Re: John Cowan and Scott Horne on Brithenig

[andrew <hobbit@mail.earthlight.co.nz>]

On Wed, 21 Jul 1999, John Cowan wrote:

> 
> This then led to a second exchange (SH - JC - SH2), as follows.
> Note that in SH paragraphs Scott doesn't know about Brithenig,
> whereas in SH2 paragraphs he does.
> 
> =====
> 
> SH: Hmmm, now I'm less inclined to suppose that it's a Romance
>     language; it looks vaguely Celtic.  But you've confirmed that
>     it's Romance.
> 
> JC: Exactly so.  It is a hypothetical reconstruction (by Andrew Smith
>     <andrew@earthlight.co.nz>) of the Romance language that could have
>     come into being if Latin had been preserved in Britain, rather than
>     dying out in favor of Proto-Welsh.
> 
hobbit@earthlight.co.nz is the address I mail from.  Most of the stuff
mailed to andrew@ is spam.

> SH2:Score one for you!  I had assumed it was a natural language.
>
What a compliment!  Making Brithenig as natural as possible was one of my
primary goals.

> SH: (Alternatively it could
>     mean `in Rome' if the phrase reads `what they do in Rome', but
>     that seems unlikely in view of the contrast with _in Rhufein_.)
>     I don't know what to make of the _-n_ in _Rhufein_; I'd expect
>     some sort of open syllable.
>     
> JC: I don't either, unless it is an error, or there is influence from
>     "Rhufan" < ROMAN-
>
As I have already told the Brithenig list, Rhufein is derived from
*Romania rather than Roma in Brithenig as this consistant with Welsh.
 
> SH: _Yn_ seems to be gender-neutral--or does
>     this language lack gender?
>     
> JC: No, m/f gender is preserved, but unus/una merged due to the general
>     slaughter of final vowels.  The definite articles, though, are
>     ill and lla in the singular, and llo in the plural.
> 
> SH2:I would not have expected _llo_ from _illae_, _illî_, or _illa_.
>
from illos pl. ac., unless I got it wrong.
 
> SH: Not sure what to make of _agur_, since _e_ seems to be `and'.
>
from hac ora 'this hour'
     

- andrew.
--
Andrew Smith, Intheologus 			hobbit@earthlight.co.nz

	Lo! thy dread empire, Chaos! is restored;
	Light dies before thy uncreating word:
	Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall;
	And Universal Darkness buries All.
			- Alexander Pope, The Dunciad, Book IV.