Ball Martin, M?ller Nicole. The Celtic Languages

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516 THE BRYTHONIC LANGUAGES

Personal endings

Personal sufﬁ xes were found in pronominal prepositions and in verbal paradigms. The

combination of sufﬁ xes and enclitics gave several sets of personal endings, which pro-

vided numerous options when composing poetry (Table 11.20).

Table 11.20 Combination of sufﬁ xes and enclitics

Personal ending Example of

Sufﬁ x Enclitic Code Pronominal

preposition

Verbal paradigm

Full (none) {O} genef ‘with me’ welyth ‘seest thou’

Full simple stressed {S} genef vy ‘with me’ ylly gy ‘mayest thou’

Full simple unstressed {U} genaffa ‘with me’ glowe (2 syll.) ‘he hears’

Full double {D} thynny ny ‘with us’ wylys a vy ‘I saw’

Full reduced {R} genama ‘with me’ garsesta ‘wouldst thou

like’

Reduced double {d} thuthte gy ‘camest thou’

Reduced reduced {r} welte > welta ‘seest

thou’

(none) simple stressed {N} thege [ðǝ'dʒiː] ‘to thee’

The combination of the full sufﬁ x and the reduplicated enclitic (e.g. a welyth tegy {D}

‘seest thou?’) could be reduced in either or both of two ways:

i loss of the original sufﬁ x - yth, giving a welte gy {d};

ii interpretation of the second stressed syllable of the reduplicated enclitic as the simple

stressed enclitic, giving a welyth te {R}; both giving a welte {r}.

When the ﬁ nal sound of the sufﬁ x approximated the initial sound of the enclitic, assimi-

lation could take place, leading to re- modelling. For example, esof vy ‘I am’ became esaf

vy with the sound change [ɔ] > [a]; assimilation gave esa ve (TH); esa was then confused

with the 3rd sg. imperfect of the long form of bos. Such developments show the close

links between morphology, phonology and syntax.

Prepositions

As in the other Celtic languages, many prepositions were conjugable. The commonest of

these were Middle Cornish gans ‘with’ and the ‘to’, whose conjugations were irregular

Table 11.21 Conjugation of gans ‘with’

Earlier Mid C Later Mid C Lhuyd New forms Meaning

1 sg. genef, gene genaf, gena genev gen a vee ‘with me’

2 sg. genes genas genez gena chee ‘with thee’

3 sg. m. ganso gansa gonzha ‘with him’

3 sg. f. gensy gensy gụnsi ‘with her’

1 pl. genen genan gennan genna nei ‘with us’

CORNISH 517

2 pl. genough geno (genouχ) gena why ‘with you’

3 pl. ganse gansa

gansans gụnzhanz

‘with them’

The ﬁ rst vowel in the forms for the 1st and 2nd persons was sometimes spelled <y>, espe-

cially in PC and RD. As a result of the sound- changes [ɔ] > [a] and [ε] > [a], the 3rd sg. m.

and 3rd pl. persons became indistinguishable (in BK, gansa was used for both); to resolve

this ambiguity, a new form for the 3rd pl. sufﬁ x was used from TH onwards; this was gan-

sans. The ending - ans may be taken from the 3rd pl. verbal ending - ans < - ons. Lhuyd’s

genouχ is a re- spelling of the Middle Cornish, rather than a contemporary form.

In Middle Cornish, enclitics could be optionally appended to the pronominal prepo-

sitions (see Table 11.21); e.g. genef and genef vy both meant ‘with me’. The forms with

enclitics were less common (only 12 per cent of the examples). In Late Cornish, those for

the 1st and 2nd persons were re- interpreted as gen + a + pronoun, which may account for

the Late form gen for earlier gans. Conjugations of other common prepositions are given

in Tables 11.22 and 11.23.

