[Spellyans] Fw: Cornish in a Thriller! & Place Name QueryFor Craig

Fri Sep 7 21:17:21 BST 2012

Hi, Ken!

I'm sure that Wesley would have insisted the presence of the interposed 'h' in the Methodist church name would have been by grace through faith..though the Calvinists might point out if it was down to nearby mine works, it must have been by works, whatever Wesley may have said! 

By the way, Ken MacDonald dropped by recently and told me about the  arrangements for Derick Thomson's funeral. Sounds a bit chaotic. Ken told only a good week or so after his death, and then landed with trying to sort something out. Turns out Derick had a cousin who's also a Kirk minister ( chaplain on the oil rigs) so they both shared in conducting the services. 
I hadn't realised one of Derick's sons had died, the one who sort of repped for Gairm. I mentioned the folding up of Gairm as something quite sad for Gaelic but Ken didn't really take us up on it. I get the impression Derick ran it very much as his personal, one man fiefdom and so it just faded with nobody really groomed to take up the mantle. 
The obituaries for Derick that I've seen were all a bit 'impersonal' and very much on his influence on and involvement with the Gaelic 'renaissance'. As to the character of the man, any personal anecdotes, warm reminiscences, there was a sad lack of them.
His main involvement with Cornish was some disgruntlement he let be known when he thought his work was being mimicked in Cornish verse! 
He had quite an expert grasp of middle Welsh language and literature and I think he contributed to the course in mediaeval/early modern Cornish that was offered as a Paper at Honours level until Donald Howells retired. 
I lamented contraction of options at Glasgow ( all the Brythonic courses are now gone)  to Ken MacDonald but again he didn't seem too interested. With his retirement I think he concentrated his energies more on his Christian ministry in the Kirk.

Ewan.    
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ken MacKinnon 
  To: 'Standard Cornish discussion list' 
  Sent: Friday, September 07, 2012 10:28 AM
  Subject: Re: [Spellyans] Fw: Cornish in a Thriller! & Place Name QueryFor Craig

  A gowetha,

  The Methodist Church at Chy-an-Gweal (St Ives) mysteriously inserts an "h" after the "w".  I wonder whether there is any justification (whether by grace, faith or works) for that intrusive "h"?

  -        An ken Ken

  From: spellyans-bounces at kernowek.net [mailto:spellyans-bounces at kernowek.net] On Behalf Of Craig Weatherhill
  Sent: 06 September 2012 19:04
  To: Standard Cornish discussion list
  Subject: Re: [Spellyans] Fw: Cornish in a Thriller! & Place Name Query For Craig

  Well, there are places with Gweal in their name:  Gwealcarn, Towednack;  Chy an Gweal, St Ives, to name just two, but there's no place called Gweal (as a simplex element), apart from Gweal, Scilly, which is a contraction of *gwydh-yel, "tree-grown" (it's far from being that now, but probably was in antiquity).

  I must admit, I've never heard of the book or its author.

  Craig

  On 6 Gwn 2012, at 18:46, ewan wilson wrote:

  Think this went the wrong way and should have come here!

  Ewan.

  ----- Original Message -----

  From: ewan wilson

  To: spellyans-bounces at kernowek.net

  Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2012 6:43 PM

  Subject: Cornish in a Thriller! & Place Name Query For Craig

  One does come across Cornish in the most peculiar places!

  I have been reading Wheel Fortune, a 'suspense thriller' written by a Karen Campbell and published by Wm. Collins&Sons back in 1973. The title's a play on the word 'Wheal', as it refers to a presumably fictitious Cornish tin mine somewhere on the Penwith Peninsula.

  Anyway, Miss Campbell obviously knew her UC as she has one old Cornish woman welcome back her young friend with the greeting:

  ' Da yu genef agas gweles.'  

  This young woman, having been raised in Cornwall, recalls at a later stage in the story some Cornish she knew:

  'Byth dorn rever dhe'n tavas re hyr.'

  At a crucial point in the action she is lured to the Minack Theatre and she writes:

  ' The direct route from Sr Edzell's to Minack is via St Buryan and Gweal- but I took the roundabout devious way on the unmade roads over the moor.'

  Now, I think St Edzell's is supposed to be either St Ives or Penzance but I cannot work out if there actually is a 'Gweal' around the Penwith Peninsula. If not, i'm baffled why she should mention an actual spot like St Buryan yet ficionalise a 'Gweal'! Craig- any ideas?

  I know next to nothing about this author, save that she penned a few 'suspense' novels in the early 70s and dedicated one to a 'Catherine Campbell McNeill of Kilchoman', presumably a relative and obviously Scottish as the name had hinted.

  I am left fascinated about how she came to know at least a working smattering of UC!!!

  Sorry this is a bit off topic but I thought Craig'd be worth while consulting and you'd all like to know the unlikely reach of Cornish!

  Ewan.

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