Re: Some suggestions

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

On Thu, 21 Jan 1999, Raymond A. Brown wrote:

> Surely it's the other way round!  Welsh is a _Celtic_ language, not a
> neo-Latin language as Brithenig is.  One thing we can be certain about is
> that the Celts had a calendar with months well before the Romans took over.
> And we can certainly discount such reconstructions as the "Gravesian"
> calendar.
>
What is clear is there was a celtic calendar, but the intrepretation of
how widespread its use in Celtic society was, and how it is/was used
remains speculation.  If Padraic wishes to preserve the Kernu calendar,
then I would suggest that its legal latin version is universal to the
Kemrese lawcourts, although I would suggest that it would be a historical
construct rather than an 'authentic calendar'.  An intellectual game that
appealed to national sentiment would not be beyond the bounds of medieval
clerics.

> These seem to me the most likely to have gone and Celtic names might have
> replaced them.  I know no actual evidence that the Gaulish names were ever
> used in Briton - or indeed that all Gallic Celts used the same names.  The
> only safe evidence it seems to me is what the modern Brittonic languages
> actually do:
>        WELSH        CORNISH        BRETON
> Sep.   Medi         Gwyngala       gwengolo
> Oct.   Hydref       Hedra          here
> Nov.   Tachwedd     mys-Du         du  (miz du)
> Dec.   Rhagfyr      Kevardhu      kerzu
>
It was these four months that I have in mind when I started on this
thread, and you have provided more comparative information than I could
discover, mullt reid!
> 
> SEPTEMBER
> Welsh 'Medi' is, I'm sure, of the same origin as 'medi' "to reap" - the
> harvest month.  In Cornish & Breton it is the month of "White Straw" (gwyn
> + cala, gwenn + kolo).  Maybe "White Straw" also in Brithenig?
>
Straw is ystref (m) and white is blanc; possibly Ystreblanc.
 
> OCTOBER
> 'Hydref' also means "autumn" in Welsh, but the words for "autumn are quite
> different in its two sister languages.  I don't know the etymology of the
> word, but it does look as though it was an old Celtic month name *Setrem-
> to which the GMP could be applied :)
>
That would be Sedref as Brithenig does not turn [s] into a fricative.
 
> NOVEMBER
> Both Cornish and Breton simply call November the "Black Month" (which it
> certainly is up in these islands!) and, indeed, "y Mis Du" is common in
> Welsh also as a name for November.  But if the Chomro did the same, I guess
> they'd simply use the Brithenig words for "Black Month".   I'm afraid I
> don't know the origin of the Welsh "Tachwedd".
>
I have not managed to find "Tachwedd" either. "Black Month" would be
Muis-Nir, or ill Muis Nir.
 
> DECEMBER
> The Welsh, I assume, is the prefix 'rhag-' = "pre-", "fore-", and 'byr' =
> "short", since the month begins in the days before the shortest day, the
> winter solstice.  The Cornish and Breton is "Black Acre" month!  Nothing
> doing on the farm.
>
The word for acre is 'areben' (m), cognate with French arpent, so December
could be "Arebennir", or possibly shortened to "Arbennir"

I think they sound better than Sethembr, Oethembr, Noembr, Decembr.  I had
not noticed it was the anacronistic numbered months that were removed.

- 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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