Friday, 8 January 2016

Tabm Rag an Jedh: A Bit For the Day

Tabm Rag an Jedh 1 A Bit for the Day 1

An wheffes dedh a vis Genver (6th January) ew Degol Stûl (the Feast of Epiphany).

dedh is the ordinary Late Cornish word for day (Middle Cornish dydh) , which mutates after the definite article to an jedh (Middle Cornish an jydh).  

Degol (Middle Cornish Dygol)” is the Cornish word used for special days, feast days, festivals, holy days and, by extrapolation, holidays/vacations.

In English such days may end in –mas, e.g.
Degol Maria an Golow       Candlemas, 2 mis Whevrel
Degol  deis                          Lammas (“loaf mass” or “feast of ricks”), 1 mis Est
Degol Mihal                         Michaelmas, 29 mis Gwedngala
Apart from Degol Stûl we have:
degol kebmyn                     bank holiday (common holiday)
Degol Maria Mis Meurth     Feast of the Annunciation, 25 mis Meurth
Degol Maria en Hanter-Est Feast of the Assumption, 15 mis Est
Degol a’n Ollsans               All Hallows, 1 mis Dû
Degol Maria kens Nadelik  Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 
                                                                                                 8 mis Kevardhû
Degol Stefan                       St Stephen’s day, 26 mis Kevardhû (Boxing Day)

The second (shortened) element in “degolisgool”, meaning celebration, feast or festival. It may be used on its own, e.g.

gool lowen                           happy birthday, etc.
gool cans bloodh               centenary
gool deys, goldeys             harvest festival (dialect guldize)
gool Mihal                  Michaelmas                          
                                   
De” is the word used at the beginning of days of the week (Middle Cornish dy)   . This is not an abbreviation, so does not need an apostrophe.

On its own de means “yesterday”. Hedhyw means “today”.

de Sül                                    Sunday
de Lün                                   Monday
de Meurth                             Tuesday
de Merher                             Wednesday
de Yow                                  Thursday
de Gwener                            Friday
de Sadorn                             Saturday

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