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

Mon Sep 10 15:16:49 BST 2012

Ewan,

Gairm ended with a sudden bang with issue no 200, after a half-century.
It did provoke a successor: GATH.  This was initially edited by Donald Meek,
and then by Richard Cox, but now after about nine issues seems to have faded
from the scene, more's the pity.

This thread had also better end with a bang because it is getting too long -
and is off-topic!

An ken Ken

From: spellyans-bounces at kernowek.net [mailto:spellyans-bounces at kernowek.net]
On Behalf Of ewan wilson
Sent: 07 September 2012 21:17
To: Standard Cornish discussion list
Subject: Re: [Spellyans] Fw: Cornish in a Thriller! & Place Name QueryFor
Craig

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 <mailto:ken at ferintosh.org>  

To: 'Standard Cornish discussion list' <mailto:spellyans at kernowek.net>  

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 <mailto:butlerdunnit at ntlworld.com> 

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.

_______________________________________________
Spellyans mailing list
Spellyans at kernowek.net
http://kernowek.net/mailman/listinfo/spellyans_kernowek.net

  _____  

No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.2197 / Virus Database: 2437/5252 - Release Date: 09/06/12

  _____  

_______________________________________________
Spellyans mailing list
Spellyans at kernowek.net
http://kernowek.net/mailman/listinfo/spellyans_kernowek.net

  _____  

No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.2197 / Virus Database: 2437/5253 - Release Date: 09/06/12

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://kernowek.net/pipermail/spellyans_kernowek.net/attachments/20120910/0fd20aef/attachment.htm>