Table 11.22 Conjugation of the ‘to’

Earlier Mid C Later Mid C Lhuyd New forms {N} English

1 sg. thym

thymmo

thym

thybma

dhebm

(dhu¢mmo)

tha vee (CW- >) ‘to me’

2 sg. thys

thyso

thys

thyʒa

dhiz thege (BK- >) ‘to thee’

3 sg. m. thotho thotha (dhodho) thoth eff (TH- >) ‘to him’

3 sg. f. thethy thethy (dhydhi) ‘to her’

1 pl. thyn then (dhụn) tha ny ‘to us’

2 pl. thyugh theugh dhi’u¢ ʒe wy (MC- >) ‘to you’

3 pl. thethe thetha

thothans

dhedhynz ‘to them’

The by- forms thymmo and thyso arose by analogy with the 3rd sg. m. thotho, according to

Williams (1995).

Table 11.23 Representative conjugations of pronominal prepositions in Middle Cornish

a type o type (direct) o type (with

dental)

y type

war ‘on’ yn ‘on’ rag ‘for’ orth ‘at’

1 sg. warnaf ynnof ragof orthyf

2 sg. warnas ynnos ragos orthys

3 sg. m. warnotho ynno ragtho orto

3 sg. f. warnethy ynny rygthy orty

1 pl. warnan ynnon ragon orthyn

2 pl. warnough innow (TH) ragough orthowgh (BK)

3 pl. warnethe ynne ragthe orta (OM)

518 THE BRYTHONIC LANGUAGES

also also also also

dywar ‘off’ dre ‘through’ a ugh ‘above’ dyworth ‘from’

a ‘from’ yndan ‘under’ dres ‘beyond’

yntre ‘between’ hep ‘without’

ages ‘than’ ryp ‘beside’

Numerals

The syntax of the Celtic vigesimal system scarcely changed in Cornish, so that Table

11.24, which shows the cardinal numerals at various points in the history of the language,

is interesting more from a phonological than a morphological point of view. The column

labelled ‘Boorde’ refers to the notes taken in 1542 by Andrew Boorde, a non- Cornish

speaker, on a visit to Cornwall; his versions of the teen numerals are doubtful.

Table 11.24 Examples of the spellings of the cardinal numbers

Middle

Cornish

Boorde 17th century Lhuyd Other Late

Cornish

1 onan, onyn ouyn onyn ụonan wonnen

2 m. dev, dew dow deaw dêau deu, deau

2 f. dyv, dyw —— dew diu diu

3 m. try tray try trei try

3 f. tyr —— tayr tair ——

4 m. peswar peswar —— padzhar pager

4 f. peder —— pidder —— ——

5 pymp pimp pymp pemp pemp

6 *whegh whe whea huîh wheeath

7 seyth syth zith seith sith

8 eth eth —— —— ——

9 naw naw naw naû naw

10 dek dec deake dêg deege

11 vnnek unec ednack idnack idnac

12 dowʒek dowec dewthack —— douthack

13 *tredhek tredeec tarnack tardhak tarthack

14 *peswarthek peswardeec puzwarthack pazụardhak pedgwarthac

15 pymʒek pympdeec punthack pemdhak pemthac

16 *whetek whedeec wheytack hụettag wheetaeck

17 *seytek sythdeec zitack seitag sitack

18 *etek ethdeec itack eitag ithac

19 nownsag nawdeec naunsack nowndzhak nounjack

20 vgens igous ugens igans iggans

100 cans kans cans kanz canz

1000 myl myle myellm —— meele

Notes

1 The masculine and feminine forms lasted into Late Cornish; see George (2007).

CORNISH 519

The ﬁ rst four ordinal numbers were:

1 Middle Cornish kynsa > Late Cornish kensa.

2 In place of eyl (found only in expressions such as an eyl y gila ‘each other’, Middle

Cornish nesse > Late Cornish nessa (lit. ‘nearer, next’) was used. The loan- word

second is also found, especially in TH.

Middle Cornish tryge ["trIÚʒɛ] > tredzha (Lhuyd) represents the palatalized develop-

ment of a word corresponding to Breton trede and Welsh trydydd. The commoner

tresse was formed by analogy with nesse.

