[Spellyans] "Tribe"

[Craig Weatherhill]

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.

This word is <cordh> (commonly reducing to <cor’>), pl. <corthow>, gender unclear.

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
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