Re: Submitted for your approval...

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

On Wed, 13 Jan 1999, Padraic Brown wrote:

> Hi all,
>
And Hello back at you.  Happy New Year to anyone I haven't caught up with.

Must be time to start looking at the indefinite plural problem again.  And
if anyone has any suggestions for spelling Feli[j] New An or resolving the
final affricate problem - let me know!

Can anyone tell me what the subscription address for Celticonlang is?  I
have not attempted to return to that list since returning to my home
address.  Over Christmas I have been receiving email from a Celtic
Conlanger and I would like to suggest that list to him.

BTW Padraic I am not receiving mail from smiff@es.co.nz at the moment.  It
is my mother's address that I was using temporarily while I was away from
this address which belongs to my mother.  While she understands that I am
a conlanger, she has no interest in the field herself.

> Eo ai yn afan noig subr lla mor; mari mari dictum domini.
I have a ?having-done sail/? on the sea; (lla for)
> 
> Ys dunaf mi ystyn drui gos; quanto quanto dixit domino.
He gave me these three things; (ystyn thrui chos)
I think mi could be disjunctive mui.

> Mi dunaf yn ceres, calgul n'a rhen; mari &c.
Gave me a cherry, ?????? has not; (?stone/?)

> Mi dunaf yn coluf, os n'a rhen; quanto &c.
Gave me a ?????, bone has not;

> Mi dunaf yn ffuidin, ngarmen rhen; mari &c.
Gave me a little baby, does not cry;
> 
> Eo rhuaf-lle ystyn drui gos: quanto &c.
I asked him these three things:
> Co sa si poth yn ceres, calgul n'a rhen? mari &c.
How can it be a cherry, having no stone?
> Co sa si poth yn coluf, os n'a rhen? quanto &c.
How can it be a ?????, having no bone?
> Co sa si poth yn ffuidin, ngarmen rhen? mari &c.
How can it be a little baby, does not cry?
> 
> Mew afan mui llo rhesponnef: quanto &c.
My having done answered him:
> Yn ceres in ill fflor sa n'a calgul rhen; mari &c.
A cherry in the flower has no ??????;
> Yn coluf in lla ew sa n'a os rhen; quanto &c.
A coluf in the egg has no bone;
> Yn ffuid in ill gwenter sa ngarmen rhen; mari &c.
A baby in the ?womb/? does not cry;
> 
Mostly legible: it contains some archaisms, the use of ystyn as a
demonstrative article rather than a pronoun, and some the word order is
awkward to preserve some sense of rhyme.  The inclusion of borrowings from
Kernu (poth rather than pod, if I have translated it correctly) suggests
that Dr Widgery is trying to pull a fast one!  But that's no worse than
some howlers that other folklorists have tried to pass off on a supine
public.

- andrew.

Andrew Smith, Intheologus 			hobbit@earthlight.co.nz
Q. Why are there so many Smiths in the Phone Book?
A. Because they all have telephones!

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