Re: John Cowan and Scott Horne on Brithenig

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

On Wed, 21 Jul 1999, John Cowan wrote:

> SH: Not sure what to make of _agur_, since _e_ seems to be `and'.
>     
> JC: "Now", but I don't know why.  It may be a survival from Old British.

I tried responding earlier, but the system acted strangely when I tried to
send.  If some of you get this more or less twice, please be
understanding.

I am under the impression that agur is descended from "ad hora(m)", rather
like Spanish's ahora.  I'm not sure exactly _how_ the g gets there, but is
probably rather a complex situation.  Like the -n on Rhufeinn, La
Mistarista strikes again!

Speaking of Rhufein, perhaps this is an example of i-umlaut? Romani ->
Romein, etc.  The regular plural of Rouma` in Kernu is Roumein (only
stodgy scholars would write Roumani).  Not the best of examples, perhaps,
since this is a split declension word (singular is -n stem, plural is -o
stem).

Kernu has the same word for now as Brithenig, but has been subject to
differernt changes.  "Aur", /a'u:r/ or /a'u:rh/ (with rough trilled r) has
simply aspirated the -d into oblivion, and the h- was never there in
speech.  The spelling doesn't reflect pronunciation (aur indicates
/a'ur/): it probably ought to spelled "aour".  The accusative marker (-e)
is lost in phrases or adjectives used adverbially.  Though sometimes one
does see it spelled "aurre" (still pronounced /a'u:r/); it just goes to
show you never can tell.

Padraic.