Chapter VII · —THE PRONOUNS

§ 1. The Personal Pronouns.

There are four forms of the Personal pronouns. These forms are used under various circumstances, but they are mostly reducible to a single letter with or without its vowel for each person, the variations depending upon (a) the state of that letter, and (b) whether the vowel is placed before or after it. The vowel is elided in some cases, and coalesces with another vowel in others.

1. As the subject of a verb and preceding it.

2. As the subject or object of a verb and following it. This is for some pronouns the same as the first form, for others the first form with its initial in the second state.

3. As the object of a verb, but placed between a particle ending in a vowel and the verb. This form is used also for possessive pronouns of the first and second persons singular when they are preceded by the conjunction ha, and, or by a preposition ending in a vowel, or by en, in.

4. In composition with a preposition, and for forming the persons of an inflected tense of a verb.

In the first and second the consonant is followed by a vowel. In the third and fourth the consonant ends the word.

1. The First Person Singular. English, I or me. Letter M (V).

1st form. mî. mî a vedn, I will.

2nd form. vî. gwith vî, keep me.

3rd form. ’m. neb a’m gwrîg, he who made me.

4th form. ’m or ’v. genev, with me; dhem, to me; carav, I love.

The compounds of pronoun and preposition are written as one word, without an apostrophe, as the form of the preposition also is often affected by the composition. A list of these will be found later on, as they present some irregularities.

2. The Second Person Singular. English, thou or thee. Letter T (D).

1st form. tî (pronounced nearly chee, and sometimes so written). tî a vedn, thou wilt.

2nd form. dî (often written sy or gy in the older MSS., and pronounced jee, nearly). menjes dî, thou wouldst.

3rd form. ’th (often ’d in the older MSS.). This is followed by the second state of the initial, or in the case of d by the fourth. mî a’th bes, I pray thee, re’th tynerchys, hath greeted thee (Passion, 115, 2).

4th form. ’s. genes, with thee.

3. The Third Person Singular, masculine. English, he or him. Letter V or N, or a vowel.

1st form. ev (with the v very lightly sounded, and often silent. The older form is ef). ev a vedn, he will.

2nd form. ev or e. menja ev, he would.

3rd form. This form is commonly used in the earlier MSS. It represents an accusative en or hen which still exists in Breton. In more recent Cornish, with the frequent use of the auxiliary form of the verb, where the pronominal object precedes the infinitive in its possessive form, this construction became unusual. ’n. mî a’n pes, I pray him.

4th form. In this form several words have an inserted dh between the preposition and the pronoun. Ragdho, for him, dhôdho, to him, not rago, dhôo. A similar euphonic dh occurs in the case of the third persons feminine and plural. ’o. enno, in him, ganso, with him.

4. Third Person Singular, feminine. English, she, her. Letter H, S, or a vowel.

1st form. hŷ. hŷ a vedn, she will.

2nd form. hŷ. a medh hŷ, said she.

3rd form. This form is rarely found in the later MSS. Either the possessive î or the form hŷ (the latter often put after the verb) was used, in the rare cases of this construction. ’s. mî a’s henow, I name her.

4th form. ’î. gensî, with her; dhedhî, to her.

5. First Person Plural. English, we, us. Letter N.

1st form. nŷ. nŷ a vedn, we will.

2nd form. nŷ. na, blamyough nŷ, do not blame us.

3rd form. This form, perhaps owing to its being the same as the 3rd form of the third person singular, is rare even in the older MSS. The possessive ’gan (for agan) is generally used instead of it, ev a ’gan doro. ’n. ev a’n doro, he will bring us.

4th form. ’n, preceded by almost any vowel. ragon, for us; genen, with us; dhen, to us; warnan, on us.

6. Second Person Singular. English, you. Letter, Wh, Gh, or S.

1st form. whŷ. whŷ a vedn, you will.

2nd form. whŷ. nî wreugh whŷ, you do not.

3rd form. This form is very rare even in the older MSS. The possessive ’gas (for agas) is generally used instead. ’s. ev a’s doro, he will bring you.

4th form: ’ugh. genough, with you; dheugh, to you.