Middle Cornish peswore > Late Cornish padgurra.

No feminine forms for ‘2nd, 3rd 4th’ are attested. After ‘4th’, the sufﬁ x - ves was applied

to the cardinal number.

Fairly regular verbs

Most verbs in Middle Cornish can be classiﬁ ed into four conjugations:

1 those with an inﬁ nitive in - e (later - a);

2 those with an inﬁ nitive in - el;

3 those with an inﬁ nitive in - y;

4 other fairly regular verbs

although the differences between them are far less marked than in the conjugations of

Latin verbs, and the ‘irregularities’ classes 1 to 3 are nearly all predictable. These four

classes had seven tenses and the general structure {mutation} + stem + {vowel affection}

+ ending. The mutation of the initial letter of the stem depends on the preceding element

(see section on syntax). The incidence of vowel- affection of the verbal stem is summa-

rized in Table 11.25. The three entries in each cell refer to classes 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

Table 11.25 Vowel- affection in verbal stems

Mood Æ

Indicative Subjunctive Imperative

Tense Æ

Pres.

Impf.

Pret.

III

Plupf.

Pres.

Impf.

VI VII

1 sg. 000 0AA AAA 000 EAA 000

——

2 sg. AAA 0AA AAA 000 EAA 000 000

3 sg. 0AA 0AA 0A0 000 0A0 000 0AA

1 pl. AAA 0AA AAA 000 EAA 000 AAA

2 pl. 0AA 0AA 000 000 000 000 0AA

3 pl. 0AA 0AA 000 000 000 000

——

Impersonal AAA

——

0AA

—— —— —— ——

The personal sufﬁ xes for the seven tenses, and the number of cases found in the corpus,

are given in Table 11.26, As shown in Table 11.18 above, these sufﬁ xes could be com-

bined with the enclitics to give a whole range of personal endings.

520 THE BRYTHONIC LANGUAGES

Table 11.26 Personal sufﬁ xes of regular verbs

I Present/future indicative

No. Earlier forms Later forms Substitutions

1 sg. 676 - af, - aff /- av/ - a /- a/

2 sg. 241 - yth /-

Ið/ - eth /- εð/ - ys /- Is/

3 sg. 3038 - ∇ /- ∇/

1 pl. 129 - yn /-

In/ - en /- εn/

2 pl. 129 - ough

/- ɔwx/ - ogh /- ɔx/ - eugh /- εx/

3 pl. 86 - ons /- ɔns/ - ans /- anz/

Imp. 26 - yr /- ir/

II Imperfect indicative (of most verbs)

No. Earlier forms Later forms Substitutions

1 sg. 41 - en /- εn/ - an /- an/

2 sg. 9 - es /- εs/ - as /- as/

3 sg. 350 - e /- ε/ - a /- a/

1 pl. 13 - en /- εn - an /- an/

2 pl. 14 - ywgh, - eugh

/- εwx/ - ow /- ɔw/

3 pl. 26 - ens /- εns/ - ans /- ans/

II Imperfect indicative (of verbs in - el and some in - es, - us, - y)

No. Earlier forms Later forms Substitutions

1 sg. 10 - yn /- In/

2 sg. 2 *- ys /-

Is/ - ez, - iz

3 sg. 90 - y /-

I/ e > - a /- ε/ > /a/

1 pl. 4 *- yn /-

In/ -en > - an /- εn/ > /- an/

2 pl. 0 *- eugh

/- εwx/

3 pl. 10 - ens /- εns/ - ons /- ɔns/

III Preterite

No. Earlier forms Later forms Substitutions

1 sg. 139 - ys, - is /- is/

2 sg. 102 - sys, - cys /- s

Is/

3 sg. 1075 - as

1 pl. 43 - syn /- sIn/

2 pl. 38 - sough, - sowgh /- sɔwx/ - seugh /- sɛwx/

3 pl. 57 - sons /- sɔns/ - sans /- sans/

Imp. 6 - ys - yz

IV Pluperfect/conditional indicative

No. Earlier forms Later forms Substitutions

1 sg. 82 - sen /- sεn/ - san /- san/ In the auxiliary verbs

gallus and mynnes, /dʒ/

was substituted for /s/ as

the tense marker.

