Note 162 — Chapter XVI · DISPLACEMENT OF THE SYNTACTICAL DISTRIBUTION.
Reading edition
It would be worth investigating—a question which only the most extensive statistical collection of earlier examples of this construction could decide—whether the very extensive use of this construction in English is not due to, or has not been at least promoted by, the existence of the so-called pronominal prepositions in Welsh, and their construction. The personal pronouns are used in Welsh as suffixes to the prepositions: e.g., prep. at = to; ataf, ‘to me;’ atat, ‘to thee;’ ato, ‘to him;’ ati, ‘to her;’ atom, ‘to us;’ atoch, ‘to you;’ atynt, ‘to them;’ imi, ‘to me;’ iti, ‘to thee;’ iddo, ‘to him;’ iddi, ‘to her;’ ini, ‘to us;’ ichwi, ‘to you;’ iddynt, ‘to them;’ etc. (Rowland’s Welsh Grammar, §§ 374-381). These forms were used especially in relative clauses; e.g., instead of— Y cyfaill at yr hwn yr afonais lythyr, The friend to whom I-sent letter, we might say more elegantly— Y cyfaill yr hwn yr afonais lythyr ato. The friend whom I sent letter to (him). Similarly— Efe yw’r gwr yr ysgrifenaist ato. He is the man thou wrotest to (him). Rhoddwch i’r hwn y cymmerasoch oddi arno. Give to whom you took from (him).
Even the present occasional (and vulgar) repetition of the pronoun is found:—
Ar yr hwn y gwelwch yr ysbryd yn disgyn ac yn On whom you see the spirit (in) descending and (in)
aros arno remaining ON (him).
A careful study of the translations here given will enable even one who has never seen any Welsh to judge of what is at least a possibility; viz., that our construction began with the relative clauses, and is, even in its present more extensive use, a remnant of Celtic origin.