A Bit About Days
Some of the following are terms we have
already met involving days and days of the week:
dedh (f) a day
dedhyow days
hanter
dedh midday (half
day)
dohajedh afternoon
trei
threveth en dedh three times in a day
pub
dedh every
day, daily
Dedh da dhe whei. Good day to you. (greeting)
Me
eth dhe’n shoppys De Sadorn. I
went to the shops on Saturday.
De Gwener an Grows Good Friday
Du Nadelik Christmas
Day
What do we make of this? You can see that
the ordinary word for day is dedh[1], sometimes
mutated when incorporated in longer terms. The mutation is unusual:
dohajedh afternoon
an
jedh the day
üdn
jedh one day, a certain day
terry
an jedh daybreak
e’n
jedh hedhyw this
(very) day
The
version used for days of the week is De[2].
De Sül Sunday
De Lün Monday
De Meurth, De Meur’ Tuesday
De Merher Wednesday
De Gwener Friday
De Sadorn Saturday
The word for special days of the year is Du.
Du Nadelik Christmas
Day
Du Halan an Vledhan New
Year’s Day
Du Pask Easter
Day
Du Pencost Pentecost,
Whitsunday
They say there are more saints in Cornwall
than there are in Heaven! Not surprisingly, there have been plenty of saint’s
feast days or holy days. We have extra words for feast days or festivals, e.g.:
gool feast, festival
golyow feasts, festivals
de’gol feast
day, holy day, holiday
de’golyow feast
days, holy days, holidays
De’gol Stefan the Feast of
Stephen (Boxing Day)
De’gol Mihal Michaelmas
Golowan the Feast of St
John the Baptist
Midsummer’s
Day
Golandeys harvest
festival, feast of the ricks
There are festival place names:
Golant
(Golenance 1454) festival
valley
Goldsithney (Golsythny
1410) St Sithni’s feast
Even
the verb to celebrate seems to be
related:
golyas to celebrate
Ma
Golowan en mis Efen. Midsummer’s
Day is in June.
Ma’n
düs en Pensans o colyas Golowan.
The
people in Penzance celebrate Midsummer.
Ma
de’golyow dhe Stefan. Stephen is on holiday/ has holidays.
We have additional words for such things as
the working day, e.g.:
jorna whel (pl. jorneow whel) work day(s), week day(s)
neb
jorna some day
keniver
jorna everyday (alternative to pub dedh)
dhe’n
jorna ma to
this day
an
jorna ma war seythen a week today
Here is a line, using two words for day,
from the Lord’s Prayer:
Ro
dhe nei an jorna ma ’gan bara pub dedh …
Give
us this day our daily
bread …
Here
is a quotation from the Bible, also using two words for day[7]:
Ha
Düw a elwys[8] an golow dedh ha’n tewlder ev a elwys nos, hag y veu gorthüher
ha mettin an kensa jorna.
And God called the light day and the darkness he called night, and it was
evening and morning of the first day.