2 sg. 13 - ses /- sεs/

3 sg. 252 - se /- sε/ - sa /- sa/

1 pl. 15 - sen /- sεn/ - san /- san/

2 pl. 6 - syugh /- sεwx/

3 pl. 21 - sens /- sεns/

CORNISH 521

V Present/future subjunctive

No. Earlier forms Later forms Substitutions

1 sg. 42 - yf /- iv/

2 sg. 159 - y /- i/

3 sg. 521 - o /- ɔ/ - a /- a/ - e (3) /- ε/

1 pl. 50 - yn /-

In/ - en > - an

/- εn/ > /- an/

2 pl. 56 - ough,

- owgh /- ɔwx/ - ogh,

- ow

/- ɔx/

/- ɔw/

- eugh

/- εwx/

3 pl. 38 - ons /- ɔns/ - ans /- ans/

Imp. 35 - er /- εr/

VI Imperfect subjunctive

No. Earlier forms Later forms Substitutions

1 sg. 61 - en /- εn/ - an /- an/

2 sg. 27 - es /- εs/ - as /- as/

3 sg. 136 - e /- ε/ - a /- a/ - o

/- ɔ/

1 pl. 30 - en /- εn/ - an /- an/

2 pl. 6 - eugh /- εwx/ - owgh,-

ogh

/- ɔwx/ >

/- ɔx/

3 pl. 14 - ens /- εns/ - ans /- ans/ - ons

/- ɔns/

VII Imperative

No. Earlier forms Later forms Substitutions

1 sg. —— ——

2 sg. 1451 - ∇, - a

/- ∇/, /- ε/

3 sg. 116 - es /- εs/ - ens >- ans

/- εns/ >/- ans/

1 pl. 94 - yn /-

In/

2 pl. 651 - eugh, - ugh

/- εwx/ - owgh,

- ogh

/- ɔwx/ >

/- ɔx/

3 pl. 70 - ens /- εns/ - ans /- ans/

Notes:

1 There were two endings for the 2nd pl., /- ɔwx/ and /εwx/. Both were subject to later reduction: the

diphthongs became vowels, i.e. [εw] > [ε] and [ɔw] > [ɔ]; and the spirant [- x] was weakened to [- θ], to

[- h], or lost altogether. Fourteen of the 16 possible combinations are found. Both endings are found in

the 2nd pl. in all seven tenses, but not in equal numbers, as this auxiliary table shows:

Tense I II III IV V VI VII

/ɔ/ type

Mid C 72 4 9

——

29 3 270

Late C 23

——

/ɛ/ type

Mid C 22 3 14 1 3 3 219

Late C 1 4

——

—— ——

Uniﬁ ed - ough - eugh - sough - seugh - ough - eugh - eugh

Nance’s rationalization for his Uniﬁ ed Cornish probably represents the original endings. The confusion

between the two endings in some tenses arose because of a tendency for unstressed [ɛw] to change to

[ɔw].

2 Verbs in - el and some in - y had their preterite in /- is/ - ys; in Late Cornish, there was a tendency to

substitute - as.

3 Not a phonological development, but confusion between the present and imperfect subjunctive.

4 Occasional ending.

5 The 3rd pl. ending was substituted for the 3rd sg.

522 THE BRYTHONIC LANGUAGES

The irregular verb bos ‘to be’

This was a mixture of:

i an incomplete verb (the ‘short form’) containing two ‘vowel tenses’;

ii an incomplete verb (the ‘long form’) containing two ‘vowel tenses’;

iii a verb with stem /b

Ið- /, having the usual seven tenses.

