or _mî ellam_. I can (yes). _Ni ellam_, or (less correctly) _nag ellam_, I cannot (no). 

 _A vednough why dôs genev vî_? Will you come with me?

 _Mednav_. I will (yes). _Ni vednav_. I will not (no). 

 _A wrîg ev môs dhô Benzans_? Did he go to Penzance?

 _Gwrîg_. He did. _Ni wrîg_. He did not. 

 _’Esta ajŷ_? Art thou at home?

 _Thoma_. I am. _Nynsov_, or _nynsoma_, or (less correctly), _nag ov_. I am not. 

In the case of a negative interrogative sentence the verb is immediatelypreceded by _na_=_nî_ + _a_, whether it begins the sentence or is itselfpreceded by an interrogative conjunction. Thus:—

 _Na wrîsta gwelas_? Didst thou not see?

 _Fraga na wrîsta crejy_? Why didst thou not believe?

§ 3. Dependent Sentences or Subordinate Clauses. 

These are of three kinds:—

 1. Those introduced by conjunctions, such as _if_, _that_, _as_, etc. , or by a relative pronoun. 

 2. Those analogous to the “accusative with the infinitive” of Latin. 

 3. The absolute clause. 

1. The ordinary dependent clause introduced by a conjunction has itsverb in the indicative, unless the so-called subjunctive is required toexpress uncertainty or contingency, without reference to any precedingconjunction. The verb is always in the simple inflected or inflectedauxiliary form. The verb which follows the conjunction _mar_ or _mara_, if, has its initial in the fourth state, and _tre_, _tro_, or _dro_, that, governs the second state. 

A dependent sentence may sometimes precede its principal sentence, as inEnglish. A very good instance of two sorts of dependent clauses may beseen in the following sentence from Boson’s _Nebbaz Gerriau_. TheEnglish is:—

 “If that learned wise man [John Keigwin] should see this [i. E. This essay], he would find reason to correct it in orthography, etc. ”

Boson’s Cornish, the spelling and division of words assimilated to thatof the present grammar, is:—

 _Mar qwressa an dên deskes fîr-na gwelas hemma_, If should [do] that man learned wise see this, _ev a venja cavos fraga e ewna en scrîfa-composter_. He would find why it to amend in writing-correctness. 

In this sentence _qwressa_ is for _gwressa_ (third person singular of theconditional or pluperfect of the auxiliary _gwîl_, to do), with theinitial in its fourth state after _mar_. Boson writes it _markressa_, all in one word. _Fraga e ewna_ is an example of a variant of the secondform of dependent sentence. The principal verb _ev a venja cavos_ is inthe impersonal auxiliary form, and of the two dependent clause verbs, one, _qwressa an dên deskes fîr-na gwelas_, is in the inflected auxiliaryform, and the other, _ewna_, is infinitive. 

In a relative sentence, if the relative pronoun is the subject, the verbappears to be in the impersonal form. That is to say, it is always inthe form of the third person singular, and does not show any agreementwith its antecedent, whatever person or number that may be in. The otherpeculiarities of relative sentences are given in Chapter VII. §4. 

2. “Instead of using the conjunction _that_ with another verb in theindicative mood, as in most European languages, it is usual to put thesecond verb in the infinitive preceded by the personal pronoun, as iscommon in Latin. ” Thus says Norris, speaking in a manner perhaps ratherless clear than usual, of an idiom found in the Dramas. This idiom, analogous to the “accusative with the infinitive” of Latin, is found downto the latest period of Cornish literature, though not to the completeexclusion of a finite clause beginning with _that_. The instances givenby Norris are:—

 _Ha cous ef dhe dhasserhy_, and say that he is risen. 

 _Marth a’m bues ty dhe leverel folneth_, I have wonder that thou shouldst speak folly. 

 _Nyns a y’m colon why dhe gewsel_, it goes not into my heart (i. E. I do not believe) that you have spoken. 

 _Del won dhe bos_, as I know thee to be. 

Here are some later instances:—

 _Ny a wel an tîs younk dho e clappya leh ha leh_, {164} we see that the young people speak it less and less (_Nebbaz Gerriau_). 

 _Dre wrama crejy hedna dho bos gwîr yu serîfes enna_, {164} that I do believe that that is true that is written therein (_Nebbaz Gerriau_). 

Nevertheless, one finds in the same piece:—

 _Ev a lavarras drova gever ǒl_, {164} he said that it was Goats All. 

 _Bes mî a or hemma_, _dhort e hoer an Kernuak_, _drova talves bes nebbas_, {164} but I know this, by her sister the Cornish, that it is worth but little. 

And in Keigwin’s translation of _Genesis_ i. :—

 _Ha Dew a wellas trova da_, {164} and God saw that it was good. 

A somewhat similar construction is sometimes used after _dreven_, because, and _treba_, until:—

 _Dreven tî dhô wîl hemma_, {164} because thou hast done this (Kerew’s _Genesis_, iii. 14). 

 _Dreven tî dhô wolsowas dhô dalla dha wrêg_, {165} because thou didst listen to the voice of thy wife (_Gen_. Iii. 17). 

 _Treba tî dhô draylya dhô’n nôr_, {165} until thou turn again to the earth (_Gen_. Iii. 19). 

Yet even there one finds

 _Dreven o hy dama a ŏl bewa_, {165} because she was the mother of all living (_Gen_. Iii. 20). 

Lhuyd mentions a similar construction after _rag own_, for fear, lest:—

 _Rag own whŷ dho gôdha po an rew dho derry ha whŷ dho vos bidhes_, {165} lest you fall or the ice break and you be drowned (literally, for fear you to fall or the ice to break and you to be drowned). 

With _fraga_, why, one finds a similar form:—

 _Ev a venja cavos fraga e ewna_, he would find why to amend it. 

But when _fraga_ introduces an interrogative sentence, an ordinary finiteverb is used:—

 _Fraga_ (or _rag fraga_, “for why, ”) _na grejeth dhô’ m lavarow_? Why dost thou not believe my words?

When “that” signifies “in order that, ” the ordinary finite verb is usedafter it. 

There is a peculiar construction, found chiefly in Jordan’s _Creation_, but also in the _Ordinalia_ (e. G. _Pass. Chr. _ 1120), for expressing“that I am. ” It consists of the infinitive _bos_, to be, preceded by apossessive pronoun and followed by a pronominal suffix:—

 _Me a vyn mav fo gwellys_ ow bosaf _Dew heb parow_, I will that it may be seen, that I am God without equals. 

And a still more confused one of the second person with the verbalparticle _y_ before _bos_, the pronominal suffix _ta_ and the pronoun_ge_=_dî_:—

 _Me ny allaf convethas_, y bosta ge _ow hendas_, I cannot understand that thou art my ancestor. 

The first is analogous to the Welsh “infinitive construction, ” as Rowlandcalls it, e. G. _gwyr_ fy mod i _yn dyfod_, he knows that I am coming(lit. He knows my being in coming), only the Cornish form uses thepronominal suffix instead of the redundant personal pronoun. 

3. The Absolute Clause. This construction, which answers more or lessto the ablative absolute of Latin, and the genitive absolute of Greek, iscommon to all the Celtic languages. It is translated into English by asentence introduced by _when_, _while_, _whilst_, or _though_, with averb generally in the continuous form of the present or past tense, or bya participle. In the Celtic languages the absolute clause has two forms. 

_a_. The affirmative, generally consisting of the conjunction _and_, asubject, noun or pronoun, and generally a participle. Rowland calls theconjunction, _a_, _ac_, of the Welsh form “the absolute particle, ” andProfessor Anwyl identifies it with _a_, _ag_, with, in an archaic form. But in Cornish _ha_ or _hag_ is used, and in Gaelic _agus_, and, inexactly the same way. The following are examples in Cornish, Welsh, andGaelic:—

 Cornish. _An jy a ve gwarnes gan Dew_, _ha ’n jy ow cusca_, {166} they were warned by God, and they sleeping, or, while they slept (Kerew’s translation of _St. Matth. _ ii. 12, Gwav. MS. ). 

 _El a’n leverys dethy haneth_, _ha hy yn gwely pur thyfun_, an angel said it to her this night, and she in her bed quite awake (_Pass. Chr. _ 2202-4). 

 Welsh. _Pa ham_, _a mi yn disgwyl iddi dwyn grawn-win_, _y dug hi rawn gwylltlon_? Wherefore, and I looking to it to bring forth grapes [Auth. Vers. , when I looked that it should bring forth grapes], brought it forth wild grapes? (_Isaiah_ v. 4). 

 Gaelic. _Do chonnaic Seaghán an duine_, _agus é ag teacht a-bhaile_, John saw the man, and he coming home, i. E. When he was coming home. 

_b_. The negative, in which _not_ is expressed in Welsh and Cornish by_heb_, and in Gaelic by _gan_, both meaning _without_, followed by aninfinitive:—

 _An delna ema stel ow tegy warnodha_, _heb wara dhodha teller vîth_, {167} so it is still closing in upon it without leaving it any place (Boson’s _Nebbaz Gerriau_). 

In many such cases this negative clause can be translated literally intoEnglish, and it is the usual form of negation with an infinitive orpresent participle. 

A somewhat similar absolute clause of a descriptive character occursoccasionally:—

 _An golom_, _glas hy lagas_, _yn mes gura hy delyfre_, the dove, blue her eyes, do set her free (_Origo Mundi_, 1105-6). 

 _Un flogh yonk_, _gwyn y dhyllas_, a young child, white his raiment (_Passion_, 254, 3). 

In a similar construction in Welsh the adjective here agrees with thefirst noun, and the translation would be rather “The dove blue [as to]her eyes, ” but in Cornish this is not so, for in this sentence _golom_(second state of _colom_) is feminine, so that the adjective would be_las_, not _glas_, if it agreed with it. 

§ 4. The Infinitive or Verbal Noun. 

The infinitive of a verb is treated almost exactly like a noun. If itsobject is a pronoun, this precedes the infinitive in the possessive formand governs its initial as it would that of a noun. If the object is nota pronoun, it follows the infinitive without change of initial, after themanner of an appositional genitive. 

Very often the infinitive is governed by _dhô_, to, as in English, andunder much the same circumstances, except that it is not so governed whenit comes as the subject of another verb, and of course _dhô_ is not usedafter auxiliary verbs. It is especially used after verbs implyingmotion. 

 _Mî a vedn môs dhô ’gas gwelas_, I will go to see you. 

 _Mî eth dhô vetya an trên_, I went to meet the train. 

