[Spellyans] Lhuyd's Cornish

[Jon Mills]

Lhuyd's 'skientek' is from the Vocabularium Cornicum (414) 'skientoc'. It
is found in Middle Cornish as 'skyansek'."Me a greys sur meryasek nag ote
re skyansek gul erbyn the days hath vam"
'Actually, Meriasek, I believe that you're not too wise to act against
your father and mother.'
[Ton 1504: 376-8]Ol an gwella,Jon

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: "Jon Mills"
  To: "Standard Cornish discussion list"
  Subject: Re: [Spellyans] Lhuyd's Cornish
  Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:08:10 +0000

  'Pederyans' is found in John Keigwin's Mount Calvary (149). Note the
  syncope of the -r- in the first syllable. Lhuyd obtained 'prediryanz'
  from Keigwin. 'Lies den' means 'many men'. 'Lies tus' means 'many
  peoples'.Ol an gwellaJon

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "nicholas williams"
    To: "Standard Cornish discussion list"
    Subject: [Spellyans] Lhuyd's Cornish
    Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:00:30 +0100

    Although Edward Lhuyd's description of Cornish is of the greatest
    value,one should always be wary of accepting his own written
    Cornish as authoritative in any sense.He was not a native
    speaker, he spent only a short time in Cornwall and was prone to
    lethis Welsh lead him astray.
    Lhuyd begins the last paragraph of the preface to his Cornish
    grammar in AB as follows:
    Mi a uon en ta boz lîaz tîz (pôrletrys ha pôrskientek en traou
    erel) a akiuzya ha damnya peb prediryanz adro kuitha am'àn an
    koth Davazo-ma.In KS we could write this: My a *wòn yn tâ bos
    lies *tus (pòr letrys ha pòr *skientek in *traow erel) ow acûsya
    ha dampnya pùb prederyans *adro qwitha in màn an *coth davasow-ma'I
    know well that there many people, very learned and wise in other
    things, are condemning and damning every thought of preserving
    these old languages.'
    Note the following errors in Lhuyd's CornishMi a uon for Mi a uor
    [Lhuyd frequently makes the mistaking of inflecting the monoform,
    because the Cornish/Breton syntax was absent from Welsh]lies tus
    for lies huny/den. Lies is always followed by the singular.skientek
    is unknown. The word in the texts is skentyl, skyntyl, though the
    word is in PA only. Otherwise the word fur could have been used..Traow
    for taclow. Lhuyd has invented this plural, probably on the basis
    of Breton traou. It is unknown in Cornish, being replaced by
    taclow, tacklow. It does not belong in the revived language.adro
    kuitha for adro dho kuithaan coth davasow. Because Welsh hen
    'old' precedes its noun and is followed by lenition, Lhuyd writes
    the incorrect coth davazo for tavasow coth.
    Notice also that prediryanz is Lhuyd's own coinage. The word for
    'thought' in Cornish is preder, prederow; cf. oll an prederow
    preveth a vab den 'all mankind's secret thoughts' TH28.
    Lhuyd could perhaps have written:
    Mi a uor en ta bos lîaz den (pôrletrys ha pôrskentil en taklou
    erel) a akiuzya ha damnya peb preder adro dho kuitha am'àn an
    tavazo koth-ma.
    Lhuyd may be useful for phonetic information about Cornish, but
    his Cornish morphology and syntax are not reliable.
    Nicholas
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  _____________________________________
  Dr. Jon Mills,
  School of European Culture and Languages,
  University of Kent


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_____________________________________
Dr. Jon Mills,
School of European Culture and Languages,
University of Kent

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