Re: Humorous Brithenig translation project.

[Andrew Smith <hobbit@mail.earthlight.co.nz>]

On Tue, 13 Oct 1998, Padraic Brown wrote:

> 
> I've intentionally left some place names in English (Kepstow and Kepstow
> Bridge being two of them) until a decent British form comes along.  I
> don't have many sources for older names, and what I have is somewhat
> spotty.  My best is The Domesday Book, which very nicely covers England,
> and especially in Cornwall and Devon gives older names, but is somewhat
> blank when it comes to Wales. 
>
That would explain it then.  I think a history book I'm going through at
the moment referred to "Chepstow Bridge or Strigoil".  I'm not sure if
"Strigoil" was meant to be the previous name of the settlement.  I haven't
seen it anywhere else. 
> 
> OK, but i didn't see it in the Rules anywhere.
>
Mmm, let me check...you're right!  I better correct that! 
> 
> Comodd is definately nonstandard, being influenced from farther south and
> east.
>
Ah, that would explain it!
> 
> ill grew is Paesan in nature and is derived ultimately from Greek through
> Latin gry, meaning scraps and crumbs.  In Paesan, like in Br. y falls in
> with i usually; but in a few instances it falls in with u.  In Paesan
> spelling, a final -u sound gets written -ew.  The meaning has shifted
> somewhat from leftover crumbs to the actual grub itself.  Gry doesn't
> survive in Kernu, where grew means ponderous.  There, grub is il porccubs; 
> where "porccubs" originally meant "for the pigs", and is a dative plural
> (porcciv, being the correct form) that has become a new noun in its own
> right. 
>
I can't find gry in my pocket latin dictionary so I might have to go look
a little further in a bigger dictionary.  Although as the rhyme would be
lost in Brithenig it might be just as convenient to settle on manug (f)
for grub as I was originally intending.

- andrew.

Andrew Smith, Intheologus 			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 top soil
and the fact that it rains - Anon.