[Spellyans] Box

[Craig Weatherhill]

Kist was used by Cornish antiquarians to describe a stone box, usually  
about 6 feet by 3, or a bit smaller, with a capstone, usually  
contained within a Bronze Age barrow and containing a cremation burial  
(more rarely an inhumation, such as the example at Rillaton).   
Copeland Borlase and others used the word kistvaen, sometimes  
shortened to kist/cist.  The word was adopted into general British  
archaeological use as "cist" (still a hard C).  I have never heard it  
pronounced without a short vowel (as I in "pin").

Craig


On 9 Hed 2010, at 14:36, nicholas williams wrote:

> Neither do I. I explained myself badly.
> I meant that since in the SWF (with its ambiguous spelling) trist,  
> Krist and kist were similarly spelt, they ought by rights be  
> similarly pronounced.
>
> Kyst in Cornish is from Borlase's kystven, which is probably from  
> Welsh, itself borrowed from Latin.
>
> The ordinary word for 'box' in the texts is box:
>
> y box ryche leun a yly PA 35a
> en box oll bezens gwerthys PA 36b
> ow box mennaf the terry PC 485.
>
> Box in Cornish also means 'box tree' (Buxus) and 'box round the  
> ears, blow'.
>
> Nicholas
>
>
>
> On 2010 Hed 9, at 14:24, Michael Everson wrote:
>
>> Since UC/UCR and RLC all have [kɪst], I don't see a reason to rhyme  
>> kyst and Crist.
>
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--
Craig Weatherhill