Tabm a Gernow 23 (litter)

Pandr’ew hebma e’n cres an pow? Rag fra ma bottel en ke? 

Hebma a veu gerys brihy en Pow Isel bes towlys dhe ves en Kernow.

Personal Descriptions 20 (anniversaries)

In Cornish we can use the same word <pedn bloodh> for birthday and anniversary. It means ‘the end of a year’, either a year of life or a year of marriage, etc.

Òja pemp bledhen warn ügens, en Emperoureth Roman Sans, gwer a ros dh’aga gwragedh garlons arhans.	After 25 years, in the Holy Roman Empire, husbands gave their wives silver wreaths.
Ha òja hanter cans bledhen, anjei a ros dhodhans garlons owr.	And after 50 years, they gave them gold wreaths.
Ma whath dhe nei demedhyans arhans ha demedhyans owr.	We still have a silver wedding and a golden wedding.
Companis kenwerthek a dhevisyas pednow bloodh erel.	Commercial companies devised other anniversaries.
pempes: predn	5th: wood
degves: sten	10th: tin
pemdhegves: gwris	15th crystal
ügensves: cheny	20th: china
degves warn ügens: perl	30th: pearl
dewgensves: rûby	40th: ruby
degves ha trei ügens: platinum	70th: platinum

En termyn eus passyes, predn rag an pempes pedn bloodh a veu trehys war dhedh solempnyans. Nena an ro a veu gwres kens an nessa trededh.

In the past, wood for the fifth anniversary was cut on the day of celebration. Then the present was made before the next quarter day.

Adamant o rag an pemdhegves pedn bloodh ha trei ügens, terebo Metêrnes Victoria a gevewyas hy threi ügens bledhen war an tron avel hy ‘Diamond Jubilee’. Nena, an trei ügensves pedn bloodh a dheuth bos adamant.      

Diamond was for the 75^th anniversary, until Queen Victoria celebrated her 60 years on the throne as her Diamond Jubilee. Then the 60^th anniversary became diamond.

Personal Descriptions 19 (Christiana)

Dinethyans Christiana Tredennick a veu en mil eth cans pajar warn ügens.

Hanow hy gour o Tùbmas Jacka (hedn ew ‘James’ en Sowsnek).

Thera an teylû o trigys en Ros, e’n plüw Lannberan.

En mil eth cans pajar ügens ha üdnek  tho Christiana benyn wedhow.

Thera hei o trigys en Towan Plustry, gen an cottha mab hei (marner omdednys).

Hei a verwas terdhegves mis Dû, etek cans pajar ügens ha whetek, en Ros.

Trei ügens bloodh o hei ha terdhek.

“Òja strifow skith an bownans, powes wheg an Nev.”

Alfred, mab Christiana ha Tùbmas, a veu genys en mil eth cans trei ügens ha pemp.

Bloodh Christiana o dewgens hag onan e’n vledhen na.

Tho Alfred hy flogh diwettha.  Ser predn bal o y soodh, en Butte , Montana.

Butte vedha henwys  ‘menedh an moyha rych war an Norves’, bes

pur dhiantel o an ober balweyth.

Alfred a verwas ena en mil eth cans pajar ügens hag üdnek.

Nag o va bes whegh bloodh warn ügens.

Encledhys ew ev en Butte, bes ma men co’ en encladhva eglos Lannberan ewedh.

Tabm a Gernow 22 (litter)

Ma strollyer o tebry boos üskis ha eva cider po cor. Nena ma va o towla dhe ves y fardel po canna mes a veister y garr tan. Ma pedn bobba aral o crejy ev dhe voas limner.

Terweythyow ma strollyer o towla dhe ves y garr ewedh. Po martesen, e'n cas ma, thew an carr ledrys ha gerys.