 _Lowen on ny dhô ’gas gwelas why_, we are glad to see you. 

When the sense of “to” is “in order to, ” or the preceding verb implies anintention, the infinitive is generally preceded by _rag_ or _rag dhô_, “for to, ” or by _a dhô_, “of to. ”

§ 5. Some Idioms and Expressions. 

1. _To have_ is expressed in three ways. 

_a_. By the verb _bos_, to be, with the thing possessed as subject andthe possessor in the dative form, i. E. Preceded by _dhô_, to; cf. _estmihi_ in Latin. 

 Affirmative. _Ema levar dhem_, there is a book to me. 

 Negative. _Nynsyu levar dhem_, there is not a book to me. 

 Interrog. _’Es levar dhem_? Is there a book to me?

This is the common form in late Cornish. 

_b_. By the verb _cafos_ or _cavos_, to find, to obtain, used as anordinary transitive verb with the possessor as subject and the thingpossessed as object. This is not used for the present tense. Lhuydgives a past tense, _mî a gavaz_ or _mî ’rig gavaz_, I had, and a future, _mî ven gavaz_, I will have, but he, Norris, and Williams are allinclined to confuse this with the third form. 

_c_. By a peculiar idiom compounded of a form of the verb _bos_, to be, and the third form of the personal (or else the possessive) pronouns. The explanation, as far as it goes, of this verb is to be found inBreton. Even there it has been confused a good deal, though its use isplain enough. Legonidec calls it “le verbe _kaout_ [=Cornish _cavos_], avoir, ” which he distinguishes from _kavout_ or _kaout_, trouver;Maunoir, whose Breton, according to a picture in Quimper Cathedral, wasreceived miraculously from an angel, wisely does not commit himself, butcalls the verb, Latin fashion, after the first person singular of thepresent. Prof. Loth rightly speaks of it as “le verbe dit avoir, ” and M. Ernault calls it “Verbe _beza_ [to be] au sens de ‘avoir, ’” and heexplains it to be the verb _to be_, combined with the “pronoms régimes, ”which is just what it is. In Breton it is not only used as the ordinaryverb _to have_=to possess, but also as an auxiliary verb in the samemanner as _avoir_, _have_, _haben_, are used in French, English, andGerman. This verb came to be used in Breton with or without thenominative pronoun being expressed. In Cornish the expressed nominativepronoun is less usual, except in the second person singular, where it isthe rule. That it should be used at all in either language is a signthat in practice the original formation of the verb has been forgotten. Occasionally in Cornish this oblivion has resulted even in theapplication of pronominal inflections to the verb. 

This form is found frequently in the _Ordinalia_ and in the _Poem of thePassion_; it is fairly common in the _Life of St. Meriasek_, it is rarerin the _Creation_, and is not found at all in Cornish of the latestperiod (except in a doubtful and muddled form in Keigwin’s version of theCommandments), though Lhuyd gives a fragment of it in his Grammar, evidently taken from the earlier Dramas and not from oral tradition, forhe takes the _g_ of _geffi_ and _gefyth_ to be a hard _g_, whereas it isplainly a soft _g_ for a _d_, as the analogy of _tevyth_, and of theBreton _deveuz_, _devez_, etc. , shows. Moreover, it is sometimes written_ieves_, which is intended to represent _jeves_. 

It will be well, by way of making this form clearer, to give not only theCornish but also the corresponding Breton. 

The tenses that are found are as follows:—

I. THE PRESENT. 

 Singular. 

 CORNISH. BRETON. 

1. [_mî_] _am bes_ [_bus_, _bues_, [_me_] _em euz_. _bues_]. 

2. [_tî_] _ath ĕs_ (_thues_). [_te_] _ec’h euz_. 

3. M. [_ev_] _an jeves_ (for [_hen_] _en deuz_ or _deveuz_. _deves_). 

3. F. [_hy_] _as teves_. [_he_] _e deuz_. 

 Plural. 

1. [_ny_] _an bes_. [_nî_] _hon euz_. 

2. [_why_] _as bes_. [_c’houi_] _hoch euz_. 

3. [_y_] _as teves_. [_hî_] _ho deuz_ or _deveuz_. 

This tense is formed on _us_, _eus_, _es_ (Breton _euz_), one of theforms of the third person singular of the verb substantive. To this isprefixed the verbal particle _a_, with the letter which is the third formof the personal pronoun, _’m_, _’th_, _’n_, _’s_, _’n_, _’s_, _’s_, withthe peculiar addition of _jev_ and _tev_ to the third persons and _b_ tothe others. The _’th_ of the second person singular is found written inthis but not always in the other tenses, for it was probably often silentbefore _f_ by a sort of assimilation. Its effect is observable in theinitial mutation. Of this tense the first, second, and third personssingular and the second person plural are found. But for the existenceof the form _as bes_ [_bues_] for the last, one might suppose, withWilliams, that the _b_ of _am bes_ was only the addition of a cognateletter to the _m_. But cf. The addition of _b_ to _oa_ and _oe_ of thesame verb in Breton. 

II. THE FUTURE. 

 Singular. 

 CORNISH. BRETON. 

1. [_mî_] _am bedh_ (_byth_, _beth_). [_me_] _em_ (or _am_) _bez_. 

2. _tî a_ [_th_] _fedh_ (_fyth_). [_te_] _ez_ (or _az_) _pez_. 

3. M. [_ev_] _an jevedh_ (for [_hen_] _en devez_. _devedh_). 

3. F. [_hy_] _as tevedh_. [_he_] _e devez_. 

 Plural. 

1. [_ny_] _an_ (or _agan_) [_ni_] _hor bez_. _bedh_. 

2. [_why_] _as_ (or _agas_) [_c’houi_] _ho pez_. _bedh_. 

3. [_y_] _as tevedh_. [_hî_] _o devez_. 

It will be seen here and in the other tenses that the pronouns in Bretondo not produce exactly the same mutations as in Cornish. The _dh_ ofCornish is always written _z_ in Breton, though that is pronounced _dh_in some dialects. The whole of this tense is found in the MSS. 

III. THE PRETERITE. 

 Singular. 

 CORNISH. BRETON. 

1. [_mî_] _am bê_ [_me_] _em_ (or _am_) _boe_. [_bue_]. 

2. _tî ath fê_. [_te_] _ez_ (or _az_) _poe_. 

3. M. [_ev_] _an jeve_. [_hen_] _en devoe_. 

3. F. [_hy_] _as teve_. [_he_] _e devoe_. 

 Plural. 

1. [_ny_] _an_ (or _agan_) [_ni_] _hor boe_. _bê_. 

2. [_why_] _as_ (or _agas_) [_c’houi_] _ho poe_. _bê_. 

3. [_y_] _as teve_. [_hî_] _o aevoe_. 

Only part of this tense is found in the MSS. , but the rest is easilyformed by analogy. 

IV. THE SUBJUNCTIVE (OR OPTATIVE). 

 Singular. 

 CORNISH. BRETON. 

1. [_mî_] _am bo_. _r’ am bezo_, _bo_. 

2. _tî ath fo_, _fetho_. _r’ az pezo_, _po_. 

3. M. [_ev_] _an jevo_ (for _devo_, _r’ en devezo_, _devo_. Written _gefo_ or _geffo_). 

3. F. [_hy_] _as tevo_. _r’ e devezo_, _devo_. 

 Plural. 

1. [_ny_] _an_ (or _agan_) _bo_. _r’ hor bezo_, _bo_. 

2. [_why_] _as_ (or _agas_) _bo_. _r’ ho pezo_, _po_. 

3. [_y_] _as tevo_ (written _teffo_, _r’ o devezo_, _devo_. _tefo_). 

In this tense the Breton does not use the nominative personal pronoun, except when it is a form of the future, but prefixes _r’_ (_ra_). InCornish _re_ is used to make the optative and perfect, and in this casethe _’th_ of the second person singular is not omitted, for _re’ th fo_and _re ’th fê_ are the forms found. 

A rather doubtful second tense (secondary present or imperfect), equivalent to the Breton _am boa_, may be conjectured in _am beua_ (_St. Mer. _ 47, 1686), _am bethe_ may be the equivalent of the Breton imperfectsubjunctive, _am bize_, _bije_, _befe_, and the third person singular ofthis may be the _an geffa_ of _St. Mer. _ 20, 159. Dr. Whitley Stokesgives both these forms as secondary presents. There is also a possiblepluperfect _te ny vea_, and _nyn gyfye_, found in the second and thirdpersons singular. 

One finds such forms as _am buef_, _as bethough_, _may ’stefons_, etc. , as instances of pronominal inflections added to this verb, showing howcompletely its derivation was forgotten, and it is further confused bybeing perhaps mixed up with the verb _pewa_ (Welsh _piau_, Breton_piaoua_), to possess, a verb which in all three languages requiresrather more disentangling than it has as yet received. 

There are very full examples of this verb in Zeuss’s _Grammatica Celtica_(ed. 1871, p. 565). 

2. Besides _to have_, certain other verbs are expressed with _bos_ andthe preposition _dhô_. Thus:—

 _Ma cov dhem_ [pron. _ma códhem_], I remember, lit. There is remembrance to me. 

 _Ma whans dhem_, I want, lit. There is want to me. 

 _Ma whêr dhem_, I am sorry, lit. There is grief to me. 

 _Ma own dhem_, I fear, lit. There is fear to me. 

 _Ma dout dhem_, I doubt, lit. There is doubt to me. 

 _Ma reys dhem_, or _reys yw dhem_, I must, lit. There is need to me. 

Another expression for “to remember” is _perthy cov_, to bear memory. The imperative was sometimes written _perco_ in one word. _Perthy_ isused similarly with other nouns: _na berth medh_, be not ashamed, _naberth own_, be not afraid, _na berth whêr_, be not sorry, _an vuscogyonorto a borthas avy_, the fools hated him (_Passion_, 26, 3), _na berthdout_, do not doubt. The literal meaning is to bear shame, fear, sorrow, envy, doubt, etc. 

Similarly nouns and adjectives are used with _gan_, with, as in Welsh, torepresent states of mind. Thus:—

 _Da yu genev_, I like, lit. It is good with me. 

 _Drôg yu genev_, I am sorry, lit. It is bad with me. 

 _Gwell yu genev_, I prefer, lit. It is better with me. 

 _Marth yu genev_, I am astonished, lit. Wonder is with me. 

 _Cas yu genev_, I hate, lit. Hate is with me. 

The verbs _dal_ and _goth_, signifying _ought_, _it behoves_, are usedeither impersonally or, though this is a late corruption, as ordinaryverbs. 