Tables 11.27 to 11.29 show the short and long forms; they give not only the verbal suf-

ﬁ xes, but also the results of their combining with enclitics. In Late Cornish, there was a

tendency in the long form for all persons in both present and imperfect tenses to be con-

ﬂ ated and simpliﬁ ed to era + personal pronoun.

Table 11.27 The short form of bos ‘to be’

Present Imperfect

Middle Cornish Late Cornish Middle Cornish Late Cornish

1 sg.

of, off /ɔv/ o ve en /εn/ ——

2 sg. os /ɔz/ ooz

osta

es /εz/ eze

3 sg. yu, yv, yw /Iw/ ew

ewa

ova

/ɔ/ o

ova

1 pl. on /ɔn/ —— en /εn/ ——

2 pl. ough, owgh /ɔwx/ —— eugh /εwx/ ——

3 pl. yns > ens /Inz/ ens ens /εnz/ ênz

Table 11.28 Present tense of the long form of bos ‘to be’

Middle Cornish development Late Cornish Lhuyd

No enclitic

1 sg. esof esaf

ezhov

2 sg. esos esas

ezhoz

3 sg. us, eus es

ez, es ez

usi usy vgy

igge

odzhi

yma em

ma ema

, ma

1 pl. eson esan

eran

2 pl. esough esow —— Ezou’

3 pl. usons esan

—— idzhenz

ymons ymowns e movns

mouns ymônz

Simple stressed enclitic

1 sg. *esof vy *esaf vy

esa ve

era vee

LRA

era vî

LRA

era tshî

1 pl. eson ny esan ny

eran ny

erany

LRA

era ny

LRA

era nî

LRA

ydzhin nyi

2 pl. esough why egow why era why

LRA

era huî

LRA

3 pl. *usons y esans y

—— idzhan dzhei

CORNISH 523

Unstressed enclitic

1 sg. erama

LRA

eram

LRA

*esosta esta esta

Re- duplicated enclitic

2 sg. *esos tegy esta ge

Notes:

L means lowering: unstressed [ɛ] > [a] and [ɔ] > [a]; stressed [i] > [e].

U means unrounding: [œ] > [ε] and [y] > [i].

R means that the ﬁ rst consonant was rhotacized.

A means that the ﬁ nal sound of the verbal sufﬁ x was lost.

P means that the ﬁ rst consonant was palatalized.

Table 11.29 Imperfect tense of the long form of bos ‘to be’

Middle Cornish development Late Cornish Lhuyd

No enclitic

1 sg. esen, egen esan

eram

Ezen

2 sg. eses egas

——

Ezzez

3 sg. ese esa

ege

ega

era

1 pl. esen ega

——

Oezyn

2 pl. eseugh

——

Oezy’

3 pl. esens esans

erang

Oezenz

Simple stressed enclitic

1 sg. *esen vy

1 pl. *esen ny

2 pl. *eseugh why

3 pl. *esens y esans y

Notes:

1 may have been made up by Lhuyd.

L means lowering: unstressed [ɛ] > [a] and [ɔ] > [a]; stressed [i] > [e].

R means that the ﬁ rst consonant was rhotacized.

P means that the ﬁ rst consonant was palatalized.

b- tenses

Tenses I (present habitual and future), II (imperfect habitual) and VII (imperative) were

regular. The irregular tenses are given in Table 11.30, in which examples in b- and f- have

been re- written with v- .

524 THE BRYTHONIC LANGUAGES

Table 11.30 Irregular b- tenses of bos ‘to be’ in Middle Cornish

Tense - > III IV V VI

1 sg. vuef, vuf > vef vyen > vyan vyf ven

2 sg. vues, vus > ves vyes > veas vy ves

3 sg. vue > ve vye > vya vo ve

1 pl. vuen > ven vyen veyn ven

2 pl. veugh vyeugh veugh vyugh

3 pl. *vons *vyens vons vens

Compounds of bos

The following Middle Cornish verbs were all based to a greater or lesser extent on bos:

gothvos ‘to know how to’ aswonvos ‘to know’ (a person)

wharfos ‘to befall’ darfos ‘to happen’

tylly ‘to owe’ clewes ‘to hear’

Other irregular verbs

The verb gul ‘to do, to make’

Tables 11.31 and 11.32 show the paradigm of this verb in its lenited form, except where

only other forms are attested. In Middle Cornish, the verb is attested in almost all tenses

and persons. The much- reduced situation in Late Cornish is illustrated by the entries

marked with superscript ‘N’ (for Newlyn School) in Table 11.32; only tenses I, III and VII

are reasonably represented.

