[Spellyans] 'gwlas'

Craig Weatherhill craig at agantavas.org
Tue Apr 10 10:15:55 BST 2012


How was the GWL 'gwlas' pronounced?  And the WL of its lenited form?

The following historic spellings for 'Land's End' are of interest:   
Pen an ulays 1504;  Penwolase c.1540; Pedden an Wolas, Pedn a Wollaz  
c. 1680; Pedn an Woolaes 1754.  (The <ay> of 1504, and <ae> of 1754  
are the Late Cornish long A, like the <ai> of "air").

The 1504 <ulays> suggests to me that -las might have been preceded by  
a very short, or weak, "oo" sound, as in "wool", perhaps as briefly  
spoken as the Y of <yma>.  What do others think?

Craig









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