 _Ni dal dhen ny_ / _Ni goth dhen ny_ } we ought not. 

Or:—

 _Mî a dal_ / _Mî a goth_ } I ought. 

3. _Gwyn an bês_. This poetical expression is common to Cornish, Welsh, and Breton. It signifies, “fair the world, ” i. E. Happy, and is used withpossessive pronouns and appositional genitives. 

 _Gwyn ow bês_, fair my world, happy I. 

 _Gwyn dha vês_, happy thou. 

 _Gwyn e vês_, happy he. 

 _Gwyn bês an den na wrîg cerdhes en cŏsŏl an gamhin-segyon_, blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly. 

In Welsh, when the possessor of this “fair world” is expressed by a noun, there is a redundant possessive pronoun before _byd_ (_bês_). Thus Psalmi. Begins _Gwyn ei fyd y gwr_, fair his world of the man. But this isnot the Cornish form, which uses the simple appositional genitive in suchcases. There is a contrary expression, _drôg pês_, found in the_Ordinalia_ (_Passio Christi_, 3089), _drok pys of_, unhappy am I. Inthis case _drôg_ seems to put the initial of _bês_ in its fourth state. 

4. The following phrases are in common use, and are generally run intoone or two words in pronunciation. 

 _Mêr ’ras dhô Dhew_ (pron. _merásthadew_). Great thanks be to God. 

 _Mêr ’ras dheugh why_ (pron. _merásdhawhy_). Great thanks to you. 

 _Dew re dala dheugh why_ (pron. _Durdladhawhy_). God repay to you. 

 _Dew re sona dheugh why_ (pron. _Dursónadhawhy_). God sain you. 

 _Bennath Dew genough why_ (pron. _Bénatew génawhy_). The blessing of God be with you. 

 _Dew genough why_ (pron. _Dew génawhy_). God be with you. 

 _Pandráma_ (i. E. _pa’n dra wrama_). What shall I do?

 _Pandréllen_ (i. E. _pa’n dra wrellen_). What should I do?

 _Pándres_ (i. E. _pa’n dra es_). What is there?

 _Pandryu_ (i. E. _pa’n dra yu_). What is?

 _Pandresses_ (i. E. _pa’n dra wresses_). What shouldst thou do?

 _Fatla genough why_ (pron. _fatla génawhy_). How are you?

 _Trova_ (i. E. _tre o-va_), that he was. 

§ 6. Rules for Initial Mutations. 

1. _The Second State_. 

 _a_. _A feminine singular_ or _masculine plural_ noun (or adjective used as a noun) preceded by the definite article _an_, the, or the numeral _idn_, one, has its initial in the second state. 

 _b_. An adjective which follows and qualifies a _feminine singular_ noun, has its initial in the second state. 

 _c_. A noun preceded by an adjective qualifying it, of whatever gender or number, has its initial in the second state. 

 _d_. If the adjective preceding and qualifying a _feminine singular_ noun follows the article _an_, the, the initial of the adjective is also in the second state. 

 _e_. A noun in the vocative preceded by the particle _a_, O (expressed or omitted for the sake of verse), has its initial in the second state. 

 _f_. The possessive pronouns _dha_, thy, and _e_, his, are followed by words, whether nouns, adjectives, or verbal nouns (infinitives) in the second state. The form _’th_, thee or thy, generally puts the word which follows in the second state, but sometimes in the fourth, or changes _b_ to _f_, not _v_. 

 _g_. The verbal prefix _ă_ (older _y_, _yth_), is generally followed by a verb in the second state. 

 _h_. The verbal particles _a_ and _re_ and the interrogative particle _a_ are followed by a verb in the second state. 

 _i_. The prepositions _a_, _der_ or _dre_, _dhô_, _heb_, _re_, and _war_, and compound prepositions ending in any of them, are followed by words in the second state. 

 _k_. The conjunctions _tre_, _tro_, that, _pan_, when, _erna_, until, _hedre_, whilst, are followed by the second state. 

 _l_. The adverbial particle _en_ is followed generally by an adjective in the second state. 

 _m_. The adverbs _pŭr_, very, _ni_, _na_, not, _fraga_, why, _fatla_, how, are followed by initials in the second state. 

2. _The Third State_. 

 _a_. The possessive pronouns _ow_, my, _î_, her, and _aga_, their, are followed by words in the third state. 

 _b_. _Ma_, _may_, that, are sometimes followed by verbs in the third state, and sometimes by a variant, _g_ becoming _h_, and _gw_ becoming _wh_. 

3. _The Fourth State_. 

 _a_. The particle _ow_, which forms the present participle, is followed by a verbal noun (or infinitive) in the fourth state. 

 _b_. The conjunctions _a_, _mar_, _mara_, if, are followed by verbs in the fourth state. 

 _c_. The adverb _maga_, as (in “as well, ” etc. ) is followed by an adjective in the fourth state. 

 _d_. Sometimes an adjective beginning with _d_, when preceded by the adverbial particle _en_, has its initial in the fourth state, and rarely a noun beginning with _d_, when it follows in the appositional genitive a word ending in _th_. 

 _e_. The verbal prefix _ă_ (_y_), when followed by verbs whose radical initial is _d_, often changes that initial to the fourth state, and in the case of those beginning with _gw_ to _wh_. The conjunction _ken_, though, does the same. 

 _f_. The third form of the second personal pronoun singular _’th_ not infrequently changes the initial of a verb beginning with _d_ to the fourth state, and that of one beginning with _g_ or _gw_ to _wh_. It also sometimes changes _b_ to _f_. 

The exact usage of the mutations is not very clear, for even the olderwriters used them rather wildly, but the above rules are the generalprinciples of them. There are valuable notes on their phoneticprinciples in Dr. Whitley Stokes’s notes to _St. Meriasek_, and in apaper of additional notes which he published later. In the latestCornish there was a tendency to use the second state after nearlyanything, especially prepositions, except the few words which govern theother two mutations. 

CHAPTER XV—PROSODY

The prosody of the Celtic languages is often very elaborate, but the moremodern tendency has generally been in the direction of assimilating it tothe prosody of English, or, in the case of Breton, to that of French. InWelsh two systems exist at the present day, and the rules of them areknown respectively as _y Rheolau Caethion_ and _y Rheolau Rhyddion_, thebond or strict rules and the free rules. The former are founded onelaborate rules of _Cynghanedd_ or consonance, which term includesalliteration and rhyme, and every imaginable correspondence of consonantand vowel sounds, reduced to a system which Welsh-speaking Welshmenprofess to be able to appreciate, and no doubt really can, though it isnot easily understood by the rest of the world. The rules of_Cynghanedd_ are applied in various ways to the four-and-twenty metres ofthe Venedotian (Gwynedd or North Wales) school, and to the metres of theDimetian (Dyfed or South-West Wales) and the Glamorgan schools. ModernWelsh bards, however, though they often use the strict rules as_tours-de-force_ for Eisteddfod purposes, as often compose poetryaccording to the free rules, which are mostly the ordinarygo-as-you-please metres of the Saxon. The Bretons follow the ordinaryFrench rules as to the strict number of syllables, the cæsura, and therhyming, taking very little account of the stress accent either of wordsor sentences. 

The prosody of the older Cornish literature has little in common with thestrict system of Welsh. Though one does find alliterations and“internal” rhyming and correspondence of consonants, they do not seem tobe at all systematic, but are only either introduced as casual ornamentsor purely accidentally. The rules of the older Cornish prosody have morein common with those of Breton, except that, but for one case in theDramas of a five-syllabled couplet, and the rather irregular Add. Charterfragment in the British Museum, there are only two lengths of lines, seven or four syllables, and the cæsura is not very definite. 

The seven-syllabled lines are the more common. The whole of the _Poem ofthe Passion_ is in stanzas of eight seven-syllabled lines, rhymingalternately, but written as fourteen-syllabled lines; and the greaterpart of the Dramas is in lines of the same length, though with varyingarrangements of rhymes. Sometimes whole passages of four-syllabled linesoccur, and frequently four-syllabled lines occur in the same stanza withthose of seven syllables. The rhythmic accent seems to be trochaic, andthe heptasyllabic line to consist of three trochees and a long syllable, but as the stress accent of words is absolutely disregarded, and thestrong beats of the rhythm sometimes fall on monosyllables which out ofpoetry would probably be enclitic or proclitic, or at any rate veryslightly accented, one can only be sure of the fact that the poet of the_Ordinalia_ was careful to count his syllables exactly, and to make thelast syllable of every line rhyme with the last syllable of some otherline. The author of the _Poem of the Passion_ was not quite so careful, and Jordan was still less so. Diphthongs, as in Breton, are occasionallycounted as two syllables, a _y_ followed by another vowel is sometimes avowel and sometimes a consonant, and there are occasional elisions andperhaps contractions, understood but not expressed, {180a} but with thesefew exceptions the number of syllables to a line is strictly accurate, and in the _Ordinalia_ is never varied by the unaccented and uncountedsyllables that often occur in English verse. The rhymes are quite strictto the eye, but that is no doubt because in the days when one could spellas one pleased, the writer might arrange his spelling to suit, but thereappear to be cases where the _dh_ and _th_, both written _th_, as finalconsonants are made to rhyme together, and the three sounds of _u_ (_oo_and the French _u_ and _eu_) are sometimes confused. Though the rhymesare always “masculine” (i. E. Of one syllable), there are occasionallycases where, unless one counts the rhymes as “feminine” (i. E. Of twosyllables), they would not be rhymes at all, and yet feminine rhymeswould throw out the rhythm. {180b}

The metres of late Cornish were usually rather more assimilated toEnglish, but apparently some memory of Celtic prosody lingered on. Lhuydquotes a proverb, of which he gives two versions, in the old three-linedmetre known in Welsh as the _Triban Milwr_, or Warrior’s Triplets, whichis found as early as Llywarch Hen’s Laments for Geraint ap Erbyn and forthe Death of Cynddylan, in the sixth century. Lhuyd himself wrote aCornish Lament for William of Orange in what he claimed as the samemetre, a singularly inappropriate subject for the language of a nation ofloyal Jacobites, as the Cornish certainly were as late as 1715. Boson(Gwavas MS. , f. 7) wrote a short elegy on James Jenkins of Alverton, alsoin rhyming triplets. The curious little song, which is all that remainsof Jenkins’s poetry, seems to show indications of a feeling for internalrhymes and something like a rudimentary _Cynghanedd_, but there is notenough of it to reduce to any definite rules. Even in Boson’s verses andin those of Gwavas and Tonkin of St. Just (not the historian), in theGwavas MS. , the old system of counting syllables and taking very littleaccount of the stress accents of words, is occasionally found, butgenerally in the later verse the extra unaccented syllables freelyintroduced show that a sense of accent and beats of rhythm had come in. 

