[Spellyans] Thank you

[Eddie Climo]

On 2011 Gor 21, at 11:23, Nicholas Williams wrote:
> I have collected the following ways of saying 'Thank you' in traditional Cornish:
> 
> A das a nef gromercy OM 407
> …
> mear a rase thewhy sera  CW 702
> …
> Durdala dewhy, syr ‘Thank you, sir’ Borde
> …
> Nance seems to have ignored Gromercy, presumably because it seemed too much like a borrowing.

Your observation is incorrect. Nance (1938) contains the following entries:
p.44	durdala dywhy
p.69	grās…
		merastawhy, merastadu…
		mur ras dhywhy. much thanks to you
p.70	gromercy…thank you, great thanks, gramercy…

In a similar way, Nance (1955, p.174) has all of these, and more, under the headword 'thank', as does Nance (1952) under 'dur', 'grās' and 'gromercy'. I see no ignoral there by Nance.

> We have here yet another of Nance's purisms.
Clearly not; the beam is in your own eye, Nicholas, not in Nance's.

> Should not Gromercy be the default way of saying 'I thank you' in the revived language?
No, we should rejoice in the fact that Cornish has multiple ways of giving thanks, not forgetting:
aswon grās, gothvos grās, grassa. We should further rejoice in the fact that, as H.W.Fowler (authorof Oxford Dictionary and Modern English Usage) observed, language is a democratic affair, and Kernewegoryon will make up their own minds about how to thank people, without needing any supposed 'default'.

Eddie Climo

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