Degol Stul (Epiphany) reading

Today I read one of the nine lessons in a Cornish language service at Bridge near Portreath. The translation of Matthew II used was initially by Wella (William) Rowe.

Wella Rowe (1668-1709) was from Bojewyan near Pendeen, St Just in Penwith. Nowadays this is near Geevor Mine (which, of course, did not exist in his day). In 1830, one of his descendants included his biblical translations in the “Rowe Family Manuscript”. This was last seen in Boston, MA, in the 1920s but has since disappeared without trace. Rowe’s work is important because it gives us some idea of how Cornish was pronounced in west Cornwall in his lifetime.

Here is the account of the visit of the Wise Men in SWFLt:

1.     Lebmyn, pa veu Jesus genys en Bethalem a Judea en dedhyow Erod an Mytern, e wrüg doas tüs für adhor an Est dhe Jerusalem.

2.     Leverel, Pele ma E, ew genys Mytern an Edhewon? Rag ma gwelys gene’nei Y steren e’n Est, ha tho nei devedhys dhe wordhya dhodho.

3.     Pa wrüg Erod an Mytern clowes hebma, e veu troblys, hag oll Jerusalem gens ev.

4.     Ha potho contlys warbarth ganjo oll an cogasers ühel ha’n screfars an bobel, ev a vednas dhor anjei pele via an Crîst genys.

5.     Ha anjei a laveras dhodho, En Bethalem a Judea, rag andelma thewa screfys gen an profet.

6.     “Ha che, Bethalem, en Pow Judea, nag os an bihatna e’mesk pednjivigyon (Myternyow) Juda,  rag mes a che e wra doas rowler  a vedh bügel o fobel Ezarel.”

7.    Nena, Erod, pa wrüg e privedh creia an düs für adenewen,  ev a vednas dhor anjei sür pana dermyn a wrüg an steren disqwedhes.

8.   Ha ev a’s dhavanas dhe Vethalem,  ha leverel dhodhans,  Grewgh whilas sür an flogh yonk,  ha pa wrew’whei y gavos,  drewgh ger dhebm arta,  mala vy moas ha gordhya dhodho e’wedh.

9.   Ha potho clowys gonjans an Mytern, ei eth ker’, ha mero, an steren a wrüg anjei gweles e’n Est  ’geth deragtans, na wrüg hei doas ha sevel  dres an le a era an Flogh yonk.

10. Pa wrüg anjei gweles an steren, tho anjei lowen gen meur a lowender.

11. Ha potho anjei devedhys e’n chei ei a welas an Flogh yonk gen Maria y dhama, ha anjei a godhas dhe’n dor ha gordhya dhodho. Ha pa wrüg anjei egery aga throsor,  ei a ros dhodho owr ha frankencens hag er.

12. Ha anjei a veu gwarnys gen Düw  ha anjei o còsca na wressa anjei doas ogas dhe Erod,  ha anjei eth ker’ dhe bow ga honen vor’ aral.

13. Ha pa tho anjei gellys ker’, merowgh, el nev a dhisqwedhas ha Joseph a veu hendrys andella, Sa’man, ha kebar an Flogh yonk ha y dhama, ha ke dhe Ejyp, ha bedhes ena tereba me dhe drei dhis ger; rag Erod vedn whilas an Flogh yonk rag e ladha.

14. Pa wrüg e saval, ev a gemeras an Flogh yonk ha’y dhama  e’n termyn an nos, ha moas dhe Ejyp.

15. Ha E veu ena tereba mernas Erod, malja boas composys a veu cowsys gans an Arludh nev der an profet o laul, “Mes a Ejyp me a vedn creia o Mab.”

16. Nena Erod, pa wrüg ev gweles fatel o gis gwres anodho gen an düs für, ev a veu engrys ha danen mes, ha ladha oll an flehes a era en Bethlem hag oll adro dew vloodh coth ha en dadn, adhor an termyn a wrüg ev govyn orth an düs für.

17. Nena e veu composys a veu cowsys gen Jeremy an profet, o laul,

18. “En Rama a veu clowes lev, olva, oulya ha garma: Rahel ola rag hy flehes; ha na venja hei boas confortys, rag nag ens.”

19. Pa tho Erod marow, el nev a dheuth dhe Joseph en còsca en Ejyp,

20. Laul, “Sa’man,  ha kebmer an Flogh yonk ha’y dhama, ha ke dhe Bow an Edhewon, rag ma marow an re na, era o whilas bownans an Flogh yonk.

Greetings card

                   Lowena dhewgh - Greetings

Learn Late Cornish Bit by Bit 3 (Prepositions 1)

 Prepositions 1

These are used before nouns, in association with the "locative" form of bos, the verb “be, being”, to indicate position (location). Some of them are short words.

i)   The examples in the previous posts use en[1] in.