SPECIMENS OF CORNISH VERSE. 

I. Five- (or four) syllabled lines, with occasional six-syllabled, rhyming A A B C C B. From the fragment on the back of Additional Charter19, 491 in the British Museum, late fourteenth century. 

_Golsow ty cowedh_, (5) Hearken, thou comrade, _Byth na borth medh_, (4) Never be ashamed, _Dyyskyn ha powes_ (6) Alight and rest_Ha dhymo dus nes_. (5) And to me come near. _Mar codhes dhe les_; (5) If thou knowest thy advantage; _Ha dhys y rof mowes_, (6) And to thee I will give a girl, _Ha fest unan dek_ (5) And truly a fair one_Genes mar a plek_. (5) To thee if she is pleasing. _Ha tanha y_; (4) Go take her now;_Kemmerr y dhoth wrek_, (5) Take her to thy wife, _Sconye dhys ny vek_ (5) Refuse thee she will not _Ha ty a vydh hy_. (5) {181} And thou shalt have her. 

It is probable that this metre is intended to be five-syllabledthroughout, except that a “feminine” or double rhyme is occasionallyallowable (e. G. _powes-mowes_), and that the light first syllable of aline may be omitted. This accounts for the two six-syllabled and twofour-syllabled lines respectively. In the rest of the poem there arelines of four, five, seven, eight, and even nine syllables. The wholefragment of forty-one lines, though not much earlier than the_Ordinalia_, is much less regular in rhythm, and is much less syllabic. 

II. One of the commonest metres of the Dramas, and indeed of muchmediæval verse in other languages, consists of seven-syllabled linesrhyming A A B C C B, or A A B A A B. 

From the _Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi_, the second of the_Ordinalia_, fifteenth century. (Our Lord’s speech to the _PueriHebræorum_. )

_Ow benneth ol ragas bo_ My blessing be all upon you_Ow tos yn onor thymmo_ Coming in honour to me _Gans branchis flowrys With branches and flowerskefrys_. Likewise. _Un deyth a thue yredy_ A day shall soon come_Ma’n talvethaf ol thywhy_ When I shall repay it all to you _Kemmys enor thym yu gwrys_. As much honour as is done to me. 

This is the metre of the well-known Whitsunday Sequence, _Veni SancteSpiritus_ (Come, thou Holy Spirit, come). 

Note that _gwrys_ (_gwres_ in Modern Cornish) is a monosyllable, and thatthe _ue_ of _dhue_ is a single vowel=_eu_. This metre is varied by beingmade into eight-lined stanzas, rhyming A A A B C C C B. 

III. Another very common metre in the Dramas consists of stanzas ofeight lines of seven syllables, rhyming alternately. Usually the stanzaonly contains two rhymes, but sometimes, especially if four lines of theeight are given to one character and four to another, the rhymes of thetwo quatrains are independent of one another. 

From the _Ordinale de Origine Mundi_, fifteenth century. (Eve’s speechto Adam after gathering the apple. )

_My pan esen ou quandre_ I when I was wandering _Clewys a’n nyl tenewen_ Heard on the one side_Un el ou talleth cane_ An angel beginning to sing _A ughaf war an wethen_. Above me on the tree. _Ef a wruk ow husullye_ He did counsel me _Frut annethy may torren_ Fruit from it that I should break;_Moy es Deu ny a vye_ More than God we should be _Bys venytha na sorren_. Nor be troubled for ever. 

Note the apparent “feminine” rhymes, _torren-sorren_, which are really_rimes riches_ in the French style. 

The whole _Poem of the Passion_ is in this metre, but is written in linesof fourteen syllables. 

IV. Four-syllabled lines, often written as eight-syllabled, rhymingalternately. Thus (_Passio D. N. J. C. _ in the _Ordinalia_, 1. 35):—

_A mester whek· gorthys re by_ O sweet master, glorified be thou, _Pan wreth mar tek· agan dysky_. When thou dost so sweetly teach us. _Asson whansek· ol the pysy_, How we desire all to pray, _Lettrys na lek· war Thu mercy_! Learned and lay, to God for mercy!

The same two rhymes run through a stanza of eight (written as four)lines. 

V. Four-syllabled lines in six-lined stanzas, rhyming A A B A A B(_Passio D. N. J. C. _, 169). 

_Gorthyans ha gras_ Glory and thanks_The Dew ow thas_ To God my Father, _Luen a verci_, Full of mercy, _Pan danvonas_ When he sent_Yn onor bras_ In great honour _Thym servysi_. Servants to me. 

VI. Sometimes a mixture of the last two forms of stanza is foundextended to ten lines. Thus (_Origo Mundi_, 1271):—

_Dyvythys of_ Come am I_The’th volungeth_, To thy will. _Arluth porth cof_ Lord remember_Yn deyth dyweth_ In the last day _A’m enef vy_. My soul. _Lavar thymmo_ Tell me_Pandra wrama_; What I shall do;_Y’n gwraf ytho_ I will do it now_Scon yn tor-ma_ Soon in this turn_Yn pur deffry_. Very seriously. 

VII. Mixed seven and four syllabled lines. Sometimes these are only themetre of II. , with the third and sixth lines four-syllabled instead ofseven-syllabled. 

Thus in _Origo Mundi_, 911, we find:—

_Ou banneth theughwhy pub prys_, My blessing to you always, _Mar tha y wreugh ou nygys_ So well you do my business _Prest yn pub le_. Quickly everywhere. _Gorreugh an fals nygethys_ Put the false flier_Gans Abel a desempys_ With Abel immediately _The yssethe_. To sit. 

VIII. Sometimes alternations of stanzas of four and seven-syllabledlines are found. A very remarkable and effective set opens the Drama of_The Passion_. It is in stanzas of thirteen lines, eight lines of foursyllables (written as four of eight syllables), rhyming A B A B A B A B, one line of seven syllables with rhyme C, three lines of seven syllableswith rhyme D, and a seven-syllabled line with rhyme C. 

_Thyugh lavara· Ow dyskyblyon_, To you I say, my disciples, _Pyseygh toythda· Ol kescolon_ Pray quickly, all of one heart_Deu dreys pup tra· Eus a huhon_ God above everything, who is on high_Theygh yn bys-ma· Ygrath To you in this world His grace todanvon_ send _Yn dyweth may feugh sylwys_. In the end that ye may be saved. _Gans an eleth yu golow_, With the angels there is light, _Yn nef agas enefow_ In heaven your souls_Neffre a tryg hep ponow_ Ever shall dwell without pains _Yn joy na vyth dywythys_. In joy that shall not be ended. 

IX. In the Drama of _St. Meriasek_ there are no less than ten classes ofstanza, counting by the number of lines to the stanza, and these may beconsiderably multiplied by alternating or mixing seven-syllabled withfour-syllabled lines in various orders, and by varying the number of setsof rhymes to a stanza and the order of those rhymes. Perhaps one of themost elaborated (1. 168-180) will serve as a specimen. It is athirteen-lined stanza of twelve seven-syllabled lines, and one (theninth) four-syllabled line, with four sets of rhymes, rhyming A B A B A BA B C [four syllables] D D D C. 

_Gelwys ydhof Conany_, Called am I Conan, _Mytern yn Bryton Vyan_; King in Little Britain;_Han gulascor pur yredy_ And the kingdom very readily _Me a beu ol yn tyan_. I own all entirely. _Der avys ou arlydhy_ Through the advice of my lords _Mones y fannaf lemman_ I will go now_The Duk pen a chevalry_, To the Duke the chief of knighthood. _Nesse dhymmo yn certan_ Second to me certainly _Par del yu ef_ Like as he is. _Yma maryag galosek_ There is a mighty marriage_Cowsys dhyn rag Meryasek_ Spoken to us for Meriasek_Mergh dhe vyghtern gallosek_, Of the daughter to a mighty king, _Nynses brassa yn dan nef_. There is not a greater under heaven. 

It is evident that by varying the number of lines and rhymes to a stanza, varying the distribution of the rhymes, and mixing lines of differentlength, an almost infinite variety may be obtained, even with only twoforms of line. 

X. The metres of Jordan’s Drama of _The Creation_ (1611) do not differmaterially in intention from those of the _Ordinalia_, on which they areevidently modelled. But in this play one begins to find signs of atendency to a less accurate ear for exact syllabic rhythm. About eightylines out of the 2548 of which the play consists have eight syllables, about twenty have only six, and in each case these ought to beseven-syllabled. Also there are two cases of three and six of fivesyllables in what ought to be four-syllabled lines, and there are severalcases of nine syllables in a line, and one case of ten. No doubt some ofthese discrepancies may be accounted for by elisions and contractions notexpressed in writing (as is often the case in Latin), and some of theshort lines contain diphthongs which may be meant to count as twosyllables, but by no means all are explainable by anything but theinfluence of English, or, as is less probable, a reversion to some sucharchaic idea of rhythm as that of the Add. Charter fragment. 

After this we come to the verses of late Cornish. These are few, poor, corrupt, and illiterate, and for the most part without value for metricalpurposes. The strictly syllabic metres of the older Cornish have nearlydisappeared, and though the tonic accent is still disregarded whenconvenient, extra unaccented syllables, as often in inferior, andsometimes in good English verse, are freely introduced by way ofanacrusis, etc. , in a manner that shows that accent was considered in asort of way, and that the accents of a line rather than the syllableswere counted. John Boson wrote a few lines in three-lined stanzassomewhat after the fashion of the Welsh _Triban Milwr_, and Lhuyd’sartificial elegy on William of Orange is another instance of the same. The only poem remaining of James Jenkins of Alverton (printed by Pryceand Davies Gilbert) is a sort of irregular ode, which refuses to besatisfactorily analysed. The lines are all sorts of lengths, they maybegin with an accent or they may have one or two light syllables beforethe first strong beat, the rhymes may be single or double. The principleof the first part seems to be little lines of two beats, varying fromthree to seven syllables rhyming in couplets. Thus:—

_Ma léeaz gwréag_ There are many wives

_Lácka vel zéag_, Worse than grains [i. E. Brewers’ refuse], _Gwéll gerrés_ (or _gwéll Better leftgérres_)

_Vel kommeres_ (or _vél Than taken, komméres_), _Ha ma léeaz bénnen_ And there are man women

_Pókar an gwénen_ Like the bees, _Ey vedn gwérraz de go tées_ They will help their men

_Dendle péath an béaz_. To earn the goods of the world. 