7. Third Person Plural. English, they, them.

1st form. This last is the regular form in the latest Cornish. In the earlier MSS. y only is used for they; later an gy or an dzhei (as Lhuyd writes it) became usual. It is only found in the MSS. of the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century, and probably originated in a wrong division of words. The third person plural of most inflected tenses of verbs ends in ons, ans, ens. If the pronoun were added, this would take the form of ons ŷ, etc., as in carons ŷ (amant illi), they love, and the usual pronunciation of s would soon bring this combination to caronjy, which is easily divided into car onjy. The compound preposition form in later Cornish often ended in ans, followed or not followed by the 1st or 2nd form of the pronoun. Thus in Jordan’s Creation (1611) we find anodhans y (from them) for an older anodhe. This would give an additional reason for the confusion. ŷ, jŷ, an jŷ. ŷ a vedn, jŷ a vedn, or an jŷ a vedn, they will.

2nd form. ŷ. medhons ŷ (often written medh an jy), said they.

3rd form. ’s. mî a’s agor, I will open them.

4th form. ’ns, e. dhodhans, to them; gensans or genjans, with them.

The form in e is older (dhethe, ganse, etc.), but became obsolete by the middle of the seventeenth century. It will have been seen:—

1. That the first and second persons singular are the only ones which possess the four separate forms complete.

2. That the second form of all but these two persons is usually the same as the first form.

3. That the third form is not much used in later Cornish except for the same two persons.

It may also be noted that though the full and emphatic pronunciation of hŷ, nŷ, whŷ, and jŷ is that of the English words high, nigh, why, and the first syllable of jibe, when, as is often the case, there is no emphasis of any sort on them, the same thing happens to them as commonly happens in rapid speech in English to the word my, and the y ceases to have the sound of î English, but has the sound of a short (not obscure) e English. Thus in the common Cornish “Thank you,” mêr ’ras dhô whŷ, which is sounded as one word, merásdhawhy, the y has the short sound which the same letter usually has at the end of a word. But it might happen otherwise. Thus the following sentences are within the experience of most of us at the end of some simple commercial transaction:—

Customer (carelessly, having received the article and paid the money), “Thánk you.”

Shopkeeper (in a half-reproving tone), “Thank you, sir.”

In Cornish the customer would say “Merásdkawhy,” in the ordinary tone, but the shopkeeper might answer “Merasdha whý, sira,” and would sound the pronoun like the English word why, unless, being a good Cornish speaker, he preferred to say “Mêr ’ras dhô ’gas honan” (Thanks to yourself).

The same principle applies to hŷ, nŷ, and an jŷ, but less with the last, which is generally treated as a dissyllable with the accent on the last syllable.

§ 2. The Possessive Pronouns.

1. First Person Singular. English, my.

ow, governing the third state.

When the initial of the noun has no third state, ow governs the first state:—

ow thâs, my father; ow gwlas, my country.

After a preposition ending in a vowel, after en, in, changed to e, or after the conjunction ha, and, my is generally represented by ’m, which governs the first state:—

dhô’m tâs, to my father; ha’m tâs, and my father.

e’m corf, in my body.

Sometimes in these cases the preposition or conjunction is combined with ow. This is especially common in Jordan’s play of The Creation. The initial, if possible, is then in the third state:—

me haw mab, I and my son; thow thas, to my father.

2. Second Person Singular. English, thy.

dha (older form dhe, dhy), governing the second state:—

dha dâs, thy father.

After a preposition ending in a vowel, after en, or after ha, thy is represented by ’th, generally governing the second state, but sometimes, when the initial following it is d, the fourth.

dhô’th dâs, to thy father; ha ’th dâs, and thy father.

e ’th gorf, in thy body; a ’th trôk (R.D., 1730), from thy evil.

Very often these mutations were not written in the Dramas. In later Cornish this form was not always used, but one often finds dhô dha, ha dha, en dha, etc. instead.

3. Third Person Singular, masculine. English, his.

e (older form y), governing the second state.

This, altered to y, coalesces with a preposition ending in a vowel, forming a diphthong, which is written with an apostrophe between the two vowels. It still governs the second state:—

e dâs, his father; dhô’y (pron. dhoy) dâs, to his father; ha’y dâs, and his father.

4. Third Person Singular, feminine; English, her.

î, governing the third state, or when there is no third state, the first. It coalesces with prepositions ending in a vowel and with ha in the same way as the masculine:—

î thâs, her father; î gwlas, her country; ha’i thâs, and her father.

In the earlier MSS. both these possessive pronouns were written y, the only distinction being in the initial mutation which followed. In the later MSS. î is often written e.

5. First Person Plural. English, our.

agan, governing the first state:—

agan tâs, our father.

6. Second Person Plural. English, your.

agas, governing the first state:—

agas tâs, your father.

7. Third Person Plural. English, their.

aga, governing the third, or failing that, the first state:—

aga thâs, their father; aga gwlas, their country.