Table 11.31 Paradigm of gul ‘to do’ in Middle Cornish

I II III IV V VI VII

1 sg. wraf

wrama

wren

wrug

wruga

wrugaf

wrussen

wryllyf

rellen

——

2 sg. wreth

wreta

wres

wrussys

wruste

grusses

wrylly

wrelles

wra

3 sg. wra

wrefa

wre

wrefe

wrug

wruge

wresse

wrello

wrella

gwrens

1 pl. wren

*wren

wrussyn

wressan

wryllyn

wrellen

2 pl. wreugh

*wreugh

wrussough

*wrusseugh

wrellough

*wrelleugh

wreugh

3 pl. wrons

wrens

russons

wrussens

rellens

gwrens

Imp. wrer

—— —— —— ——

Note: 0–3 are explained in the notes to Table 11.32.

CORNISH 525

Table 11.32 Paradigm of gweel ‘to do’ in Late Cornish

I II III IV V VI VII

1 sg. ’u¢rehâv

ra me

***** rig

’u¢ru¢ssen

’uryllif

***** ——

2 sg. ’ûrei

raze

***** restah

’uru¢ssez

’u¢rylli

***** ra

3 sg. ra

gurei

reeg

wraze

’ressa

’u¢rrello

reffo

***** gurez

gwrens

1 pl. ’u¢rên

***** ’rygon

’uressen

’urellon

***** Guraun

2 pl. rewe

***** ’rygo

’uresseh

’urelloh

***** re’au

3 pl. gurânz

rehanz

’ryganz

***** ’urellon[z]

***** Gwrens

Imp. ***** —— —— ——

Notes:

The dashes indicate parts of the paradigm which do not exist grammatically; the asterisks represent

parts of the paradigm which theoretically existed but were not attested.

N Data from the Newlyn School.

L Lhuyd’s forms; some are re- spellings of Middle Cornish, and some may be his own invention.

0 The ‘standard’ Middle Cornish conjugation, on which Nance’s Uniﬁ ed paradigm was based.

1 Forms in which the enclitic te was combined with the stem.

2 A preterite in which the 3rd sg. form wrug was used as the stem.

3 Substitution of the 3rd pl. for the 3rd sg.

4 Lhuyd’s present subjunctive forms have been re- spelled from Middle Cornish. The only genuine Late

Cornish form is an analogy on the basis of dheffo ‘may he come’.

5 In Late Cornish, the 3rd sg. preterite auxiliary ‘did’ was distinguished from ‘made’ by using wraze for

the latter; this form spread to the 2nd sg. imperative.

The verbs mos ‘to go’ and dos ‘to come’

Like bos ‘to be’, these two verbs consisted of an irregular mixture of two original verbs.

They each had an explicit perfect tense, which was subject neither to particles nor to

mutation.

The verb am bues ‘to have’

This verb was used less than its counterpart in Breton, but more than its counterpart in

Middle Welsh. Its structure was:

1st and 2nd verbal + inﬁ xed + 3rd sg. of bos

persons particle pronoun (stressed)

3rd verbal + inﬁ xed + 3rd person + 3rd sg. of bos

persons particle pronoun marker de- (unstressed)

It could be used in both verbal and nominal styles, but not in the interrogative, responsive

nor imperative modes. See Table 11.18 for the inﬁ xed pronouns. The third- person marker

de- lenited the following [b] to [v], and was itself unvoiced to [t] after - s, and palatalized

to [dʒ] after - n. The third- person singular forms of bos were as follows: