CORNISH FOR BEGINNERS P.A.S. POOL, M.A., F.S.A. Third Edition THE HISTORY OF THE TOWN AND BOROUGH OF PENZANCE by P.A.S. Pool A full-scale history of Cornwall's westernmost town, commissioned by the Corporation to mark the end of its existence as a Borough in 1974 after 360 years. A long appendix gives the full or edited texts of the town charters and other important documents. Price £3.00 (hard covers). £1.50 (soft covers). Obtainable from the District Secretary, Penwith District Council, St. Clare, Penzance. THE PLACE NAMES OF WEST PENWITH by P.A.S. Pool A gazetteer of the settlement names of the Land's End Peninsula of Cornwall, with interpretations and a long intro• duction explaining the Cornish words found in the names. This book is the first modern publication of the place- names of any part of Cornwall larger than a parish. Price 75p. Published by the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies and obtainable from Mrs. S. Trenberth, Bronruth, Garkar Road, Trethurgy, St. Austell, Cornwall. A CORNISH FARMER'S DIARY by James Stevens, edited by P.A.S. Pool James Stevens spent his whole life (1847-1918) in West Penwith, first at Zennor and later at Sancreed, and for more than twenty years around the turn of the century kept a daily record of farm and parish life. This is the first Cornish farmer's diary to be published, and a valuable contribution to westcountry social history. Price £2.50. Obtainable from P.A.S. Pool, 37 Morrab Road, Penzance. THE DEATH OF CORNISH by P.A.S. Pool An Address given to the International Congress of Celtic Studies in 1975, with full references added, this gives an account of Cornish in the last two centuries of its decline, and of those who strove to preserve or record it. Price 40p. Obtainable from P.A.S. Pool at above address. REMINISCENCES OF PENZANCE by G.C. Boase, edited by P.A.S. Pool G.C. Boase (1829-97), one of the greatest literary sons of Penzance, wrote in 1883 a long series of newspaper articles recalling his childhood and youth, now published in book form and giving a valuable record of life in Penzance on the eve of change before the coming of the railway. Price £1.50. Published jointly by Penzance Old Cornwall Society and by Headland Publications, and obtainable from the Society at Dawn o'Day, Gwavas Road, Newlyn, Penzance. ALL THE ABOVE MAY ALSO BE OBTAINED FROM BOOKSHOPS IN PENZANCE HEADLAND PRINTERS LIMITED, PENZANCE. CORNISH FOR BEGINNERS By P. A. S. POOL, M.A., F.S.A. PAST PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF CORNWALL Third (Revised) Edition, 1970 Reprinted 1979 Published by the CORNISH LANGUAGE BOARD Obtainable from the Board's Sales Officer (see opposite) and from the Author at 37 Morrab Road, Penzance, Cornwall. Dhe Gof MORDON Gwythyas ha Sylwyas agan Tavas DASSERGHYANS The English speech doth still encroach upon it, and hath driven the same into the uttermost skirts of the shire. Richard Carew, 1602. With Languages as with buildings, when they are in a state of decay, the ruins become every day less distinct. William Borlase, 1769. Why should Cornishmen learn Cornish? The question is a fair one, the answer is simple. Because they are Cornishmen. Henry Jetmer, 1904. One generation has set Cornish on its feet. It is now for another to make it walk. R. Morton Nance, 1955. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface 4 Abbreviations and References 5 Pronunciation 5 Mutations 7 Lesson 1. Nouns, Adjectives and Articles 8 2. Impersonal Use of the Verb with Nouns 9 3. Impersonal Use with Pronouns; bos, mos and dos 11 4. Possessive Constructions 12 5. Pronoun Objects; the Perfect Particle 13 6. Demonstrative Pronouns and Adjectives; honen 14 7. The Personal Use of the Verb 15 8. The Future Tense; mynnes and gallos; Suffixed Pronouns 17 9. Prepositions 18 10. The Present Participle; the Imperfect Tense; Adverbs 20 11. Numbers 21 12. Questions and Replies; Imperatives 23 13. Comparison of Adjectives; As and Than 24 Appendix I 26 14. The Present and Imperfect Tenses of bos 28 15. The Past Participle; Further Uses of bos 29 16. Bos with gans and dhe 31 17. Indirect Statement 32 18. Relatives and Interrogatives 34 19. Conjunctions 36 20. The Pluperfect Tense; Verbs and Prepositions; Some and Any 38 21. The Subjunctive 40 Appendix II 42 Summary of Mutations 45 Summary of Particles 46 Key to Exercises 47 Vocabulary for Lessons 1—13 54 Story, Powesva an Myghtern, and other passages 57 PREFACE This book offers an elementary course of strictly limited scope, designed to enable the