When preceded by a preposition ending in a vowel or by ha, the three plural possessive pronouns lose their initial a:—

dhô ’gas, ha ’gan, etc.

The a of the last syllable of agan, agas, aga is obscure, and is often found represented by e, o, or u in the MSS. Even when not preceded by a vowel these words are often found as gan, gas, ga (gun, gen, gon, gus, guz, ges, go).

When a pronoun is the object of a verb in the infinitive or of a verb formed with the auxiliary verbs gwîl, to do, menny, to will, etc. and an infinitive, the pronoun-object is represented by the possessive pronoun preceding and governing (as to initial mutation) this infinitive:—

ev a wrîg ow tholla, he did deceive me.

mî a vedn e grejy, I will believe it.

mî a wrîg agas danvon, I did send you.

The reason of this is that in Cornish, as in the other Celtic languages, the infinitive is counted as a verbal noun, signifying the act of doing. This conception of the infinitive explains many Celtic constructions. The literal force of the above examples would be “he did (or made) the deceiving of me,” “I will the believing of it,” “I did the sending of you.” Similarly, when the object is a noun, it really follows the infinitive as an appositional genitive.

Frequently the second form of the corresponding personal pronoun follows a noun preceded by a possessive pronoun. This ought to be for emphasis, and, when it is so, the sound of the personal pronoun would be its full sound; but it is frequently merely redundant, and then it is enclitic, forming as it were an unaccented additional syllable tacked on to the noun:—

agan Tâs ny, Our Father (nearly ’gun Tázny).

dhô ’m brodar vî, to my brother.

agas levar why, your book.

herlya yu ’gan gwary ny, hurling is our sport.

The last sentence is a good example of possible pronunciations. If it is an independent statement, the phrase emphasis being on hurling and sport, it would be accented hérlya yugan guaryny. If, however, we wish to say that hurling is our sport but football is yours (herlya yu ’gan gwary nŷ, mes pella-drôs yu ’gas gwary whŷ), the second phrase-emphasis would be on nŷ and whŷ, and they would be sounded as the English words nigh and why.

Sometimes the personal pronoun as a genitive following the noun, with or without the preposition a, of, was used instead of a possessive pronoun, but in this case it was probably not enclitic. Thus in a letter in verse by John Boson, in the Gwavas MS., dated 1710, we find:—

Ma goz screfa compaz, den fir o (for a) vî, your writing is correct, my wise man, or, wise man of me.

And in a song by John Tonkin of St. Just in the same MS., the probable date of which is about 1700, we find:—

An Prounter ni ez en Plew East, our parson who is in the parish of St. Just.

Or perhaps more correctly in a copy of one verse of this song in the Borlase MS.:—

Prounter nei (ez) en pleu Est,

for the article an before a noun followed by an appositional genitive seems incorrect, though one finds in the earliest known version of the Lord’s Prayer, given in John Davies’s Welsh translation of Robert Parsons’ Booke of Christian Exercise (1632), An Tas ni, though this may be a mistake for agan. In the song quoted above one finds also:—

Dewe reffa sowia an eglez ni, Ha an prounterian da eze et an gy, God save our churches and the good parsons that are in them. And in Boson’s version of the Commandments we find gwitha gerrio ve for “keep my commandments.”

§ 3. Pronominal Prepositions.

The prepositional form of the pronouns may be applied to almost any preposition, but there are a certain number of common cases in which the prepositions are modified by the composition, vowels being altered or letters being inserted between the preposition and this fragmentary pronoun, either for euphony or as survivals of archaic forms of the preposition or pronoun. The most usual of these modified forms occur in the composition of the prepositions a, of or from, dre, through, gans, with, dhŏrt (earlier dheworth and adheworth, Welsh oddiwrth), from, orth (or worth), at, to, rag, for, dhô, to, war, upon, en or idn, in.

ahanav, from me. dredhov, through me.

ahanas, from thee. dredhos, through thee.

anodho, from him. dredho, through him.

anedhi, from her. dredhi, through her.

ahanan, from us. dredhon, through us.

ahanough, from you. dredhough, through you.

anodhans, from them. dredhans, through them.

Other instances are:—

genev, dhortam, orthev, ragov, dhem, warnav.

genes, dhortas, orthes, ragos, dhes, warnas.

ganso, dhorto, orto, ragdho, dhôdho, warnodho.

gensi, dhorti, orti, ragdhi, dhedhi, warnedhi.

genen, dhorten, orthen, ragon, dhen, warnan.

genough, dhortough, orthough, ragough, dheugh, warnough.

gensans, dhortans, ortans, ragdhans, dhodhans, warnodhans.

and—

ennov or idnov or ettov.

ennos or idnos or ettos.

enno or idno or etto.

enni or idni or etti.

ennon or idnon or etton.

ennough or idnough or ettough.

ennans or idnans or ettans.

