Re: Submitted for your approval...

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

On Sat, 16 Jan 1999, Andrew Smith wrote:

> 
> 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.

Sorry, I can only find the Celticonlang list address:
(celticonlang@lists.colorado.edu); but don't recall the subscription
address.  Also, appologies to your mum...I neglected to remove her address
from the Sessiwn when you returned home.  But the problem has now been
corrected.

By the way, excellent translating work!

> > Eo ai yn afan noig subr lla mor; mari mari dictum domini.
> I have a ?having-done sail/? on the sea; (lla for)
I have a love sails on the sea.  or do we not use pres. parts. in this
way?

> > 
> > 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/?)
yep, stone or pit (fruit, not bottomless)

> 
> > Mi dunaf yn coluf, os n'a rhen; quanto &c.
> Gave me a ?????, bone has not;
a dove (or a saint ;-) )

> 
> > 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:
My love me this answered:

> > 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;
yep, womb

> > 
> 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.

Well...it _ought_ to be B rather than K as there are no vocabulary
borrowings that i am aware of; but the good doctor being a speaker of the
latter, he probably couldn't help hearing poth in stead of pod.  I suppose
in poetry and song one ought to expect a certain amount of archaism and
awkward wording.  Plus, the collection this comes from is getting on
towards 400 years old. 

Padraic.

> - andrew.