Monday 12 January 2015

Learn Late Cornish Bit by Bit 28 (Quantities and Counting 4)

Quantities and counting 4

We have had some words for when things are divided up imprecisely or contain inexact amounts or numbers of things, e.g.:

tabm                                        a bit, a morsel, a piece, a fragment
moy                                         more
pub                                          every
leun a                                      full of
lies                                          many (before a singular noun)

Here are some more:

badna                                    a drop of (usually the liquid equivalent of tabm)
Ro dhebm badna moy!        Give me another drink!

hanter                                    a half
keniver                                   every (an alternative to pub), each
nebes                                     a little, a few
meur a                                    much, a lot of, many a (before a plural noun)
luck                                         enough
moy po le                               more or less

For making exact measurements, of course, you need units of measurement. In Cornish we have a number of non-metric units, e.g.:

troos (m)                                 a foot
meusva (f)  meusvaow (pl)    an inch
lath (f)                                      a yard
mildir (m)                                a mile

We can put these together in various combinations, e.g.:

nebes meusvaow                  a few inches
hanter lath                             half a yard
keniver mildir                        every mile, each mile

We can put them into sentences, e.g.:

Ma meur a whel dhe  wül.    There is a lot of work to do.
Thera hanter lath a las.        There was half a yard of lace.
Drog ew keniver mildir.        Every mile is bad.
Nag eus mona luck.             There is not enough money.
Eus nebes meusvaow a spas?    
                                               Are there a few inches of space?

Hanter can also be used with other nouns, e.g.:

hanter òja eth                        half past eight
hanter dedh                           midday (half day)
hanter nos                             midnight (half night)
hanter mis                             a fortnight (half a month)
hanter loor                            half moon



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