There are many various spellings of these words in the manuscripts, and especially there is great uncertainty as to the vowel which precedes the pronominal suffix. As the accent is always on the preposition, the vowel of the pronoun is usually obscure, and there is not so very much difference of sound in the last syllables of dredhov, genev, and warnav, but still there is a slight difference, and there must have been even more in early days.

The older form of the third person plural ended in e or a, anedha, dredha, ganse, orte, ragdha, dhedhe, warnedhe, ynna; but this form became obsolete by the middle of the seventeenth century, and these pronominal prepositions were assimilated to the third person plural of verbs. In this the Cornish began by resembling Breton and ended by approaching more nearly to Welsh.

The pronominal preposition form of dhô has variants for the first and second persons singular and first person plural, dhemmo, to me, dheso, dheso dî, to thee, and dhenny, to us. These are formed by the addition of the personal pronoun in a fuller form. In the cases of the other prepositions it is not uncommon to add the personal pronouns at the end of the pronominal compound, forming thereby a single word with the accent on the last syllable. Thus:—

genev vî, with me, pronounced genavî.

genough whŷ, with you, pronounced genowhŷ.

ragon nŷ, for us, pronounced ragonŷ.

In later Cornish these pronominal prepositions compounds were often neglected, and the prepositions were often used with the second form of the personal pronoun, but this was only a corrupt following of English, not to be imitated.

§ 4. The Relative Pronoun.

1. A simple relative, who or which, whether in the nominative or accusative, is represented most frequently by the particle a, governing the second state of the verb. Thus:—

An Tâs a wrîg Nêv, the Father who made heaven.

An Nêv a wrîg an Tâs e, the Heaven which the Father made.

If the verb following the relative begins with a vowel, a is often omitted. Thus:—

Ow thîs es genev, my people who are with me.

If the relative sentence is negative, ni, not, coalesces with a, producing na. Thus:—

En le na vê dên bisqweth, in a place in which man never was.

When the relative is the object of the verb, or is preceded in English by a preposition, a redundant personal pronoun is added after the verb, with or without a combined preposition, but a preposition is never placed before the relative particle a itself. Thus:—

An dên a dhanvonas Dew e, the man whom God sent (lit. whom God sent him).

An dên a vê an gêr cowses ganso, the man by whom the word was spoken (lit. whom the word was spoken by him).

2. Neb (earlier nep, and in late Cornish sometimes leb) is also used as a relative, with similar construction to that of a in the objective or prepositional condition. Properly it includes the antecedent, and should mean he who, those who, that which, those whom, etc., but it is commonly used as a simple relative, especially in late Cornish. Thus:—

Agan Tâs ny neb es en Nêv, Our Father who art in heaven, in one of the many extant versions of the Lord’s Prayer.

Another version is Agan Tâs ny leb es en Nêv.

Dhe [tî] nep yu ioy ow holon, thou who art the joy of my heart (Res. Dom., 456).

An dên neb na’n gwrîg, the man who did not do it.

Neb yu moyha, he who is greatest.

An dên neb Dew a wrîg e dhanvon, the man whom God did send.

An dên neb an gêr a rê cowses ganso, the man by whom the word was spoken.

Neb mî e wrîg ragdho, for whom I did it (lit. whom I did it for him).

But, unlike a, neb can have a preposition before it on occasions, with or without the redundant pronoun. Thus:—

Chŷ en neb na vê dên vîth (enno), a house in which no man was.

§ 5. The Demonstrative Pronouns.

1. Absolute. Hem, hebma (orig. hemma), this, masculine; hom, hobma (homma), feminine.

Hen, hedna (ong. henna), that, masculine; hon, hodna (honna), feminine.

An remma (=an re-ma) is used also for the plural these, an renna for those.

2. In agreement. An—ma, this, these, e.g. an bês-ma, this world.

An—na, that, those, e.g. an dên-na, that man.

The noun is placed between an and ma or na, the latter being joined to it by a hyphen. In some cases when the noun ends in a vowel the m of ma is doubled, and the noun and demonstrative are written as one word:—

an dremma, this town (for an dre-ma); an chymma, this house (for an chŷ-ma); alemma, hence (for a le-ma), from this place.

The same applies to the n of na.