student to become familiar with the essentials of Cornish as easily as possible. It omits many alternative usages, idioms, and exceptions to grammatical rules, since attempting to learn these at the same time as the basic rules themselves is liable to cause confusion and delay. Some may feel that in places I have gone too far in simplifying complex rules, but in a beginners' book it is better to err thus than the other way, and the success of the previous editions shows that this book meets a real need. It is designed both for class use and for self-tuition, and should enable students to read and write Cornish reasonably well, but it is not a conversational course and only regular practice can give the fluency in speech without which no language really lives. References are given throughout to Cornish for All by R. Morton Nance (now sadly out of print) and to Cornish Simplified by A. S. D. Smith. Purchase of the latter, and of the dictionaries and record, must not be long delayed by any student of Cornish, but I have provided vocabularies making reference to dictionaries unnecessary for the first thirteen lessons. Keys to all exercises are also included. I have adhered strictly to the 'unified' Cornish spelling which was evolved by R. Morton Nance for students of revived Cornish, based on the spelling of the medieval literature but purged of inconsistencies and most variant forms. No one, least of all its originator, would claim the system to be faultless, but it sets a generally accepted standard to which most modern books comply, and indeed unified Cornish now exists as a 20th century language in its own right. Certainly there is no excuse for departing from it in a beginners' book. The book originated with a series of lessons prepared for a class in London in 1956, which were corrected and approved by Mr. Nance. He urged me to publish them as a book, and although he died before this was accomplished I was encouraged to do so by the knowledge that the work was thought to be not unworthy by one whose devotion to Cornish will never be equalled, and to whose memory all students of the language owe a debt that words are inadequate to express. The book covers the syllabus for the first and second grade examinations of the Cornish Language Board, and part of that for the third grade. I am most grateful to my colleagues on the Board for many helpful suggestions as to the arrangement and contents of the book, but for its faults and limitations I alone am responsible. GWAS GALVA. ABBREVIATIONS AND REFERENCES Adj. Adjective Inter. Interrogative Aff. Affirmative Masc. Masculine App. Appendix Neg. Negative Aux. Auxiliary PL Plural Cor. Cornish Poss. Possessive Eng. English Pres. Present Fern. Feminine Sing. Singular Inf. Infinitive C.F.A. Cornish for All by R. Morton Nance (3rd Edition, 1960). C.S. Cornish Simplified by A. S. D. Smith (2nd Edition, 1955). PRONUNCIATION (C.F.A. 1-4; C.S. 6—13). Cor. uses the same alphabet as Eng., except the letters I, X and Z. The following points should be noted regarding the pronunciation of the consonants:— (a) C and G are always hard, as in Eng. " cake," " get," not soft as in" cinder," "George." (b) DH represents the sound of Eng. TH as in "thither;" TH represents Eng. TH as in " thinketh." (c) In GH the G is not sounded at all and the H barely so; thus byghan (little) is pronounced " bee-(h)an "—almost " bean." The vowels each have a long and a short sound; in dictionaries and text-books long vowels are indicated by a line above, but this is not done in ordinary writing. A long vowel in a single syllable word is normally shortened if a second syllable (such as a pi. ending) is added; thus el, angel, pi. eleth; nos, night, pi. nosow. The following table gives, for the long and short sounds of each vowel, a Cor. word and also an Eng. word with the equivalent vowel sound. The long a sound is that of Cor. dialect, and Eng. " air " is only an approximate equivalent. Vowel Long Sound Short Sound a tas air mam map e whel day pen hen o nos law fol drop u gun moon pup rum y ky see gwyn pin 5 U is sometimes pronounced as y, and is then marked u in dictionaries and text-books (not in ordinary writing); u is used both as a long vowel (same sound as y, e.g. tiis), and a short one (as y, e.g. iigans). O, u and y also have sounds of intermediate value between the normal long and short sounds, e.g. hogh (as Eng. " hoe "), bugh (as Eng. " due "), and the personal pronouns my, ty etc. (lesson 3), in which the sound is similar to long y but much shorter.