... ... PAGE 200 ... Ebostol y Sul. By Professor POWEL, M.A. Selection of Welsh Poetry, by IAGO AB DEWI Ancient Welsh Words. By T. W. HANCOCK The Welsh Language in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. By IVOR JAMES, Registrar of the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire Editorial communications, Books for Review, etc., should be addressed to Dr. ISAMBARD OWEN, 5, Hertford Street, Mayfair, *** Wanted, copies of Y CYMMRODOR, Vol. iii, Part 1. D Cymmrodor. VOL. VIII. "CARED DOETH YR ENCILION." PART 2. OBSERVATIONS ON THE WELSH BY MAX NETTLAU, PH.D. THE following observations form a part of my dissertation. Beiträge zur cymrischen Grammatik, the first two chapters of which, containing the Introduction and the section on Vocalism, were printed a month ago in Leipsic.1 I must refer my readers to this Introduction, quoted herein as "Beitr.", for more detailed accounts of the manuscripts and books cited below. I have collected from the sources available to me what materials I have been able to obtain relating to the history of the Welsh language and to its dialects, and a portion of these materials-that, namely, relating to the Pronouns-is comprised in this article. My chief aim has been to define the phonetic value of the orthographies found in manuscripts, and to separate archaisms from the analogical neologisms in which the modern language abounds. I should be very glad to see additions to the facts I give made by native Welshmen; they are principally needed with regard to the more accurate localisation of dialectal forms and to their phonetic description. I hope to have the opportunity of publishing further articles of similar character on other parts of Welsh Grammar. 1 Beiträge zur cymrischen Grammatik, I, Einleitung und Vocalismus. Leipzig, März April 1887, 79 pp., 8vo. VOL. VIII. I My observations are arranged in the order of the corresponding parts of the Grammatica Celtica (pp. 368-409, ed. Ebel), to which they may be found to contain some additions. A. PERSONAL PRONOUNS. [1.] Myfi, tydi, etc., are formed by doubling the single pronouns; the accent may be on the first or on the second syllable, its position depending apparently on the kind of emphasis given to the pronoun. Griffith Roberts (Gramm., 1567, p. 33[125]) and John Davies (Gramm., 1621) give examples of both accentuations. Spurrell (Gramm., 381) has myfí, etc. Hyhi, for hihi, is quoted by W. Morris in Addit. MS. 14,947, f. 46a, from the Anglesey dialect. [2.] Y fi, y ti, y fe, y fo, y hi, y ni, y chwi, y nhw (y nhwy) are forms of the colloquial language. Cf. eb fi, eb y fi, in North Wales eb yr fi (Davies, Gramm., 1621, p. 136), eb yr di, eb yr ef, etc.; Addit. MS. 15,059, f. 209a: eber hwnnw; f. 210a, ebr coeg (Araith Gwgan). The article yr became so intimately connected with eb (heb), that the pres. sec. is not ebai yr fo, but ebrai fo (eb-(y)r-ai fo). This morphological deformity is not more to be wondered at than, e.g., the Lithuanian eikszte, i.e., eik (the imp. of eimi, I go)-sz(remains of szen, hither)—te, the termination of the 2nd pers. pl. imp. (see Kurschat, Litanische Grammatik, 1876, § 1178). The singular eik-sz (eik szen), as in Welsh ebr (eb yr), was believed to be one word, and made accordingly the stem of verbal flection. Cf. Myvyrian Archaiology, 2nd edit., Preface, p. xxvib: ebra fo, ebra hi, ebra nhw, with the a from final ai and e of the Venedotian dialects. I may add from Addit. MS. 14,996, f. 81b (1750): ebre Hugh Sion. [3.] The forms of the 3rd sing. masc. of the pers. pronoun are one of the chief discernants of the northern and southern dialects. The efe, fe before verbs, of the literary language and the southern dialects, is replaced in North Wales by mi. Cf. Peter, in Y Cymmrodor, i, p. 15, and the following examples, taken from letters in the Carnarvonshire dialect in Yr Arweinydd (Pwllheli, 1856-9): mi bydda i a'r plant yma yn rhwy ddisgwil dy welad di yn dwad (dyfod) gartra; mi rouddwn i yn dy welad ti ;— ac mi rouddat ti yn ista ar ben rhwy (rhyw, see my Beiträge, § 110) hen focs (box) yni hi;—y rwsnos (wythnos) dwytha mi ddaru mi (i mi) fryuddwydio bryuddwyd digri iawn am dana ti; ac mi stopiodd y goits (coach) wth lidiart y ffor;-mi rydan ni wedi disgwil llawer iawn ;-mi welwch lidiart hyuarn a trowch trw hono ac mi gewch etc. (26, 2, 57); ac mi ddoth Wil a'r papur newudd yma ddou, ac mi ath Cadi i ddarllan o, ac mi rodd arni hi gwilidd, nes oedd hi bron a myn'd i'r dduar ar dy gywnt (account) di (30, 10, 56), etc; Hanes Caban f' ewythr Tomos, 1853 (Merionethshire): mi alle hyny fod, p. 7, etc. Mi can be nothing but the pers. pronoun of the 1st sing., which has by the operation of analogy exceeded its proper functions. It is not clear to me, as I do not know how old this use of mi is, whether there is any connection between the extension of mi over all the persons, and the fact of the South-Welsh pers. pronoun, 3rd sing. masc., efe, ef, fe, e, being totally discarded in North Wales, where efo, y fo, fo, o, are the only forms used since perhaps the sixteenth century. Even books written in the literary language may often be recognised as edited in North Wales or South Wales by using efo, fo, o, or efe, fe, e, in preference. Efe is ef+ ef, the final f being lost in pronunciation long since, and only written for reasons of etymology. Ef-o, I think, contains at the end the same pronominal element of demonstrative meaning as yco, yno, on which see Revue Celtique, vi, p. 57. J.D. Rhys (Gramm., 1592, p. 65) writes efô, yfô, fô. Efo (he) has the accent on the second syllable (D. S. Evans); so the unstressed e was lost (fo), as sef sprang from ys-ef. O was abstracted from efo, since e (ef) existed besides efe (ef-ef). In the Preface to Llyfr Gweddi Gyffredin, 1586 (on which see my Beitr., § 12, 3) efo, fo are said to be North-Welsh. Cf., e.g., Addit. MS. |