Learn Late Cornish Bit by Bit 54 (More on adding bits to words)

More on adding bits to words

We saw how some adjectives can be turned into verbs by adding an ending such as –he, e.g. converting glan clean to glanhe to clean. A similar thing can be done to some nouns (with slight adjustment of the final consonant) , e.g.:

golgh (m)                                          a wash

becomes

golhy                                                 to wash

This usually takes an object, e.g.

golhy an lestry                                to wash the dishes (vessels), to wash up

But if the object is yourself the verb can be made “reflexive”[1] by adding the prefix om-[2], e.g.:

omwolhy                                           to wash oneself, to bathe

These can be incorporated into several other terms:

golghva[3] gerry (f)                          carwash

scübel wolhy (f)                               mop

jynn golhy                                        washing machine

stevel omwolhy                               bathroom, washroom

Here are several other groups of words related in similar ways:

towl                                                    a throw (also a plan)

towlel                                                 to throw

omdowlel                                          to wrestle

omdowl                                             wrestling (sport)

set                                                      a seat

settya                                                 to set, place

omsettya                                           to attack

settyans                                            setting (location)

oversettya                                        to upset

don                                                    to carry

omdhon                                            to behave oneself [4]

plek                                                    a fold

plegya                                               to fold, to bend

omblegya                                         to bow, to bend oneself

gwisk                                                 a dress, a covering, a husk

gwisca[5]                                           to clothe, to dress

omwisca                                           to clothe oneself, to get dressed

pell                                                     distant, far

pellhe                                                 to distance

ombellhe                                           to withdraw, to distance oneself

lowen                                                 happy

lowenhe                                            to make happy

omlowenhe                                      to enjoy oneself

ober                                                   work

obery                                                 to work, to operate

omobery                                           to exercise

clowans                                            a feeling

clowes                                               to feel, to hear, to sense

omglowes                                         to be aware, to feel

cussul                                               advice, council

cussulya                                           to advise, to counsel

omgussulya                                     to discuss

tedna                                                 to pull, to draw

omdedna                                          to retire, to log out, to shrink

chersya                                             to cherish, to pet

omjersya                                           to make oneself comfortable

Let’s combine some of these verbs with things you have learnt in previous lessons:

Ev a vedn omdowlel gen Tas Broas.                 

                                                        He wants to wrestle with Big Daddy.

Nei a wrüg golhy an lestry.          We did wash the dishes.

                                                        We washed the dishes

Hei a omwiscas e’n mettin.          

                                          She dressed herself (got dressed) in the morning.

Me a wrüg omjersya war bluvek.                        

                                                    I made myself comfortable on a cushion.

Anjei a venja omdedna nessa bledhen.           

                                                   They would like to retire next year.

Notice that with vedn and venja there is no need to put dhe to in front of the main verb, even though we use to in English.

---

[1]  There is another common way of dealing with reflexive verbs, which we will deal with later. A number of these examples are neologisms which have never been found in the original literature.

[2] The om- prefix is pronounced schwa (In Late Cornish it appeared in a variety of spellings)

[3] the –va ending indicated some sort of place

[4] can also mean to conceive, to be pregnant, to bear children,  – which could be rather contradictory!! Rowe had this as humthan

[5]  RG has gwesga with a softer soundWe saw how some adjectives can be turned into verbs by adding an ending such as –he, e.g. converting glan clean to glanhe to clean. A similar thing can be done to some nouns (with slight adjustment of the final consonant) , e.g.: