And now for something completely different!

[Padraic Brown <pbrown@nova.umuc.edu>]

Hi all,

What with all the Conhistory going on, I thought I might nudge myself back
to the language for a bit.  I have discovered a rather popular Kernow
song, concerning St. Perran's pets; and seems to be but one of many many
songs about the patron saint.

[I should point out that verse four recalls an obscure rite, of now
unremembered significance, wherein one catches a badger and nails it to a
certain kind of tree...]

The tunes to these kinds of songs are usually quite simple, and must be
belted out to the raucous accompaniment of pipes and bombards and drums
and the like.  The refrain is generally a nonsense phrase, inserted
between each verse, and the instruments get to play around for a bit
before everyone comes in for the next verse.  Great fun in pubs, wakes,
etc.

1.  Sang Ferrens ngath ys tent, mbel e ndubh le ngath ys tent,
ach hyn aloudina nach hyn mmouscuina ys tent.
[St. Perren had a cat, a lovely black cat,
and a lark and a fly he had.]


R.  n'at sa mech brey Jowcko, 'ci la ngourma math bever!?
[Ain't it grand, Jocko, drinking fine mead here?]

2.  carratacolli doi Perrein Santi ys erant,
la aloudina, la moscuinilla ach il cats.
[They were pet to St. Perren,
the lark the wee little fly and the cat.]

3.  se wen't k'il tenos la mmoscuinilla ncomedu
se wen't k'il cats ys la naloudina ncomedu.
[It happened that the bird ate the wee little fly
it happened that the cat ate the lark.]

4.  se weneit ke il cats amb' li echlui ys mori
'hys rigeu com'yn mbrocks senneu amb' li billeni.
[It happened that the cat upon the alter he died
& he as stiff as a badger stretched upon the holy tree.]

5.  Sang Ferrens ngath ys ncarru, la mmoscuina e'l ndenem,
ys carru ndoth lor ncarratacollinillior!
[St. Perren missed his cat terribly, and the fly and the bird,
he terribly missed his wee little pets!]

6.  Sang Ferrens ngath ncaru, la mmoscuina e'l ndenem,
ys caru ndoth lor carratacollinillior!
[St. Perren loved his cat, and the fly and the bird,
he loved his wee little pets!]

7.  Sang Ferrens rhuasot cantasot ys magement
le ndenem e le ngath la mmoscuina recaper.
[St. Perren prayed and chanted with vim and vigour
to recover his bird his cat and his fly.]

8.  Sang Ferrens orasot dangaroumi magement
le ndenem e le ngath la mmoscuina recaper.
[St. Perren prayed and petitioned with might and main
to recover his bird his cat and his fly.]

9.  il cats ys pong vhivent, bong vivent la moscuina
la aloudinilla sa en ndamben mbong mhivent!
[The cat he came alive, came alive the fly
and the little lark came alive as well.]

10.  Sang Ferrens ach hil cats la moscuina e'l tenos
in nzeva ndomulo ys en hos-di comvhivens!
[St. Perren and his cat, the fly and the bird
together in his house they now live together.]

Verses 5 & 6 give us the interesting pair "carrer" to miss greatly and
"carer" to love; while v. 5 also gives us the incredibly drawn out
"carratacollinillior".  It contains no less than three diminutive suffices
and one genitive pl. marker, which is practically never used in common
nouns.  It's use here is for metrical purposes, and possibly to rhyme with
the sylable car-, both of which receive (musical, not grammatical) stress.

Padraic.