THEORY: [Celticonlang] Re: THEORY: Browsing at Borders Public Library

On Mon, 11 Oct 1999, andrew wrote:

> Bengwenid/Benlligad: twin greetings, well-come and well-found.  The
> importance of hospitality.
Hospitality is important everywhere in Kemr. Bednweneth is what you'll get
in the South.  The usual welcome is "bednweneth de ce casille", meaning
welcome (to you) from our poor hut.  The usual answer is "bendicien forry
bhues, y llanttes e le ndomme!", meaning blessings showered on the cows
the children and the house.  If your host is a bit pretentious (or, if
rich, eccentric) you might get "dosforet condeco le mbednweneth li rigi!
dos foront la pociu e la wechtiala achy dhoni maboun achyn mbednweneth
math!", meaning Let there be unto thee the welcome fit for a king! Let
there be unto to thee drink and food and excellent gifts and a warm
welcome!

> ill bethisad: the universe, literally meaning 'the baptised', a hint of
> the understanding that the physical reality is itself sacramental.
Kernu has bethes, meaning world and by extension universe; but not the
interesting connection with baptism (undoubtedly from a different root).
It's a word infrequently met with anymore, having been supplanted by
mundes (world, earth) and unewers (universe).

Some other interesting words:

The most obvious is the name of the language itself and its speakers as
well.  The real (i.e. official) name of the language is Bretadnecca which
like Brithenig and apparently Breathanach as well means "British".  The
ideals of the last century - nation within a nation and the equality of
British cultures - and the struggles that ensued gave birth to "Kernu"
(the language) and "Kernow" (the speakers thereof), which had hitherto
referred only to the westernmost parts of the Province.

"urus" was once a kind of ferocious wild bovine that roamed the land.  In
the west it has been extinct for centuries and centuries, and has thus
been relegated to legend and story.  It is now the "Cattle of the
Otherworld".

"kenams" means an old bone sucked dry of its marrow.  Some strange quirk
of folkloristic fate has given it another meaning: Christmas Feast.

"Combrow" and "Chermen": The Kernow are firm believers in Us vs. Them.  Us
in this case is y Chermen, derived from germanus, and is used specifically
for Kernu speakers.  Them in this case is ils Ystranni, the strangers or
Bloody Foreigners.  That's neat and simple, you might think; but the
Kernow are schizophrenic in one very important way.  That is, there's
another kind of Us, y Combrow, which means fellow countrymen.  Fellow
countrymen includes Brithenig speakers (who are, strictly speaking,
Foreigners, though not really Bloody) and the people of Little Britain
(who, though they don't speak Kernu (and are therefore not Chermen), are
really Chermen at heart), but the term still manages to exclude Bloody
Foreigners.  Which kind of Us any given Kernow is at the moment will
depend upon prevalent economic and political conditions, who's winning at
the rugby tourney and the direction the conversation is headed.

"festa" vs. "festals": derived from the same Latin word, but with
radically different meanings.  Festa is a religious feast, in particular a
Holy Day of Obligation.  Festals is a kind of all-you-can-eat feast,
often held by one of the local kings.  It's not a fair and there are no
races or games, but there is music and song and a good time is had by all.
Kind of like Oktoberfest (at least in parts of the US) where folks get
together for eating, drinking and general merrimaking.

Padraic.

PS for the terminally curious: following is an approximation of how to
pronounce all the Kernu words.  I think it might be of interest, reason
being, the spelling isn't a reliable guide to pronunciation.

bednweneth ['bE~dnwEnET] or ['bE~dwEnET]
bednweneth de ce casille ['bE~dnwEnET dEs kas'i]
bendicien forry bhues, y llanttes e le ndomme [bEndIsi'En foRi 'vuEs i
'hlant e l@~'dom]
dosforet condeco le mbednweneth li rigi! dos foront la pociu e la
wechtiala achy dhoni maboun achyn mbednweneth math [dos'foREt kon'deko
l@~'mE~dnwEnET li 'Rizhi - dos'foRont la posi'u e la wektj'ala axi'Doni
ma'bun axI~'mE~dwEnET maT]
bethes ['bETEs]
mundes ['mundEs]
unewers [unEw'ers]
Bretadnecca [bRE'tadnEka]
urus ['uRus]
kenams ['kEnam]
Combrow ['kombRow]
Chermen [xerm'En]
ils Ystranni [sIstR'ani]
festa ['festa]
festals [fEst'as] or [fEst'ais]

> - andrew.