[Spellyans] "Tribe"

[Clive Baker]

Craig...isnt the gender of the word in Cornish a masculine because in old
Cornish it used to be a Neuter gender like quite a few other words we are
left with in that way..that is...assuming masculinity by default.
Clive

On Thu, Feb 13, 2020 at 9:25 AM Daniel Prohaska <daniel at ryan-prohaska.com>
wrote:

> Craig,
>
> Thanks for another one of your gems…
>
> On 12.02.2020, at 21:40, Craig Weatherhill <craig at agantavas.org> wrote:
>
> In ‘Desky Kernowek’, Nicholas cites two words to translate “tribe”:
> Nance’s <*lyth*> (< OC <*leid*>), and <*tryb*> (Tregear’s <*trib*>), but
> there is a third noun that we could readily use in revived Cornish.
>
>
> Yes, the OC has ‹leid›, which Ken George and José Calvete have both
> emended to *loid, which would tie into Welsh ‹llwyth› and Old Irish
> ‹lucht›, as well as Gaulish ‹luxtos›. Perhaps assuming this emendation from
> ei to *oi is, though possible, not necessary as we have Middle Breton
> ‹leiz› (Modern Breton ‹leizh›), so a Cornish *leyth is conceivable. The ei
> > *oi theory may be supported by another word in the OC
> ‹luid› “procinctus/furdlingc” meaning “battle-aray”, though this invites
> questioning.
>
> This word is <*cordh*> (commonly reducing to <*cor’*>), pl. <*corthow*>,
> gender unclear.
>
>
> This word is usually given as masculine in the Cornish dictionaries, but
> Welsh ‹cordd› is feminine.
>
> It occurs in two Cornish place-names: Trigg (pagus Tricurius C7;
> Trigorscire c.881), the Hundred or Keverang of North Cornwall; and
> Langorthou 1310, the site of Fowey church.  It also occurs in Brittany as
> Trégor, evidently and like Kernev and Domnonèe,  a cross-channel
> transference.
>
> <*cordh, cor’*> also forms part of OC <*coscor*>, “family, retinue”
> (place-name: Bownds an Coscar, Towednack 1672); and MC <*corlan*>,
> “cemetery” (Welsh: <*corddlan*>).  Translating as “clan, tribe, family,
> army”, <*cordh*> has cognates in Welsh <*cordd*>, Old Breton <*cor*> and
> early Irish <*cuire*>, “host, troop”.
>
> In the name Trigg, this indicates a Hundred or Keverang that could muster
> three war-hosts and interestingly enough, this component of Cornwall’s
> original six Hundreds was later divided into three (Trigg, Lesnewth and
> Stratton).  Indeed <*keverang*> itself has cognates in Welsh (<*cyfrang*>,
> “meeting, encounter, battle”) and Middle Breton (<*cuuranc*> “military
> assembly”).  In Roman Gaul, we also find the Tricorii and the Petrucorii.
>
> It’s also interesting that in these names <*try, tri*> does not cause 3rd
> state mutation, but 2nd state.  Furthermore, where it occurs in the hill
> name Dry Carn (Tricarn 1300), “three (Bronze Age) cairns”, it causes no
> mutation at all in 6 surviving attestations spanning as many centuries.
>
> I see no reason why <*cordh, cor’*>, pl. <*cordhow*> “tribe, clan,
> war-host” cannot be accepted into revived Cornish.
>
> Craig
>
>
> There are more words that have been used for “tribe” is Cornish:
>
> ‹ehen› “sort; variety; kind; class; manner; genus; clan; tribe; species;
> family; kindred; kin; category; genre; strain; type.”
>
> ‹gwely› “bed; layer; stratum; tribe; family; afterbirth; placenta.”
>
> ‹kenedhel› “(*age-group of family*) generation; clan; tribe; kindred;
> kinsfolk; nation; (*kind*) race.”
>
> ‹kiwses› “(*political*) state; nation; people; community; tribe;
> citizens.” (analogous to Welsh ‹ciwdod› < Latin ‹civitate(m)›).
>
> ‹cor(dh)› and ‹leyth› which you already mentioned.
>
> ‹pobel› “people; folk; race; public; populace; nation; tribe; crowd;
> inhabitants.”
>
> ‹trib› “tribe; nation; genus.”
>
> ‹tüs› “men; people; persons; folk; humans; human beings; guys; mortals;
> personages; populace; tribe; family; relatives; nation; wights.”
>
> Dan
>
> _______________________________________________
> Spellyans mailing list
> Spellyans at kernowek.net
> http://kernowek.net/mailman/listinfo/spellyans_kernowek.net
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://kernowek.net/pipermail/spellyans_kernowek.net/attachments/20200213/2b3838e4/attachment.htm>