Re: Rromei-Geldyghei lyngvei (Roman-Celtic langs)

[Andrew Smith <hobbit@MAIL.EARTHLIGHT.CO.NZ>]

On Fri, 17 Apr 1998, Padraic Brown wrote:

> Brithenig and Kernu have Indicative, Subjunctive, Imperative, Conditional
> and Infinitive for moods.  Kernu is a bit more conservative (and a bit
> more Celtic) with its verbal terminations, as you could see above.  Kernu
> retains the -b- future of the 1st conjugation, the -s- perfect from
> several places, the -b- imperfect (though mutated to -v-), a few
> reduplicative verbs and a few -r passives.
>
There is also the past definitive which survives in Brithenig, but I'm not
quite sure if this is a mood or a tense - I'm not certain of the
distinction.

> > Numbers:  I kept the Breton numbers, with a vigesimal system like French,
> > so I guess that'll make it base-20; 18 is "three sixes".
>
18 in Brithenig is 'dewnoe' two nines, probably for the same reason.

> >
> > Breton has "inflecting prepositions".  Do Brithenig and Kemru?  I'm still
> > figuring those out, whether to include it or not; I'm leaning towards the
> > 'not'.
>
Brithenig has only one set of inflecting prepositions, which it inherited
from latin.  Mecum, tecum etc., survive in Brithenig as meg, teg, etc.
Some speakers prefix cun- to the pronoun (cunmeg, cunneg, etc.), same as
in Italian and Spanish, but this has not universal.

One look at the Celtic prepositions was enough, I fled screaming.
Sometimes I hear them at night, scratching inside the walls.

>
> > Last for now:  Any idiomatic dictionaries for Celtic langs that could be
> > of use?
>
The Celtic languages are naturally idiomatic, and charming with it.  I
would love to have something that gave me etymology but I haven't found
one yet.  The University of Otago Library has a multivolume Robert French
Dictionary with etymology for French, which, as far as I'm concerned, must
have been donated by God!

I have a copy of the Collins Spurrell Pocket Welsh Dictionary which does
well in a pinch, but if I want to get serious I have to go hunting.

- andrew.

Andrew Smith                                  <hobbit@earthlight.co.nz>

MAN, despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many
accomplishments; still owes his existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil
and the fact that it rains.
                                                           - Anonymous