k 6 u 0 . Notennow Kernewek 0 g 2 r . o 0 . l 1 d . (Notes on the meaning and use of words based on examination of the k 0 . 2 w Charter Fragment, the Passion Poem, the Ordinalia, Bywnans n o o n i t n Meryasek, the Creation of the World, Bywnans Ke, the Tregear i e d t E o Homilies and Yowann Chi an Hordh.) n t e n r e I began compiling these notes in January 1997 while checking students’ work t n I and Cornish being prepared for publication. Dr Nicholas Williams’ book Cornish Today as well as my own observations had alerted me to the fact that some words and usages in current use and/or as recommended in the Gerlyver Meur and A Grammar of Modern Cornish do not always conform to what we find in the texts, and the computer disk prepared by Keith Syed of these texts makes it possible to examine them very rapidly. Now, whenever I feel unsure about the best way of expressing an idea in Cornish, I immediately switch to Kyst Pandora as I have christened Keith’s disk to see just how the words I have in mind are used. The results are often revealing. The ones I have found most useful are tabulated in alphabetical order in these notes. I have tried to avoid repeating information already in GM or GMC but rather to expand it and occasionally point out where it does not agree with what we have in the texts. It has been suggested that the quotations from the texts should be in the MS spelling rather than Kernewek Kemmyn. However, this is not intended to be a work of scholarship but rather a help for students and writers of Kernewek Kemmyn. We are very slowly making the texts available in the MS and KK spelling together. This will make it possible to compare the KK spellings with the MS. In both Cornish Today and Clappya Kernowek, the primer which he has written to help people learn the system of Cornish which he proposes, Dr Williams has given lists of words popularised initially in Unified Cornish and now inherited by Kernewek Kemmyn which are less well attested in the texts (particularly the later texts) than others he would like to see used in their place. These lists are well worth perusing but unfortunately most of his suggestions are very obviously derived from English to such an extent that their increased regular use would make it seem that Revived Cornish is again being drowned in English while the Revival is still in its infancy. In the few cases where I have suggested words in common use might well be replaced by others, I have avoided suggesting non-Celtic words. In fact all but a very few are already in GM. My examination of the texts is ongoing and I shall probably never complete it, but I hope to bring out a new edition of these notes every year for as long as I am able to do so. Comments will be very welcome. (Warning to KDL students: Some of the suggestions below may not always agree with information at present in the KDL courses.) Ray Edwards July 1997 1 Second Edition 1998 The notes have been extended and a few amendments made, so that this edition is twice as long as the first, and has been given the title Notennow Kernewek. I am most grateful to Keith Syed and Dr David Balhatchet who have read and checked this second edition and made many corrections and suggestions. It is gratifying to notice that, following the publication of the first edition of these notes last year, one or two people are now writing dhiworth rather than diworth, and govenek rather than gwaytyans. I am constantly seeing Ogh! and thinking to myself “That should be A! ”. I would like to commend the suggestions made in these notes to anyone involved with the writing, publishing or teaching of Cornish. I hope they will check the references, consider whether the suggestions are valid and adopt them if they are. In general the term Revived Cornish in the notes embraces Unified and Kernewek Kemmyn. Ray Edwards July 1998 Third Edition 1999 The notes have further been added to and the length of the book increased from forty nine to eighty pages. Shortly after the second edition was published I received several pages of very interesting and helpful comment and notes from Dr Nicholas Williams and some of these are reflected in additions to the notes. He also made many suggestions for further research and I am grateful to him for the interest he has shown. I have not yet looked into all of these points as the notes are not based on systematic research but on the need to find an answer to practical problems as they arise. In other words, as well as searching the