_Fléhaz heb skéeans_ Children without knowledge

_Vedn guíl go séeanz_; Will do [according to] their sense;

_Buz mar crówngy predery_ But if they do consider

_Pan dél go gwáry_ What their play is like, _Ha mádra tá_ And consider well

_Pandrig séera ha dámma_, What did father and mother, _Na ra hens_ [_wrans_?] _móaz dan They will not go to the woodcóoz_

_Do kúntle go bóoz_. {188} To gather their food. 

The latter part has lines of four beats, with a very variable number ofunaccented syllables, which in reading were probably hurried over rathervaguely. This rhythm may be compared with the “new principle” (as theauthor calls it in his preface) of Coleridge’s _Christabel_. {189a}

Boson’s triplets are mostly of ten-syllabled lines, Lhuyd’s are generallyof eight syllables, but sometimes of nine or even ten and eleven. 

Tonkin of St. Just, a tailor, wrote two songs, which are in the GwavasMS. They are in four-lined stanzas generally of seven-syllabled lines, though as often as not having an extra light syllable to begin with. Thus:—

_Pa wrîg ev gŏrra trâz war tîr_ When he [i. E. William of Orange] did put foot on land_Ev vê welcombes me ôr gwîr_. He was welcomed I know well. _Ha devethes dhô Caresk_ And having come [came] to Exeter_Maga saw besca vê pesk_. {189b} As safe as ever was fish. 

The epigrams printed by Pryce and Davies Gilbert were mostly composed byBoson and Gwavas. Eight-syllabled lines are frequent among them, butthey are of little or no value, and are altogether on English models, andnot very good models at that. 

Should any one wish to attempt verse-writing in Cornish, it would be besteither to use one of the seven or four syllabled (or mixed) metres of theDramas, using their purely syllabic methods, which undoubtedly work allright in modern Breton, or to extend the same principles, as the Bretonsdo, to lines of other lengths. The triplets of old Welsh and perhaps ofvery old Cornish are effective metres, but are not so easy as they look, for it is not enough merely to write rhyming triplets. Lhuyd in his oneattempt has produced a peculiar though allowable metre, with lines of allsorts of lengths, and the old specimens, Llywarch Hen’s _Marwnad Geraintap Erbin_, and the Englynion called _Eiry Mynydd_, are largely in linesof seven syllables, and some of them, such as the Song of the Death ofCynddylan, and the curious ninth-century poem in the Cambridge_Juvencus_, seem to have also the _gair cyrch_, that strange little tagto the first line of the triplet, outside of the rhyme but not outside ofthe assonance or alliteration, which is so marked a characteristic of thefour-lined Englyn, while in most of them there are alliterations, vowelcorrespondences, and internal rhymes, which are not so haphazard as theylook. It is well not to attempt to force a Celtic language into aTeutonic mould. Some of the most beautiful metres that the world hasever known are to be found among the works of English poets, but they areno more suitable to Cornish than hexameters, sapphics, and alcaics onstrict quantity lines would be to English. It is possible, however, towrite ten-syllabled blank verse in Cornish, provided a fair amount ofalliteration is used. 

One word about inversions of the order of words in poetry. This shouldbe done very sparingly, and it is not easy to lay down very definiterules as to what is allowable and what not. It is best not to deviatefrom the usual order of words unless one can find a precedent in one ofthe Dramas. Some inversions, however, are quite allowable. Thus one mayput the complement of a predicate, e. G. An infinitive, an accusative, ora participle, at the beginning of a phrase:—

 _bewa ythesaf pub eare_ (_Creation_, 1667), living I am always. 

 _banna ny allaf gwelas_ (_Creation_, 1622), a drop I cannot see. 

 _defalebys os ha cabm_ (_Creation_, 1603), deformed thou art, and crooked. 

 _yn bushes ow crowetha_ (_Creation_, 1606), in bushes lying. 

 _gans dean pen vo convethys_ (_Creation_, 1618), by man when it is discovered. 

 _worthaf ve sertan ny dale_ (_Creation_, 1619), with me, certainly, ought not. 

 _determys ove dha un dra_ (_Creation_, 236), determined I am of one thing. 

 _mos then menythe me a vyn_ (_Creation_, 1082), go to the mountain I will. 

These are all taken from Jordan’s _Creation_, and mostly at random fromthe same page. Still, the less one inverts the normal order of words thebetter. 

CHAPTER XVI—NOTE ON THE INTERPRETATION OF CORNISH NAMES

One of the practical interests in the study of Cornish is in theinterpretation of place-names. As quite ninety per cent. Of theplace-names of Cornwall are Celtic, and as a very large proportion ofthese are descriptive names, usually in a fairly uncorrupted state, thisgives much opportunity of research. There are, however, certainconsiderations, grammatical and topographical, which should be keptcarefully in mind in attempting to discover the meanings of these names, and it is a disregard of these considerations that has made most of thepublished works on the subject so singularly valueless. The greatmajority of Cornish names are composed of epithets suffixed to certainnouns, such as _tre_, _trev_, a town; _pol_, a pool; _pen_ or _pedn_, head or top; _rôs_, often written _rose_, a heath; _car_, a fort or camp;_lan_, an enclosure, or a church; _eglos_, a church; _bal_, a mine;_whêl_ or _wheal_, a work (_i. E. _ a mine); _chy_, _ty_, a house; _park_, a field; _forth_, a creek or harbour; _nans_, a valley; _carn_, a cairnor heap of rocks; _hal_, a moor; _gûn_, _goon_, a down; _gwêl_, _gweal_, a field; _bod_, _bos_, _be_, a dwelling; _les_, a court, a palace;_carrack_, a rock; _creeg_, a tumulus; _crows_, a cross; _din_, _dun_, ahill-fort; _fenton_ or _venton_, a spring; _kelly_, _killy_, a grove;_cos_, _coose_, a wood; _mên_, a stone; _tol_, a hole; _triga_, _trigva_, a dwelling-place; _melan_, _mellan_, _vellan_, a mill; _zawn_, _zawns_, acove; _bron_, _bryn_, a hill; _bar_, _bor_, _bur_, a summit; _tor_, ahill. These are the commonest of the nouns. The epithets may be:—

 1. Adjectives, signifying size, colour, position, etc. , e. G. _mêr_, _mear_, _vcar_, great; _bîan_, _bean_, _vean_, little; _glas_, blue; _dew_, black; _gwin_, _gwidu_, _widn_, white; _gwartha_, _wartha_, _gwarra_, upper; _gollas_, _gullas_, _wollas_, lower, etc. , in agreement with the noun. 

 2. Other nouns in the appositional genitive. 

 3. Proper names. 

 4. Adjectives or nouns preceded by the article _an_, the, or by a preposition such as _war_, on. 

The following points should be considered:—

1. The gender of the noun. Of the nouns mentioned above, _tre_, _ros_, _car_, _lan_, _whêl_, _hal_, _goon_, _carrack_, _crows_, _fenton_, _kelly_, _trigva_, _mellan_, _bron_, _tor_, are feminine, so that theinitial of the adjective epithet is changed to the second state. Thismay often, more or less, determine whether the epithet is an adjective ora noun in the genitive. Thus, in the name _Tremaine_, we may be surethat the second syllable is not an adjective or it would be _Trevaine_, so the meaning is not, as one would think, “the stone house, ” not a verydistinguishing epithet in Cornwall, but probably the “house of thestones, ” i. E. Of some stone circle or other prehistoric remains. Sometimes, however, the initial of an appositional genitive, andsometimes that of an epithet of a masculine noun is irregularly changedin composition. 

2. The stress accent of the compound. This is of great importance, especially in determining whether an article or preposition intervenesbetween the noun and its epithet, and also, in the rare cases in which itoccurs, in deciding whether the epithet may not precede the noun. _Thestress accent is almost invariably on the epithet_, and it is astonishingto see how even in East Cornwall, where the language has been dead forthree centuries, this accentuation is still preserved. If the epithetsuffix is a monosyllable, the accent of the compounded word is on thelast syllable; if not, the accent is usually on the last but one, but theintervening article or preposition is always a proclitic, and isdisregarded as to accent. The same sort of thing happens in English. Thus, even if it were the custom to write _Stratfordonavon_ all in oneword, we should know by the accent that it meant _Stratford-on-Avon_; butone, say some German philologist, who had never heard it pronounced, andknew nothing of British topography and the distribution of surnames, might conjecture that it was _Stratfor Dónavon_, might compare it with_Lydiard Tregoze_, _Stoke Dabernon_, _Sutton Valence_, or _ComptonWyniates_, and might build thereon a beautiful theory of an Irishsettlement in Warwickshire. Things every whit as absurd as this havebeen done with Cornish names. 

3. The position and general features of the place. Thus when we findthat a rather important town is situated at the innermost point of a baycalled in Cornish (cf. Boson’s Pilchard Song) _Zans Garrak Loos en Kûz_, we may doubt whether its name signifies “the holy head or headland, ” andnot “the head of the bay. ” In this case there is a slight complication, because there is actually something of a headland about the BatteryRocks, and the town arms are St. John Baptist’s head in a charger; butwhen we find that _Tremaine_ is some ten miles, as the crow flies, fromthe nearest point of the coast, we may be quite justified in doubtingwhether Pryce is right in calling it “the town on shore or sea coast. ”

The following specimens of names about whose meaning there can be nodoubt, will serve as examples of the construction of Cornishplace-names:—

1. Epithet following noun. 

 _a_. Masculine. _Porthmear_ (in Zennor), the great porth or creek. (Murray’s Handbook says that it means the “sea-port, ” but Murray’s interpretations are intricately and ingeniously wrong-headed). 

 _b_. Feminine. _Trevean_, the little town. _Tre_ signifies _town_ in the modern Cornish and old English sense, a farmhouse with its out-buildings. It is the commonest of these generic prefixes. In Brittany, though it is occasionally found, its place is usually taken by _Ker_ (Cornish _Car_, Welsh _Caer_), probably the Latin _castrum_, a fortified town or camp, a difference which has its historical significance. 

2. Epithet preceding noun. 

 _Hendrea_, the old town (in Sancreed). Note that this is _Héndrea_, not _Hendréa_. Note also the change of initial in _tre_. 

3. Intervening particles. 

 _a_. The definite article. _Crows-an-wra_, the witch’s cross. (Murray says that it means “the wayside cross, ” but _gwragh_, _gwrah_, _gwra_, Breton _gwrac’h_, certainly means a hag or witch, and the change of initial after the article shows that the noun is feminine. ) _Chy-an-dowr_, the house of the water. 

