Learn Late Cornish Bit by Bit 72 (A Bit About Animals)

A Bit About Animals

There are several words used for animals in general[1]:

best (bestes)                     animal(s), beast(s)

mil (miles)                         animal(s), creature(s)

eneval (enevales)             animal(s)

goodh, gwels                    wild, “of the field”

bestes gwels                     wild animals

godhvil [2] (godhviles)      wild animal(s)

dov                                     tame

milgy                                  “animal dog” i.e. hunting dog, hound

chattel                                cattle

edhen (ydhyn, edhnow)   bird(s)

Here is a quotation[3] from the Bible:

Mes a’n dor etho an Arludh Düw a formyas pub best gwels ha pub edhen a’n ayr … An den a ros henwyn dhe oll chattel ha dhe’n edhnow an air ha dhe’n bestes gwels …

So, out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air … The man gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field …

By adding the –va ending we have a place where animals are kept:

milva (f)                                zoo

Ma de’gol dhebm. Me a vedn moas dhe’n vilva rag mires ort an bestes gwels. (or Me a vedn moas dhe’n vilva dhe vires ort an bestes gwels.)

I have a holiday. I will go to the zoo to look at the wild animals.

Other places where you might find animals include:

bargen tir                             farm

gwel, park, garth                 field, enclosure

kew                                       paddock, hollow

crow mogh                          pig sty

bowjy[4]                               cowshed

marghty, stabel                   stable 

keunva, keunjy                   kennel

Here are a few related place names:

Menagissey (Milgysy 1330)   hunting dog house

Tregye (Tregy 1327)              dog(-breeding) farm

Gew (Kew 1456)                     paddock. enclosure, hollow

Porthcew (Porthcue Cove 1813)   enclosure/paddock cove

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[1]  note that they are old borrowings (similarities to Latin) and have plurals ending in –s rather than in the more Cornish –ow.

[2] notice that, although we normally put the adjective after the noun, when the adjective forms a compound with the noun it can come first – this also occurs in place names

[3]  Jenesys 2, 19 ha 20

[4]  Middle Cornish chi for house developed into Late Cornish chei when stressed and on its own, but as an unstressed ending appears as –ty/ti or –jy/ji  (or even –sy/si)