[Spellyans] "become" with nouns

[ajtrim at msn.com]

Yes, I was wondering the same thing: Where did mos ha bos  "go and be" come from?
Logically, it should be dos dhe vos  "come to be" or tevy dhe vos  "grow to be" or dysplégya dhe vos  "develop to be", etc.

Using "was" with "then" is OK as "became" means "was afterwards". Perhaps a veu awosa or a veu ena could be used in the revived language.

In the case of your example,  i.e. "He was a very likeable young man and became our friend." the verb after "and" need not be inflected if the "becoming" was contemporaneous with the "likeability" as the subject is the same. As I understand it, it should be inflected if the "becoming" was some time later.

Assuming the former, I would write:
Den yonk pòr hegar o va hag bos ena agan cothman.

Assuming the later, I would write:
Den yonk pòr hegar o va hag ef a veu awosa agan cothman.


Regards,

Andrew J. Trim



From: nicholas williams 
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 12:42 PM
To: Standard Cornish discussion list 
Subject: [Spellyans] "become" with nouns




A gothmans da,


In revived Cornish we have long been used to the Nancean device of "mos ha bos". I am not sure where this comes from. I can at present find no example in the texts. 
I suggested recently that the preterite of bos might be a better way of rendering "become" with noun predicates. 


This does indeed seem to be the case:


The herodes y thesa pur wyr worth pylat sor bras y welas ef ny gara na boys yn y gowezas zozo Ihesus zy thampnye pylat bys pan danvonas 
yn vrna keskeweza Y A VE ha specyall bras 'Herod was very angry indeed with Pilate; he neither wished to see him or be in his company, until Pilate sent him Jesus to condemn him—then they became intimates, and very greatly so' PA 110.


an second person in dryngys du o ymmortall, EFF A VE den mortall 'the second person in the Trinity of God was immortal, he became a mortal man' TH 15.


At present I am searching the texts to find further examples.


In the revived language we could say:


Den yonk pòr hegar o va hag ev a veu agan cothman 'He was a very likeable young man and became our friend'.


ev a veu is simpler and probably more Cornish than ev êth ha bos.


Nicholas










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