 _b_. Preposition. _Tywardreath_, the house on the sands; _Tywarnhaile_ (=_Ty war an hayle_), the house on the tidal river. Note that the syllable _war_ in these words is unaccented. In _Trewartha_, the upper house, the accent is on _war_, so that even if we were not accustomed to the epithet _wartha_ we should know that _war_ is here not a preposition. 

4. Appositional genitive without article. 

 _Chytan_, the house of fire; _Chypons_, the bridge house; _Pentreath_, the head of the sands; _Portreath_ (=_Porth-treath_), the creek of the sands. 

 _Nancemelling_ (=_Nans-mellan_), the valley of the mill. 

5. Proper names as appositional genitives:—

 _Trejago_, the house of Jago (or James). 

 _Chykembra_, the Welshman’s house. 

 _Gûn-an-Guidal_ (or _Anguidal Downs_), the down of the Irishman. 

In West Cornwall, especially in Penwith, where the spoken languagelingered latest, there is a greater tendency to the use of the article_an_ than in the more eastern part of the Duchy. Sometimes the articleis prefixed to the noun itself. Thus, _Andrewartha_ (=_an dre wartha_), the upper town, in Gwithian, now called _Upton_, but inhabited by afamily of the older name; _Angarrack_, the rock, between Hayle andGwinear Road; _Angove_, the smith, and _Angwin_, the white, family names;_Angrouse_, the cross, in Mullion; _Angear_, the castle; _Annear_ or_Ennor_, the earth; _Angilley_ or _Anguilly_, the grove. {196}

Generally when the article comes between the generic noun and some otherword the latter is a noun also, an appositional genitive, butoccasionally it is an adjective, as in _Ponsanooth_ (in Perran Arworthaland Gluvias), which is probably _Pons-an-nowedh_, the new bridge. Thegeneric prefix _Pleu_ or _Plou_, parish, so common in Brittany, isaltogether unknown in Cornish place-names of to-day, unless, as somehold, _Bleu Bridge_ in Madron means “the parish bridge, ” and is a partialtranslation of _Pons-an-bleu_, but the word is common enough in Cornish, and the names of parishes called after saints frequently began in Cornishwritings with _Pleu_ (_plu_, _plui_)—_Pleu East_, St. Just; _Pleu Paul_, St. Paul; _Pleu Vudhick_, St. Budock. Though the word occurs in theexpression _tîz pleu_, people of [his] parish, in the tale of _John ofChy-an-Hur_, the three parishes mentioned there, St. Levan, St. Hillary, and Buryan, are called by their ordinary English names. The prefix_lan_, originally an enclosure (cf. The English _lawn_), but later usedto signify a church with its churchyard, is still frequently found, withoccasional variants of _la_, _lam_, and _land_, but it is nothing like sofrequent as the Welsh equivalent _llan_. In earlier days it was morecommon in Cornwall than it is now, and a number of parishes which nowhave the prefix “Saint” appear in the Domesday Survey with _Lan_. 

 * * * * *

The family names of Cornwall, omitting those of the few great Normanhouses, Granvilles, Bevilles, Fortescues, Bassets, St. Aubyns, Glanvilles, etc. , which do not concern us at present, fall into at leastfour classes. 

1. Names derived from places. 

 “By Tre, Pol, and Pen, Ye shall know Cornishmen. ”

or as Camden more correctly expands it at the expense of metre:—

 “By Tre, Ros, Pol, Lan, Car, and Pen, Ye shall know the most Cornishmen. ”

And he might have added many more prefixes. It is probable that many ofthese names originated in the possession of the estates of the samenames. 

Of this class are such names as _Trelawny_, _Rosevear_, _Polwhele_, _Lanyon_, _Carlyon_, and _Penrose_. To the ordinary Saxon they soundhighly aristocratic, and are introduced into modern “up country” novelsin a way that is often amusing to a Cornishman, and no doubt many of themdo represent the names of families of past or present gentility, for inCornwall, as in the Scottish Highlands, armigerous gentry were and arevery thick on the ground, and a very large number of Cornishmen of everyclass and occupation might write themselves down “gentlemen” in thestrict heraldic sense if they only knew it. But some names of this classare derived from very small landed possessions, and some probably, assimilar names in England, from mere residence, not possession. 

2. Patronymics. These are the equivalents of the English names endingin _son_ or _s_, of the Welsh names beginning with _ap_ (=_mab_, son), and the Irish and Scottish beginning with _mac_ or _O’_. They fall intofive classes. 

 _a_. The Christian name used as a surname without alteration, as _Harry_, _Peter_, _John_, _Rawle_, _Rawe_ or _Rowe_ (for _Ralph_ or _Raoul_), _Gilbart_ and _Gilbert_, _Thomas_ or _Thom_, _Davy_, _Bennet_, _Harvey_, _Tangye_, etc. 

 _b_. The diminutive of the Christian name, as _Jenkin_, _Hodgkin_, _Rawlin_, _Tonkin_, _Eddyvean_ (=Little Eddy), _Hockin_ (—_Hawkin_, i. E. _Harrykin_), etc. 

 _c_. The Christian name or its diminutive in its English possessive form, as _Peters_, _Johns_, _Rogers_, _Jenkins_, _Rawlings_, _Roberts_, etc. 

 _d_. Patronymics formed as in English, German, Dutch, and the Scandinavian languages by adding _son_, as _Johnson_, _Jackson_, _Wilson_, etc. When these occur in Cornwall they are probably often of English origin. 

 _e_. Patronymics formed with the prefix _ap_ (for _mab_, son), apocopated (as in the Welsh names _Probert_, _Pritchard_, _Price_, _Bevan_, _Bowen_) to a _p_ or _b_. It is possible that to this class may belong _Prowse_, _Prawle_ (_Ap Rowse_, _Ap Rawle_), _Bown_ (_Ap Owen_?), _Budge_ (_Ap Hodge_?), _Pezzack_ (_Ap Isaac_). 

The Christian names from which patronymics are formed are not as a rulevery peculiar. There are the usual names of the well-known saints, _Peter_, _Paul_, _Mitchell_ (_Michael_), _John_, _James_ (or in itsCornish form, _Jago_), _Thomas_, _Matthew_, _Francis_, _Dunstan_, _Bennet_, _Andrew_, _Martin_, and the rest, the common general Christiannames, _Harry_, _William_, _Robert_, _Roger_, etc. , and some less commonones, such as _Julyan_, _Vivian_, _Nicholas_ (_Nicol_, _Nicholl_, etc. ), _Colin_, _Jeffry_, _Jasper_, _Gilbert_, etc. , and names of Cornishsaints, _Keverne_, _Key_, _Gluyas_, _Ustick_ (probably adjectival formfrom _Just_). Besides these there are a few from old British, or ofBreton or Norman introduction, _Harvey_ (_Hervé_), _Dennis_, _Rawle_, _and Rawlin_ (_Raoul_, _Raoulin_, _Rivallen_), _Tangye_ (_Tanguy_, aquite common name in Brittany, from St. Tanguy, one of the entourage ofSt. Pol of Leon), _Arthur_, _David_ or _Davy_ (as representing the Welshsaint, not the King of Israel), _Sampson_ (representing the Bishop ofDol, not the Israelite hero), _Jewell_ (Breton _Judicael_ or _Juhel_). Some names take a variety of forms. Thus _Clement_ is found as_Clemens_, _Clemments_, _Clements_, _Clemo_ or _Clemmow_, _Climo_, _Climance_, etc. , _Ralph_ (_Radulphus_, _Rudolph_, _Randolph_, _Rollo_)is found as _Ralph_, _Rapson_, _Rawe_, _Rawle_, _Rawlin_, _Rawling_, _Rawlings_, _Rabling_, _Randall_, _Rowe_, _Rowling_, _Rowse_, etc. Thereare also certain names which have a resemblance to Spanish names, _Pascoe_, _Varcoe_, _Jago_, _Crago_, _Manuel_, etc. , but no theory ofSpanish influence is necessarily to be built upon them, as they areotherwise explainable. As the Cornish had got beyond the matriarchalstage of culture before historic times, we do not find family namesderived from names of women, but no chapter on Cornish nomenclature canomit that very remarkable and peculiarly Cornish name _Jennifer_, whichis beyond any doubt a local form of the name of Guenivere, the wife ofArthur. A more Frenchified form is still found in Brittany, and theCornish form goes back to time immemorial. At one time the name of anequally celebrated Queen of Cornwall was used as a Cornish Christianname, for _Ysolt_ de Cardinham possessed the advowson of the church ofColan in the thirteenth century, but except as a modern revival, of whichthe present writer knows only one case connected with Cornwall, this nameis no longer found. Another not infrequent Christian name is _Hannibal_, from which possibly may come the surnames _Hambly_, _Hamley_, and_Hamblyn_. The name is too old in Cornwall to have originated in anytheory about the Phœnicians and the tin trade of the Cassiterides, for itis found in times when no one troubled himself about either, but itsorigin is decidedly a puzzle. 

3. Names derived from trades or occupations. Some of these are onlyEnglish, _Smith_, _Wright_, _Carpenter_, _Brewer_, _Paynter_, etc. , butothers are real Cornish, as _Marrack_, knight; _Angove_, the smith;_Drew_, druid, magician (and perhaps _An-drew_, the druid, when it is notmerely a patronymic); _Tyacke_, farmer; _Sayer_ and _Sara_, possibly_Saer_, carpenter; _Hellyar_, hunter; _Cauntor_ (Lat. _Cantor_), singer. 

4. Nicknames or names derived from personal peculiarities, such as_Black_, _White_, _Brown_, _Grey_, _Green_, which are mostly found inEnglish, though one finds _Angwin_, the white, and _Winn_, white; _Glass_and _Glaze_, blue; _Couch_, red; _Floyd_ (cf. Welsh _Lloyd_), grey;_Glubb_, moist, wet; _Coath_, _Coad_, and its English _Olde_ or _Ould_;_Baragwaneth_, wheat-bread, etc. Also names derived from names ofanimals, _Bullock_, _Cock_, _Fox_, or its Cornish _Lewarne_ (unless thatis _Le-warne_, the place of alders), _Mutton_ (though this may be aplace-name also), etc. One does not see why a man should have beencalled _Curnow_, the Cornishman, in a country in which such an epithetcould not have been very distinguishing, but that name is not at alluncommon, nor is _Andain_ or _Endean_, the man, which is still lessdistinguishing. 

