[Spellyans] the glossary B

nicholas williams njawilliams at gmail.com
Thu Jul 28 10:41:59 BST 2011


The glossary has a headword bacqwards. This should be backwards.

Under ‘bald’ the glossary gives mol. This is unattested. The attested words are blogh and pylys:

me a pylse the pen blogh BM 3828
a chorll coth te pedn pylles CW 2318.

The glossary s.v. ‘bath’ writes kibel f. This word is unattested in the texts, being derived from Cornu-English kibble ‘tub’. The glossary also cites badh which occurs twice in BM.  The glossary does not mention keryn f. which occurs six times in BK as geren. Nor does the glossary mention the abstract troncas which appears as tronkys in BK: ow cul tronkys hedre ve ‘while you are taking a bath’ BK 1086.

The glossary s.v. ‘beforehand’ says it is a preposition and glosses it a-dherag. ‘Beforehand’ is an adverb. The Cornish is dherag dorn:

me a leverys thewgh therag dorne in tyrmyn passys TH 16a
hag eff the cowse in generally thethans y oll therag dorn TH 44a
an re a ve therag dorne in della TH 57a
na ve travith derag dorn SA 61a
the changia pith ny ve derag dorn SA 62
ha changya an pith na go derag dorne SA 62a

or in some contexts, kyns lemmyn:
kyns leman me a's guarnyas PC 757 
pertheugh cof ol an tokyn a leuerys kyns lemyn PC 1082
why an Jeva sufficient declaracion anotha, kyns lymmyn in kythsame godly homyles ma TH 30a
kyns lemyn sure a gowzas ages bos why gucky CW 2422.


Under ‘battle’ the glossary gives cas f. only. Batel, batallyow is better attested, the first time in OM: rys yv dy'mmo lafurye the vn vatel yredy OM 2176-77; cas and batel are mentioned together: hag in batal hag in cas BK 1439. The glossary does not mention batel.
‘Battle’ in English is also a verb. This is batalyas in Cornish:
orth escar crist batalyays BM 2474. The glossary does not mention the verb.

In the glossary the word ‘beggar’ is misplaced. There is no headword ‘beg’.

The glossary gives ‘below’ as an adverb. It is also a preposition.

The glossary s.v. ‘better’ gives gwella. This is incorrect. Gwella is superlative. The comparative ‘better’ is gwell, e.g. rag my ny vezaf the well  ‘for I shall not be better’ BM 109

Under ‘booklet’ the glossary gives RMC lyvrik, RLC lyvryn. Lyvrik is unattested having been invented by Nance. Lyvryn appears in Lhuyd’s gerlevran seventeen times. There is no need for the dialectal distinction.

The glossary for ‘Britain’ gives Breten. Breten by itself also means ‘Brittany’; see BM passim. Britain is Breten Veur: 
erbyn Myghtern Bretyn Veor BK 1424 
rag Bretayn Veer the’th arluth mas BK 2124
in Bretayn Ver curunys BK 3136.

Under ‘build’ the glossary gives drehevel, derevel. The commonest words for ‘to build’ in Cornish are gul and byldya. 
Arluth kepar del vynny an gorhel sur my a’n gura ‘Lord as thou wilt indeed the ark, I shall build it’ OM 965-66
yn enour dev my a vyn yn dre-mme gruthyl temple ‘in God’s honour in this town I shall build a temple’ OM 2283-84
Dauid ny wreth thy'mo chy yn certen bys venary ‘David, you shall not indeed ever build me a house’ OM 2333-34
henna yw pur scorn ha geys ragh y fue kyns y vos gurys dew vgens blythen ha whe ‘that is mere scorn and mockery for it was forty six years before it was built’ PC 349051
Ny dale dieu gwile treven war an treath ‘you should not build houses on the sand’ Jenkins.

To use ‘to make’ for building a house is a common Celtic usage; cf. Irish nuair a rinneadh an teach ‘when the house was built’, lit. ‘when the house was made’.

Cyte a ve settys bo byldys war meneth TH 17a
ha buldyys owgh war an fondacion an abosteleth TH 33
an catholyk egglos, a rug crist y honyn byldya TH 35a
ha war an garrak ma me a vyn byldya ow egglos TH 44a
an egglos a ve buldys warnotha TH 45a
eff a rug buldya y egglos TH 45a
ha war an garrak ma me a vyn buldya ow egglos TH 45a
Ha y ma ow buldya y feith TH 48a
Ew the vos buldys in kepar maner TH 41a
bos sufficient grounde rag pub den da oll the byldya TH 55
praga ew genas she omma buyldya lester mar worthy CW 2296-97.
 

The glossary under ‘bush’ gives prysken f., prysk coll. This word is unattested. The MC words for ‘bush’ are bos and bùsh:
an bos nos dywy a wra saw nyns ugy ov lesky ‘that bush yonder is blazing but it is not burning’ OM 1397-9.

Aspyen orth en buschys BM 1023
In hevelep a flam a dan ow tois mes a busche TH 55
po in bushes ha brakes brase CW 1363
yn cossowe hag in bushes CW 1520
me a vyn mos tha gutha in neb bushe kythew thym greyf CW 1543-44
me a weall un lodn pur vras hans in bushe ow plattya CW 1546-47
prag yth osta in delma yn bushes ow crowetha CW 1606-07.

Under ‘buzz’, the glossary gives ‘buzz off ‘and glosses it ke war dha gamm! This is incorrect. Ke war dha gamm means ‘steady on, hold on, not so fast’. ‘Buzz off’ is Gwev ow golok:

Desympis gweyf ow golog! BK 570
Desempys gueyf ow golok BK 993
Desempis guef ow golog BK 3183

or one uses the verb voydya ‘leave, depart’:

bo voyd am syght a pur hond ‘or get out of my sight, you utter cur’ BM 2414
rag henna voyde alema ‘so buzz off’ CW 1276.

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