Examples without a definite article:

en tan                                      in a fire

en gwely                                 in a bed

en padel                                  in a pan

en tesen                                  in a cake

Before the definite article or a few other words (mainly possessive adjectives) beginning with a vowel you may find the final n is hardened to t. (You never say en an.) So, alternatives for “in the apple”, etc. could be

et an aval                                in the apple

et an wedhen                         in the tree

(though it is more usual to use <e’n> for “in the”)

but:

en üdn wedhen[2]               in a certain tree, in one tree

Other short prepositions include:

ii)   war  on[3] (this causes a soft mutation of some immediate following nouns, whether male or female, singular or plural), e.g.

daras (m)                             a door

war dharas                          on a door, as a door

but:

war an daras                       on the door

gladn (f)                               a bank (of river, etc.)

war ladn                               on a bank

war an ladn                          on the bank

See Table C later for more examples.

In numbers, the definite article is abbreviated after war, so

warn[4]                                   on the, e.g.  

deg warn ügens[5]                thirty (literally ten on the twenty)

dew warn ügens                    twenty two (literally two on the twenty)

iii)         reb[6] by, beside (does not itself cause mutation), e.g.

reb gwedhen                        by a tree

reb an wedhen                     by the tree (mutation is caused by an not by reb)

reb daras                              by a door

reb an daras                         by the door

reb an mor                            beside the sea

reb tan                                   beside a fire

iv)   dhe[7]  to, at, for (another preposition that causes soft mutation), e.g.

dhe dharas                             to a door

dhe veister                             to a window

dhe düs[8]                              to people

In some contexts dhe is also used in front of verbs (but not necessarily where we would use to in English), and these similarly soften[9], e.g.

bos                                be

dhe vos                         to be

debry[10]                      eat

dhe dhebry                   to eat

don                               carry

dhe dhon                      to carry

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[1] In Middle Cornish the spelling is <yn>. KS uses in.

[2] People might, of course, have said “et üdn” but there are no attested examples in the old texts.

[3] Gendall says war can also mean  upon, about, at, against, by, by way of, as a, for use as

[4] This abbreviation is only used in numbers

[5] pronounced approx. [dayg war’n igg’nz]  with the stress on the [igg]. According to Gendall, the vowel in deg or den  is a pure vowel like French é as in été.

[6] Middle Cornish spelling is <ryb>

[7] This is also variously spelt as dha, dho, da, do

[8] pronounced [deez]: Gendall spells this dîz

[9] If you want to look up the meaning of a word following dhe undo the mutation first

[10] Middle Cornish equivalent <dybry> mutates to <dhybry>

Learn Late Cornish Bit by Bit 2 (Table A nouns after definite article)

Table A

masculine noun	m. noun after an	feminine noun	f. noun after an
bord (a table)	an bord (the table)	beister (a window) pronounced [bezzder]	an veister (the window) pronounced [vezzder]
den (a man) pronounced with long [e:] somewhere between [den] and [dane]	an den (the man)	benyn (a woman)	an venyn (the woman)
daras (a door) pronounced [dorraz]	an daras (the door)	davas (a sheep)	an dhavas (the sheep)
glaw (rain) pronounced to rhyme with “cow”	an glaw (the rain)	gladn  (a river bank)	an ladn (the river bank)
gwely (a bed)	an gwely (the bed)	gwedhen (a tree)	an wedhen, a wedhen (the tree)
cota (a coat)	an cota (the coat)	cath[1] (a cat) pronounced approx.  [kayth]	an gath (the cat) pronounced [gayth]
keus (cheese) pronounced [kayz]	an keus (the cheese)	kegin (a kitchen)	an gegin (the kitchen)
mab (a son) pronounced [mayb]	an mab (the son)	mergh[2]  (a daughter)	an vergh (the daughter)
pott (a pot)	an pott (the pot)	padel (a pan)	an badel (the pan)
tan (a fire) pronounced [tayn]	an tan (the fire)	tesen (a cake)	an desen (the cake)
masculine plurals relating to people	m. plural people after an	feminine plurals	f. plurals after an
tüs (men, people)	an düs (the men, the people)	benenes (women)	an benenes (the women)
mebyon (sons)	an vebyon (the sons)	merhes (daughters)	an merhes (the daughters)

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[1] Traditional spelling begins this word with the letter c,  others use k, but the mutation is identical. Traditionally c was used before a, e and i, while k was used before o and u. In SWFM only k is used.

[2] Traditional Late Cornish spelling ends in h instead of gh.