When the noun is preceded by a preposition, an is omitted: war venedh-ma, on this mountain, not war an menedh-ma.

For emphasis, keth (same) is added after an: an keth dên-ma, this very man, this same man.

In very late Cornish, hebma, hobma, hedna, hodna were often corrupted into hebba, hobba, hedda, hodda.

In the Life of St. Meriasek, helma and holma are used for this, and it is easy to imagine helna and holna for that. The explanation suggested in Dr. Whitley Stokes’s note is “helma=hen lemma, this in this place.” Cf. “this here” and “that there” of vulgar English.

§ 6. The Interrogative Pronouns.

Pyu or pyua (written also pu, piwa, pew), who? A contraction of pe yu, who is? or, pe yu a, who is it who?

Pa, what?

Pandra (i.e. pa an dra, what the thing), what? e g. pandra vednough why gwîl, what will you do?

Panin (i.e. pa an in, which the one), whether of them?

Penîl (i.e. pa nîl, which of the two), which one?

§ 7. The Indefinite Pronouns.

Nep, neb, some or any.

Neppeth, somewhat (neb peth, some thing), anything.

Nebin (neb idn), some one.

Nebas, somewhat, a little, a few; also used to signify little, few, or hardly any.

Pyupennak (sometimes bennak), whoever.

Pa (or pandra) pennak, whatever.

Papennak ŏl, whatsoever.

Ketep, every.

Kenifer, each; kenifer ŏl, every one, as many as there are. Lhuyd gives a very emphatic form, pebs kenifer ŏnen, which would mean “every single one.”

Pŭb or peb, all, every. Placed before the noun. Pŭb dên, every man.

Ŏl (or ŭl), all. Placed before or after the noun. When placed before the noun the latter is preceded by an: ŏl an dîs, all the people.

Bîth or vîth, any; travîth, anything; dên vîth, any man. With negatives it signifies at all; ni wôr dên vîth, no man at all knoweth; nynsyw travîth, there is nothing at all.

Mens (earlier myns), all, whatever; ŏl mens o, all that there was; cowsens dên mens a vedn, let a man say all that he will. It is generally used as a relative combined with the antecedent “all,” but is also used without an expressed verb to follow it, though in such case probably the verb substantive is understood.

Kemmes, kebmes, as many as, whosoever; kemmes a wrîg bodh ow Thas, as many as have done the will of my Father.

Nîl or an nîl and e gîla (formerly nyl and y gyle) signify “the one” and “the other.” Nîl, originally an ail, the second, a word which, except in this case, has dropped out of Cornish in favour of secund and nessa (=the next), though it remains in Welsh and Breton, signifies “one of two”; e gîla (once y gyle or y gele) literally signifies “his fellow,” from e, his, and kîla (formerly kyle), fellow, companion. Thus:—

Voz [bes] an Frenkock feen parrez tho [dhó] cummeraz telhar wara niel [war an nîl] ha an sousenack nobla war e gilla, for the fine French seems to take place upon the one [i.e. on Breton] and the nobler English on the other [i.e. Cornish] (from Nebbaz Gerriau dro tho Carnoack, by John Boson, circ. 1700).

The same expression occurs in the early Dramas, e.g. an nyl a delle pymp cans, ha hanter cans y gyle, the one owed five hundred and half a hundred the other.

Aral, other, plural erel, is sometimes used for e gîla. It is the usual word for other or another: dên aral, another man.

Another form occasionally used in Cornish for either gender, though in Breton it is only used for the regular feminine of e gîla (e gile) is eben, older form yben:—

Heys Crist a gemeras a’n neyll lêf bys yn yben (Poem of Passion, 178), the length of Christ they took from one hand to the other.

Ken is also used for another:—

Dhe ken pow, to another country; yn ken lyu, in another colour.

Nanîl, neither one, neither of two; it is nîl with the negative, and is sometimes written noniel. Boson uses it in a peculiar way:—

Nanagu [na nag yu] an pobel coth tho bose skoothez, war noniel, nor are the old people to be depended upon neither.

Panîl, “which of two” (see above), is compounded with pa, which, and nîl.

Lîas, many, is used, like a numeral, with a substantive in the singular: lîas dôrn, many hands.

Re, some (see § 5), “ones,” “things,” is used also as a noun: an re marow, the dead; an re bîan, the little ones; ma re a lavar, there are some who say. Cf. Welsh rhai; Breton re.

Radn or ran, part, is also used in the sense of “some.”

Honan, self, is used with possessive pronouns as in English: ow honan, myself; dha honan, thyself, &c.