dictionaries and grammar books I run through the texts I have on computer disk using the “find” facility and if what I find seems to justify it, a note is added to the list. What I have found suggests that systematic research on the texts ought to be carried out to check the validity of all the information in current dictionaries and grammar books and would be a very worth while project for anyone with an adequate knowledge of Cornish and a suitable computer. I can supply most of the texts on disk. Ideally a few short Late texts such as the Biblical translations of Wella Rowe, and the Cornish writings of the Boson family and Edward Lhuyd should be added to it. Hopefully, this will be done sometime. In October 1998 the Cornish Language Board published the New Cornish Dictionary, “An Gerlyver Kres” by Dr Ken George. About forty suggestions in these notes have been included in it. These are as follows, and a sub-note “Accepted in GK98” has been added to the notes themselves: a-der Additional usage as the negative adverb not, used without a verb e.g. hi a’th kar, a-der my: she loves you, not me. a-ji: Corrected usage: inside (adv.) This is followed by dhe when used as a preposition argh: Plural arghow also given. bennath: Amendment: The note in GM: Middle Cornish form of ‘thank-you’ rather than ‘meur ras’ is now omitted. bresel: (additional meaning) Dispute, given as the first meaning rather than war. brewvann: . Meaning amended to soreness, inflammation. 2 danjer: Meaning amended to difficulty, reluctance. Dominion which is given in GM should have been retained as well. Danjer is added to kaletter under difficulty in the Eng. Corn end. dison: (additional meanings) forthwith, straightway, immediately, without another word. diworth: from. Spelling amended to dhiworth. dustuni: testimony. Plural amended from dustunyow to dustuniow. dustunya: to give evidence. Similarly amended to dustunia. dustunyer : referee. Similarly amended to dustunier. fors: Additional examples: ny res dhymm fors: it need not matter to us; ny wrav fors: I don’t care. gen:. The GM meaning of chin is replaced by jaw as meaning of the dual form diwen. However the suggestion in NK is that diwen means cheeks, and that elgeth should be used for chin. Chal and/or challa seem(s) to be (a) better word(s) for jaw. glorius: glorious. Spelling amended to gloryus. gokkyes: Spelt sic in GM with sing. meaning fool. Amended to gokki sing. and gokkies plural. gwerrya: to wage war. Amendment: orth omitted. hevis: Additional meanings: hair shirt, vest. The words hevis reun occur twice in the texts and I suspect it should have been given here in GK as hevis reun: hair shirt, rather than hevis alone. (This was a device of penitential self-torture popular with medieval ascetics) Hevis is given, together with vesta under vest in the Eng-Corn end, hwara. Given in GM as an alternative to hware but is now omitted. hwypp: whip. Plural form hwyppys added. junya: junya orth: to join to omitted. The NK suggestion is that junya should be followed by dhe or gans to mean join to. kader: warrior. Spelling amended to kasor. kamm: crooked. Additional meaning: person who is morally crooked. kara: to love. Additional phrase: dell y’m kyrri: please. This brilliant suggestion for a modern translation of this frequently occurring phrase in the texts is not one NK can claim credit for. It is mentioned here because NK does suggest two other phrases which also translate as please and all three occur far more frequently in the texts than mar pleg now in common use. These are der dha vodh and my a’th pys. These also deserve place in GK98. kas: additional meaning: wretchedness. klos: additional meanings as adjective: enclosed, closed, shut. (GM gives as noun only) kontrarius: opposed. Spelling amended to kontraryus kovva: remembrance. Omitted as it duplicates kovadh. lymm: additional meaning pointed (The NK suggestion points out that the word is used only in reference to the crown of thorns and the spear that pierced the side of Christ so it is used only in this very literal sense. However, this note has now been amended [2005] to give two examples from Bywnans Ke where lymm is used differently) metya: to meet. Metya orth and metya gans omitted. neb: additional phrase neb lies: not many, not given in Nance or GM. nes: nearer. Additional phrase dos nes: to draw near; approach nesa to approach. (intransitive) added. The NK suggestion is that to approach or draw near to is nesa dhe, or, preferably, dos nes dhe .