This is only a slight sketch of a considerable range of investigation, but the subject would require a book to itself, so that it is impossiblehere to do more than indicate the direction in which students of Cornishnomenclature should work. But in the investigation of place-names in anylanguage one must always allow for corruption and alteration in thecourse of centuries, and in a Celtic country for the Celticising of namesof non-Celtic derivation. Thus the well-known Welsh name _Bettws_ isprobably the old English bede-house (prayer-house), _Gattws_, lesscommon, is gatehouse. The terminations _aig_, _sgor_, _bhal_, _dail_, _ort_, so common in the Hebrides and West Highlands, are Gaelic forms ofthe Norse _vik_, _skjœr_, _val_, _dal_, _fjord_, and many names in thoseparts are altogether Norse, spelt Gaelic fashion, and have no meaningwhatever in Gaelic. Probably the Cornish place-name _Bereppa_, _Barrepper_, _Brepper_, _Borripper_, of which instances occur inGunwalloe, Penponds, Mawnan, and elsewhere, is only the French_Beau-Repaire_, and there are probably many other names of Frenchderivation. Dr. Bannister’s Glossary of Cornish Names is of so eminentlyuncritical a character as to be of little use. Though he had a wideknowledge of separate Cornish words, he was no philologist, and did notseem to understand how to put his words together. Had he only given thesituation of the places—the name of the parish would have been somethingtowards it—he would have left a basis for future work. As it is, thewhole work needs to be done over again. Of course one need hardly saythat out of such a large collection of names a considerable number of thederivations are quite correctly stated, but those are mostly the easy andobvious ones, and even easy ones are often wrong, and it was quiteuseless to encumber the glossary with the hopeless derivations ofeighteenth-century writers. But the interpretation of place-names is notso simple as it looks, and it is easier to criticise other people’sderivations than to find better ones, so that one may admire Dr. Bannister’s industry while one deprecates the recklessness of many of hisconclusions. 

APPENDIX

THE DAYS, MONTHS, AND SEASONS IN CORNISH

§ 1. The Days of the Week, _Dedhyow an Seithan_. 

Sunday _Dê Zîl_. 

Monday _Dê Lín_. 

Tuesday _Dê Mergh_. 

Wednesday _Dê Marhar_. 

Thursday _Dê Yew_. 

Friday _Dê Gwener_. 

Saturday _Dê Sadarn_. 

It will be seen that, like the Welsh and Bretons as well as the Latinnations, the Cornish derived the names of the days directly from Latin, and did not, like the Teutonic nations, translate them in accordance withprimitive ideas of comparative mythology. 

§ 2. The Months of the Year, _Mîsyow an Vledhan_. 

January _Mîs Genver_. 

February _Mîs Whevral_. 

March _Mîs Mergh_. 

April _Mîs Ebral_. 

May _Mîs Mê_. 

June _Mîs Efan_. 

July _Mîs Gorefan_. 

August _Mîs Êst_. 

September _Mîs Gwengala_. 

October _Mîs Hedra_. 

November _Mîs Deu_. 

December _Mîs Kevardheu_. 

§ 3. The Four Seasons of the Year, _Pajer Termen an Vledhan_. 

Spring _Gwainten_. 

Summer _Hav_. 

Autumn _Kidniav_. 

Winter _Gwav_. 

§ 4. Festivals and Holy Days, _Dêdh Goilyow ha Dedhyow Sans_. 

Christmas _Nadelik_. 

New Year’s Day _Bledhan Nowedh_. 

Epiphany / Twelfth Day _Degl an Stêl_ / _An Dawdhegvas Dêdh_. 

Easter _Pask_. 

Low Sunday _Pask Bîan_. 

Ascension Day _An Askenyans_. 

Whitsunday / Pentecost _Zîlgwidn_ / _Pencast_. 

Palm Sunday _Dê Zîl Blejyow_. 

Ash Wednesday _Dê Marhar an Losow_. 

Maundy Thursday _Dê Yew Hamblys_. 

Good Friday _Dê Gwener an Grows_. 

Holy Week _Seithan Sans_ / _Seithan Mêr_. 

Purification / Candlemas _Degl Marîa an Golow_. 

Annunciation / Lady Day _Degl agan Arledhes_ / _Degl Marîa en Mîs Mergh_. 

Visitation _Degl Marîa en Gorefan_. 

Assumption _Degl Marîa en Hanter-Êst_ / _Ewhelyans Marîa_. 

Nativity of B. V. M _Genesegeth Marîa_. 

Midsummer Day / Nativity of St. _Golowan_ (i. E. The Lights orJohn Midsummer Fires) / _Genesegeth Jûan Bejedhyor_. 

Lammas Day / Harvest Home _Degoledh ŷs_ (pron. _dêgŭldŷz_ meaning, “Corn Feast”). 

All Saints Day _Halan Gwav_ (i. E. The Kalends of Winter). 

All Souls Day _Dêdh an Enevow_. 

Ember Days _An Pajer Termen_. 

Whit Monday _Dê Lîn Pencast_. 

Trinity Sunday _Dê Zîl an Drinjes_. 

Corpus Christi Day _Degl Corf Crîst_. 

Michaelmas Day _Degl Sans Myhal hag ŏl an Eleth_. 

LIST OF SOME MODERN BOOKS AND ARTICLES RELATING TO CORNISH

1. The Ancient Cornish Drama. Edited and translated by Mr. EdwinNorris. Oxford, University Press, 1859. 2 vols. 8vo. [This containsthe Trilogy known as the _Ordinalia_ (see p. 27), followed by notes and amost valuable “Sketch of Cornish Grammar, ” and the Cottonian Vocabulary, arranged alphabetically]. 

2. _Pascon agan Arluth_: the Poem of the Passion (see p. 26). [With atranslation and notes by Dr. Whitley Stokes. ] _Philological Society’sTransactions_, 1860-1. 8vo. 

3. _Gwreans an Bys_: the Creation of the World, a Cornish Mystery. Edited, with a translation and notes, by Whitley Stokes. _PhilologicalSociety’s Transactions_, 1864. 8vo. 

4. _Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum_: a Dictionary of the ancient Celticlanguage of Cornwall, in which the words are elucidated by copiousexamples from the Cornish works now remaining; with translations inEnglish. The synonyms are also given in the cognate dialects of Welsh, Armoric, Irish, Gaelic, and Manx, showing at one view the connectionbetween them. By the Rev. Robert Williams. Roderic, Llandovery, 1865. 4to. 

5. A Collection of hitherto unpublished Proverbs and Rhymes in theancient Cornish Language: from the MSS. Of Dr. Borlase. By WilliamCopeland Borlase. _Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall_, 1866. 8vo. 

6. A Cornish Glossary. By Whitley Stokes. [Additions of about 2000words to Williams’s _Lexicon_, with some corrections]. _Transactions ofthe Philological Society_, 1868-9. 

7. _Beunans Meriasek_: the Life of St. Meriasek, Bishop and Confessor. A Cornish Drama. Edited, with a translation and notes, by WhitleyStokes. Trübner & Co. , London, 1872. 8vo. 

8. The Cornish Language. A Paper read before the Philological Society, March 21st, 1873. By Henry Jenner. _Philological Society’sTransactions_, 1893. 

9. Traditional Relics of the Cornish Language in Mount’s Bay in 1875. By Henry Jenner. _Philological Society’s Transactions_, 1876. 8vo. 

10. The History and Literature of the Ancient Cornish Language. ByHenry Jenner. A Paper read before the British Archæological Associationat Penzance, August 19th, 1876. _British Archæological Journal_, 1877. 8vo. 

11. Copy of a MS. In Cornish and English from the MSS. Of Dr. Borlase. _Nebbaz Gerriau dro tho Carnoack_. By John Boson. Edited by W. C. Borlase. _Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall_, Nov. 1879. 8vo. 

12. An English-Cornish Dictionary. Compiled from the best sources. ByFred. W. P. Jago. Luke, Plymouth; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. , London, 1887. 4to. 

13. A Glossary of Cornish Names: ancient and modern, local, family, personal, etc. 2000 Celtic and other names, now or formerly in use inCornwall. . . By the Rev. John Bannister. Williams & Norgate, London; J. B. Netherton, Truro, 1871. 8vo. 

14. Articles in the _Revue Celtique_. 

Vol. I. P. 332. “The Bodmin Manumissions. ” By Dr. Whitley Stokes. 

Vol. Iii. P. 85. “Cornica. ” _Durdala_, _Dursona_; Cornish in theVatican [John of Cornwall’s _Merlin_]; Cornish Life of St. Columba[mention of a letter from Nicholas Roscarrock to Camden, referring tosuch a work]. By Dr. Whitley Stokes. 

Vol. Iii. P. 239. “Le dernier écho de la Langue Cornique. ” By the Rev. W. S. Lach-Szyrma. [An account of the present writer’s Paper on“Traditional Relics of Cornish in Mount’s Bay, ” with additions. ]

Vol. Iv. P. 258. “Cornica. ” Fragments of a Drama. [Text andtranslation of the Add. Charter fragment (see p. 25)]. Cornish Phrases. [From Andrew Borde (see p. 30)]. By Dr. Whitley Stokes. 

Vol. Xiv. P. 70. “Les Glosses de l’_Oxoniensis posterior_ sont ellesCorniques?” p. 301. “Les mots _Druic_, _Nader_, dans le VocabulaireCornique. ” By Prof. J. Loth. 

Vol. Xviii. P. 401. “Études Corniques I. ” [On the pronunciation of _d_, _t_, _s_, _z_, _j_, etc. ]. By Prof. Loth. 

Vol. Xxiii. P. 173. “Études Corniques II. Textes inédits en Corniquemoderne. ” [_Genesis_ iii. , _St. Matth_. Iv. , ii. From the Gwavas MS. , with a French translation and notes]. By Prof. Loth. 

Vol. Xxiii. P. 236. “Études Corniques IV. Remarques et corrections au_Lexicon Cornu-Britannica_ de Williams. ” By Prof. Loth. 

Vol. Xxiv. P. 1. “Études Corniques V. Les Dix Commandements de Dieu. ”[The versions of Boson and Kerew in the Gwavas MS. , with a Frenchtranslation and notes]. By Prof. Loth. 

Vol. Xxiv. P. 155. “Notes aux textes inédits en Cornique moderne. ”[Notes, in English, on Prof. Loth’s edition of _Genesis_ iii. , _St. Matth. _ iv. , ii. , in vol. Xxiii. ]. By Henry Jenner. 

