Re: CHAT: Politeness in conlangs

[Padraic Brown <pbrown@POLARIS.UMUC.EDU>]

On Mon, 14 Jun 1999, Nik Taylor wrote:

> Andrew Smith wrote:
> > Brithenig has two words for "you" in the same pattern: familiar (ty) and
> > formal/plural (gw).
>
> What is the origin of _gw_?

"vos".  If I remember aright, Latin v [w] -> gw & final -s drops away.
I'm not sure what happened to the o, though.  Probably got lost in the
shuffle. :)  Or dissapeared into a vocalised w.

Padraic.

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