Re: Submitted for your approval...

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

On Mon, 18 Jan 1999, Andrew Smith wrote:

> > 
> > > > 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?
> > 
> I shall pound my head for overlooking afar!  I mustn't have it on the
> lexicon webpages.  I thought you might have been using gafar, it didn't
> look like afer to me.

Indeed afar is right.  Only don't pound your head too hard!

> Probably I would suggest afant for lover, I think some continental
> languages have amanto, the -n ending as a nominal agent seems unusual for
> me, -nt more normal.  There is also afur for love, Iewan would also add
> afor which happens between animals.

Hmm.  Are you suggesting afant and cyrent and such nominal forms were sort
of "frozen" that way when B still had -t at the end and they just stuck?
Otherwise why not leave the nominal and verbal forms the same (-n)?

I reckoned afur meant "love", not necessarily "lover": in other words, the
concept rather than the person.

For what it's worth, Spanish has amante; but such forms are identical with
the pres. part.  Curiously, in some slangy words, a feminine form has
developped distinct from the masc.: dominanta (f)/-nte (m), bossy.

> 
> > > Gave me a ?????, bone has not;
> > a dove (or a saint ;-) )
> >
> mb simplifies to m but doesn't soften. 

I wasn't sure how far to take it...I shall correct this bit.

Padraic.

> - andrew.