Personal Descriptions 18 (days of the week)

We have looked at dates involving months and years. Now let’s have a look at days of the week.

de Lün (SWFM dy Lun)	Monday
de Meur’ (SWFM dy Meurth)	Tuesday
de Merher (SWFM dy Merher)	Wednesday
de Yow[1] (SWFM dy Yow)	Thursday
de Gwener (SWFM dy Gwener)	Friday
de Sadorn (SWFM dy Sadorn)	Saturday
de Sül (SWFM dy Sul)	Sunday

Pana dhedh ew hedhyw?	What day is it today?
De Meur’ ew.	It’s Tuesday.
Pana vis ew lebmen?	What month is it now?
Mis Ebrel ew.	It’s April.
Thew de Meur’, an ethves mis Ebrel.	It’s Tuesday, the 8th of April.
De Meur’, mis Ebrel, ethves dedh, diwvil ha peswardhek.	Tuesday, 8th April 2014

Notice that there are subtle differences how you use days of the week in sentences. Sometimes, no preposition is needed in Cornish where you use one in English:

An flogh a veu genys de Yow.	The child was born on Thursday.
Anjei a vedh maryes de Gwener.	They will be married on Friday.
Y wreg a verwas de Merher.	His wife died on Wednesday.
Me a veu genys dhe Lün.	I was born on a Monday.
Me a veu demedhys dhe Sadorn.	I was married on a Saturday.
Nei a vet war an Sül e’n eglos.	We meet on Sundays in church.
Anjei eth dhe Resrudh war an Yow.	They went to Redruth on Thursdays.
Ma descans dhe nei pub de Meur’.	We have a lesson every Tuesday.

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[1]  Market Jew Street in Penzance gets its name because it leads out to where a Thursday market  was held : “Marghas Yow”. There was also a market further east, a little market "Marghas Vyghan", which became Marazion.

Personal Descriptions 17 (birth marriage and death)

Now that we know how to express dates we need to know what life events are important enough to have dates: hatches <genesigethow>, matches <demedhyansow> and despatches <encledhyansow>!

genesigeth (SWFM genesygeth)	birth
genys	born
a veu genys	was born
bejidh[1] (SWFM besidh)	baptism
bejidhyes (SWFM besidhyes)	baptised, christened
cristonyes	christened
demedhyans	marriage, wedding
maryach	marriage
demedhys	married
a veu demedhys	was married
maryes	married
torva demedhyans (f)	divorce
didhemedhyans	divorce
didhemedhys	divorced
a veu didhemedhys	was divorced
gwedhow	widowed
mernans	death
marow	dead
a dhecessyas	died, deceased
a verwas	died, passed away
encledhyans[2] (SWFM ynkleudhyans)	burial
encledhys	buried
a veu encledhys	was buried

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[1]  You can also use the English borrowing <baptysm>

[2]  RG has ancledhiaz

Personal Descriptions 16 (numbers for years)

In PD 15 we looked at the smaller numbers needed for days in the month. Now we need large numbers for years.

cans (SWFM kans)	100
nownjek cans	1900
mil (f)	a thousand
diw mil	two thousand
mil ha naw cans	another way of saying 1900

Here is one example of a way to deal with dates. Inscription on a silver hurling ball given to William Gwavas in 1705 (original by Thomas Boson baptised 1635, died 1719) – here given in SWFLt spelling:

An pel arhans ma a veu res	This silver ball was given
gen meur hurlejy, crev ha broas,	by many hurlers, strong and big,
dhe Wella Gwavas, an den jentil	to William Gwavas, the gentleman
an kensa jorna a Mis Hedra an kentel	the first day of October the occasion
en plüw Paul en Kernow teg,	in the parish of Paul in beautiful Cornwall,
en bloodh Crist an Arlòdh wheg	in the year of Christ our sweet lord
mil seyth cans ha hanter deg.	1 thousand 7 hundred and half of 10

Other examples using the same pattern:

Me a veu genys en mil naw cans dowgens ha pemp.	I was born in 1945.
Bejidh Tubmas Boson a veu en mil whegh cans ha pemdhek warn ügens.	Thomas Boson’s baptism was in 1635.
Bewnans Meriasek a veu scrifys en mil pemp cans ha pajar	The Life of Meriasek was written in 1504.
An chei coth a veu derevys en mil eth cans.	The old house was built in 1800.
An vledhen ma ew diw mil[1] ha peswardhek.	This year is 2014.

         

You can, of course, also do what we do in English:

Wella Bodinar a screfas lether en seytek cans trei ügens ha whetek.	William Bodinar wrote a letter in 1776.
Jowan Keigwin a verwas en seytek cans ha deg.	John Keigwin died in 1710.

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[1] Although <mil> is feminine it resists mutation after <diw>