The Cornish Language, enquiry

[dafydd]

Hi every body, I wonder whether anyone can help me in a little matter of interest to me and all on this site I'm sure. Many years ago I came across the following which was stated to be cornish. Is it? "Mi welys an lew a ladhwyd ganne au Mab." The translation was given as:- I saw the lion which was slain by your son. This is well understood by myself as some strange dialect of welsh, and means just what it says? Thankyou Daffydd.

[sonic-skunk]

Cornish is very very similar to welsh. I speak some Cornish, and recently went to Wales. While I was there, I noticed the huge similarities between to two languages.

If Im right, the Cornish, 'Nos Dha', is Welsh AND Cornish for goodnight.

Hope this has helped.

Dyw Genes,

Joe (breseler kernewek)

[WizardofOwls]

Have you looked over in the Celtic Languages forum? there are sections there devoted to both Welsh and Cornish.

[Antwn]

Very similar. Goodnight in Welsh is Nos da.

Dafydd, I believe your sentence in Welsh would be very close -

Mi weles/welais y llew a laddwyd gan dy fab.

You could also say -

Mi weles y llew a gafodd ei ladd gan dy fab. Literally - I saw the lion which had/got its killing by your son.

Siarls can verify and/or correct my errors since I'm learning Welsh and he's fluent. I'm not sure whether your example is Cornish or not, since I don't know any Cornish, but if it is its quite close isn't it?

[sonic-skunk]

The cornish for I is 'me', not 'mi'

[Antwn]

Well, in Welsh Mi is not the word for "I" its a particle which denotes a statement as opposed to a question. The first person past tense is revealed in the conjugation of the word gweld - to see and the pronoun "I" is understood. Since Welsh has VSO word order, the subject usually would not begin the sentence anyway. I don't know, but maybe its similar with Cornish. If so, the Mi that begins the sentence would not be "I".

[sonic-skunk]

Ah, thanks for clearing that up with me!