Re: Breton (WAS: first try at conlanging)

Padraic Brown wrote:

> > [Having found caruyth in Kernowak.]
> I don't recognise this form. It could be "karvydh" '(he) shall love' but
> AFAIK -vydh (which forms a future tense separate from the present/fut.)
> is only added to three or four special verbs
But a little research has shown that _car-_ is one of them (oops!) The line
you quoted is genuine Middle Cornish (line 1703 of Passio Christi c1450).
Pilat has sent Christ to Herod who seems pleased to see him, he says :

(ms spelling -- apostrophies probably editorial)

mar syv hemma an ihesu
wolcom yv re'n arluth dev
y weles my re yevnys
ha pilat rak y thanfon
me a'n caruyth y'm colon
alemma bys gorfen beys

(or as we'd write it now [although the <z>'s are usually <s>])

Mars yw hemma an Yesu
Wolkomm yw re'n Arloedh Dyw
Y welez my re yeunis
Ha Pilat rag y dhannvon
My a'n karvydh y'm kolonn
Alemma byz gorfenn byz

(which means)

If this is that Jesus
He's welcome, by the Lord God
I have longed to see him
And Pilat for sending him
I shall love him in my heart
From now (lit. here) until the end of the world

I'm just curious what those of you who think Welsh looks ugly and Breton
nice, (or was it the other way round) think of the orthographies. The
mss mix up <w>, <u>, <v> and <f>, generally write /I/ and /i/ both as <y>,
use <th> for both /T/ and /D/ and so on as is normal mediaeval practice.
The revised spelling is too Breton-like for some people's taste, they'd
prefer <c>'s to <k>'s, <f>'s to <v>'s and so on. Up until about 12 years
ago we used a spelling nearer to the mss, but not a lot more consistent,
so it was difficult for people to learn the correct pronounciation.

One thing that surprised me when I first came onto this list was how
much serious conlanging (and most of you seem pretty serious to me -- you
don't just make up any old thing) has in common with putting a disused
natlang back into working order. As I said at the beginning, Cornish is a
"reconlang".

Keith Mylchreest

(Apologies again to Keith Gaughan who I've just realised is here, for
signing my posts with just "Keith")