Personal Descriptions 6 (boas descriptive and body type)

Personal Descriptions 6

   The verb boas to be is one of the cornerstones in learning Cornish. For descriptions we have been using the “descriptive” form, what some people call the “short form”. It is one of the main ways in which RLC (Revived Late Cornish) differs from RMC (Revived Middle Cornish). Over the course of several hundred years the language evolved. Which version should one choose? There is no right or wrong. Those of us who speak Late Cornish like to think we are carrying on from where the last native speakers (in the west of Cornwall), such as William Bodinar, left off. Or perhaps we are just speaking what was, in effect, the western dialect. Those who speak Middle Cornish like to think they are using Cornish from its literary peak. It is a good idea to at least recognise both.

	RLC (SWFLt)	after the description:	RMC “short form”
I am You/Thou are He is She is We are You are They are	Tho vy Tho che Thew ev Thew hei Tho nei Tho whei Tho anjei or Thens	o vy o che or os ta ew ev or ewa ew hei o nei o whei o anjei or ens	Yth ov vy or My yw Yth os ta or Ty yw Yth yw ev or Ev yw Yth yw hi or Hi yw Yth on ni or Ni yw Yth owgh hwi or Hwi yw Yth yns i or I yw

Here are some more adjectives you can use when describing people (you may well see alternative spellings!). There are some over-lapping meanings:

pretty, lovely teg, hegar clever   codnyk, skentel fast üskis   fat, plump tew, berrik             funny   wharthüs             giant    cowrek             happy  lôwen              hard-working   diwysyk, harpin healthy yagh  heavy   poos               large broas              muscular keherek             strong crev                        tall hir                         rough   garow, asper            royal    rial             proud   gothüs

ugly hager stupid (tal)sogh, gocky slow syger, lent thin, skinny tanow, kednek gloomy trûedhek, trist dwarf   corek sad truedhek, trûan, trist lazy diek sickly anyagh light scàv small    bian bony ascornek weak gwàdn short berr smooth smodh common kebmyn lowly, humble huvel, evel, isel/esel

Personal Descriptions Examples

   The Bible has some good examples of personal descriptions, mostly hairy ones, e.g.:

Jenesys 27:11

… “den blewek ew ow broder Esaw saw me, den smodh o vy.”

… “my brother Esau is a hairy man but I am a smooth man.”

Can Salamon 5:11

Y bedn[1] ew an owr moyha fin; crüllys ew y vlew[2], mar dhû[3] avel bran[4].

His head is (as) the most fine gold, his hair is curled, as black as a raven.

1 Corynthyans 11:14-15

… Mars ew hir blew an den, meth ewa dhodho. Mars ew hir blew an venyn, hy glory ewa.

… If the man’s hair is long, it is a shame to him. If the woman’s hair is long, it is her glory.

Levitycus 19:27

Na wrewgh whei rowndya blew agas pednow[5]; na wreth tacla amal dha varv.

You shall not round the hair of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the border of thy beard.

Levitycus 14:9

… ev a wra trehy oll y vlew dhort y bedn; ev a wra omdhyvarva[6] ha trehydhe ves y abranjow[7], oll y vlew. …

… he shall cut all his hair off his head; he shall shave off his beard and cut away his eyebrows, all his hair: …

Jujys 16:17

… mar pedh ow fedn[8] pylys, ena ow nerth a wra ow forsakya …

… if my head be shaven, then my strength will forsake me …

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[1]  this shows how pedn head “mutates” to bedn after y his

[2]  this shows how blew hair mutates to vlew after y his

[3]  dû black mutates to dhû after mar as/so

[4]  bran is a fairly general word for any big black bird of the crow family; you could use bran vroas for raven (broas > vroas big)

[5]  pednow heads is the plural of pedn; it has a typical –ow plural ending

[6]  here barv beard is incorporated into a longer word

[7] abranjow eyebrows is the Late Cornish plural of abrans;  another  –ow plural ending

[8]  this shows how pedn head “mutates” to fedn after ow my