[Spellyans] Thank you

[Nicholas Williams]

In his 1951 English-Cornish Dictionary Nance gives various renderings for
"Thank you". *Gromercy* is not among them. He cites g*romercy* at the end of
the entry as a rendering for "many thanks". This is not really correct. *
Gromercy* means "thank you" pure and simple.
In none of the handbooks of UC is *gromercy* mentioned as the ordinary way
of saying "thank you". Nance cites the form in his dictionaries, but he and
his followers ignored it in their teaching and speech.

Nicholas

On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 11:23 AM, Nicholas Williams
<njawilliams at gmail.com>wrote:

> I have collected the following ways of saying 'Thank you' in traditional
> Cornish:
>
> *A das a nef gromercy* OM 407
> *gromersy arluth a brys* OM 2313
> *serys gromersy yn weth* OM 2395
> *ha largys ha gromersy *OM 2465
> *Gromersy arloth hep par* OM 2595
> *grant mercy syre iustis* PC 3133
> *grant merci syr iustis* RD 95
> *Gramercy zywy warbarth* BM 258
> *Gromercy meryasek wek* BM 286
> *Gromercy meryasek wek *BM 298
> *Gromercy agen lych da *BM 308
> *Tewdar gyntel, gromercy* BK 641
> *Gramersy theso, dremas!*  BK 823
> *Teuthar gentel, gramersy!* BK 1093
> *Gromersy a’n gwelha tas* BK 1554
> *Gromersy, arluth cortys* BK 1594
> *Gramersy, arluth glorius* BK 1626
> *Gramercy, ow arluth gay *BK 3060
> *Gramersie, gentyll Howen *BK 3214
> * myhall sera thewgh gramercy* CW 599
> *Gad marshe ‘I thanke you’ *Symmonds 1644
> *gura massi* Lhuyd (Vocabulary)
>
> *mear a rase thewhy sera*  CW 702
>  *a das kere mere rase thewhy* CW 1953
> *Merastawhy ‘Many thanks to you’ *Polwhele*
> *[and cf. *ankow y whon theis mur grace* CW 1999]
>
> *Durdala dewhy, syr* ‘Thank you, sir’ Borde
> *Da, durdala tha why *‘Well, I thank you’ Carew
>
> Apart from the eight instances in *Bewnans Ke *Nance was familiar with all
> these. He must have known that *Gromercy* was by far the most common way
> in Cornish at all periods for 'thank you'. *Gromercy* is cited by Lhuyd at
> the beginning of the eighteenth century and by Symmonds from the Civil War
> period; so it is not just a medieval form. Nance taught either *Dùrdala
> dhywgh why* or *Meur ras dhywgh why*.
> Nance seems to have ignored *Gromercy*, presumably because it seemed too
> much like a borrowing.* *We have here yet another of Nance's purisms.
>
> Should* not Gromercy* be the default way of saying 'I thank you' in the
> revived language?
>
> Nicholas
>
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