Vol. Xxiv. P. 300. “Some Rough Notes on the present Pronunciation ofCornish names. ” By Henry Jenner. 

15. Articles in _Archiv fur Celtische Lexicographie_. 

Bd. I. P. 101. “Glossary to _Beunans Meriasek_. ” By Dr. Whitley Stokes. 

p. 161. “Collation of Norris’s Cornish Drama. ” By Dr. Whitley Stokes. 

p. 224. “Cornique Moderne. ” [The dialogues of Andrew Borde, and WilliamBodenor’s Letter; with restored texts, translations, and notes. ] ByProf. Loth. 

16. Grammatica Celtica e monumentis vetustis tam Hibernicae linguae quamBritannicarum dialectorum Cambricae Cornicae Aremoricae comparatisGallicae priscae reliquiis. Construxit I. C. Zeuss. Editio altera. Curavit H. Ebel. Berolini, 1871. 4to. 

Footnotes:

{0a} Cf. “Ista sunt nomina corrodiorum et pensionum _in Anglia etCornubia_ quæ sunt in dono Regis Angliæ. ” Harl. MS. 433, f. 335, temp. Ric. Iii. 

{0b} The Bretons of to-day habitually speak of Brittany as “notre petitepatrie, ” and France as “notre grande patrie, ” and none have fought anddied for France more bravely than these. As soldiers (and still more assailors) they are to France what the Highlanders are to Britain, andavenge the atrocities of 1793 in the same noble fashion as that in whichthe Gaels have avenged the horrors of Culloden and its sequel. Loyaltyis in the blood of Celts, whether to clan, or to great or littleFatherland. 

{0c} “If that learned wise man should see this, he would find reason tocorrect it in orthography, etc. ”—_Nebbaz Gerriau_. 

{6} The Britons of the Kingdom of the North (Cumberland and Strathclyde)probably spoke the progenitor of Welsh, which they perhaps brought southwith them, displacing the South British in Gwynedd and Powys, and laterin South Wales, when they also drove out the Goidelic intruders. 

{7} In September 1903, at the end of the Congress of the _UnionRégionaliste Bretonne_ at Lesneven in Finistère, the present writer madea speech in Cornish, perhaps the first that had been made for two hundredyears, and rather to his astonishment he was fairly well understood bythe Bretons. It is true that all were educated men, but only one of themhad studied Cornish. 

{10a} _Descript. Cambr. _, vi. 

{10b} _Cf. _ “Where the great vision of the guarded mountLooks toward Namancos and Bayona’s hold. ”

{12} Clarendon’s account of the Cornish troops in the Great Rebelliongives the impression that there was no lack of piety among them at thattime. 

{17} Probably the well-known Sir John Maynard, whose MSS. Are now inLincoln’s Inn Library. He represented a Devon constituency at one time. 

{19} In Tonkin’s notes to Carew’s _Survey_ (Lord de Dunstanville’sedition) passages which occur in Pryce are referred to pages of “my_Archæologia Cornu-Britannica_. ”

{39} The motto of Harris of Hayne, “_Car Dew dres pub tra_, ” ismentioned in Boson’s _Nebbaz Gerriau_, and is part of stanza 23 of the_Poem of the Passion_. 

{50} The remarks added here in brackets are those of the present writer. 

{54} In compound words the accent is always on the qualifying part, andif that is a monosyllable and comes last, the accent is therefore on thelast syllable. This is common in place-names. 

{55} It seems likely that in the very peculiar intonation of Zennor, Morvah, Towednack, and the country part of St. Ives the true intonationof Cornish may be best preserved. But this is mere conjecture. 

{56} The modern Cornish pronunciation of the word “trade, ” in its localand rather contemptuous sense of “ropes’ ends, dead mice, and othercombustibles” (as Cornishman once denned it), shows the sound of thisvowel fairly well. 

{57} Care must be taken in this case to avoid that _ŷ_ sound given tothe English _a_ in London twang (_e. G. _ lȳdy for lady). 

{59a} The combination _ao_ in Irish is pronounced _t_. Thus _caol_, narrow, is _cul_ in the Highlands and _kîl_ in Ireland. 

{59b} The word _bewnans_, life, formed from the root _bew_, was oftenwritten _bownans_ in late Cornish and probably pronounced _boonans_. Similarly _bowjy_ (=_bewgh-chŷ_), cow-house, must have been _bewjy_. This last, which is one of the surviving Cornish words, has its _ow_ atpresent sounded as in _now_. This change has happened not infrequentlyin place-names. 

{63} The word _en_, in, in quite late Cornish, was apparently sounded_et_, which is a solitary case of the disappearance of _n_ in amonosyllable. 

{64} _Cf. _ the _s_ or _z_ of _azure_, _treasure_, _sure_, _pleasure_, _sugar_, in English. 

{65} Dr. Whitley Stokes, in a paper of additions to Williams’s CornishLexicon (Philol. Soc. 1868), gives it as his opinion that the _th_ of theMSS. Should not be written _dh_ at the _end_ of a word, and thatWilliams, in doing so, was wrongly following Welsh analogy. But there isan evident tendency in _late_ Cornish to end words in _z_ for _s_, _v_for _f_, _g_ for _k_, and a considerable number of words which Williamsends in _dh_ end in the corresponding z in Breton, so that one is moreinclined to follow Williams in this matter, though there is a good dealto be said both ways. 

{70a} _C_ before a broad vowel, _k_ before a thin vowel, and _q_ beforea _w_. 

{70b} The _ch_ and _j_ are used for an earlier _t_ and _d_ in a fewwords, through intensification of the thin sounds of the latter. SeeChap. I. § 2. 

{73} See Chap. IV. § 2. 

{76} There is also a doubtful form _mescatter_, from _mescat_. 

{78} The change of initial of the masculine plural is by no meansuniversal in the MSS. , but it is not infrequent, and is the rule inBreton (with a few exceptions), so it seems fair to conjecture that itwas the Cornish rule also. 

{80} Note how a masculine ending in _a_ affects the initial of theadjective as if it were a feminine. 

{81} It sometimes happens (as Dr. Stokes points out) that if the firstnoun is feminine, the noun in the genitive has its initial in the secondstate, in fact it is treated as an adjective qualifying the precedingnoun, e. G. _bennath Varya_, the blessing of Mary; _carek Veryasek_, therock of Meriasek; _fynten woys_, a well of blood, but as this alsohappens at times when the first noun is masculine (e. G. _cledha dan_, Cr. 964), it probably only means that mutations were rather loosely used. The last two are “genitives of material. ”

{86} Note that when a syllable is added to a word ending in _gh_, the_g_ is omitted. 

{94} _Idn_, to qualify a noun; _omen_, used by itself. Thus, _idn dên_, one man; _Ŏnen hag Ol_, One and All. _Wǒnnen_ is an alternative form ofthe latter. 

{96} It has been held that this apparent singular, which is used afternumerals in Welsh and Breton also, is really a genitive plural. In theGaelic languages, in which the case-inflections of nouns still exist, thegenitive plural is usually (though not universally) the same as thenominative singular, except in Manx, where it is only distinguishablefrom the nominative plural by its article, but except in the cases of_da_, two, _fichead_, twenty, _ceud_, a hundred, and _mile_, a thousand, which precede nouns in the singular, the plural follows numerals in thoselanguages. 

{119} There is, however, some blight confusion in late Cornish MSS. Between this use of _re_, and the auxiliary form with _wrîg_. Thedifference of sound in cases of verbs beginning with _g_ or _c_ would bevery slight. 

{133} Spelling assimilated to that of this grammar. 

{135} It will not be necessary to add the pronouns to every tense. 

{136} The remarks on the use of the different forms of this tense apply_mutatis mutandis_ to the other tenses. See also Chapter XIV. § I. 

{140} See Chapter XIV. 

{144} _Kegy_, _kehegy_ (in _St. Meriasek_), are _ke_, _kehe_, with _jy_or _gy_ (=_dî_), the personal pronoun added. 

{149} Older _yn_. When this is followed by a possessive pronoun of thefirst or second person the _n_ is dropped, and the possessive pronountakes the form which follows a preposition ending in a vowel, _e’m_, _e’th_. When the definite article would follow the two coalesce and_en_=_en an_. 

{153} _na_=_ni_ + a (_nag_ before a vowel), ought only to be used withinterrogatives, but the later writers of Cornish did not always do asthey ought. 

{154} In Jordan’s _Creation_, 1. 599, “_Myhall sera thewgh gramercy_, ”though Keigwin and Dr. Stokes both read _my hall_=I may, one is inclinedto find this form of swear, and to translate it “Michael! sir, grammercyto you!” Compare the English use of “Marry!” (for Mary!) or “Gad!” (forGod!) without _by_ before them. It is written all in one word and speltthe same as the name of St. Michael in the same play. It is no more ofan anachronism to make Eve swear by St. Michael than (in _Res. Dom. _, 1387) to make St. Thomas swear by St. Mary. 

{156} _Vengeans y’th glas_! is used by the wife of the smith who makesthe nails for the Cross in the Drama of _The Passion_ (1. 2716). 

{164} The spelling and mutations corrected. 

{165} The spelling and mutations corrected. 

{166} The spelling and mutations corrected. 

{167} The spelling and mutations corrected. 

{180a} Probably the apparent eight syllables in line 6 of the _Poem ofthe Passion_ may be accounted for in this way, and one should read_levarow_ as _larow_; cf. In the Breton of Treguier, _laret_ for_lavarout_, and the late Cornish _lawle_ for _lavarel_. In English thefirst would be no rhyme. 

{180b} It may be that the Cornish ear for rhymes was like the French, and that the explanation is to be sought in a theory like that of the_rimes riches_ and the _consonne d’appui_ of modern French. In French_chercher_—_rocher_ is a better rhyme than _aimer_—_rocher_ (in each casewith the accent on the last syllable). 

{181} The numerals denote the number of syllables to each line. In theoriginal a long _z_ is used for _dh_ and _th_. 

{188} The spelling of one of the original MSS. Has been preserved here, except that, in order to avoid confusion as to the number of syllables, the final mute _e_ is omitted. In this _ee_—_î_, _ea_=_ê_, _oo_=_ô_. 

{189a} “I have only to add that the metre of _Christabel_ is notproperly speaking irregular, though it may seem so through its beingfounded on a new principle, namely, that of counting in each line theaccents, not the syllables. ” (Preface to 1816 edition of _Christabel_. )

{189b} Spelling adapted to that of this grammar. 

{196} Cf. The Arabic article _al_ prefixed to place-names in SouthernSpain, and to nouns of Arabic derivation in Spanish.