§ 3 The Cases of Nouns
All cases except the genitive and accusative are formed by prepositions, as in English. Of these prepositions some govern one state of the initial and some another, as will be seen in the chapter on prepositions, but when the article an, the, comes between the preposition and the noun, the initial is not changed by the preposition, but only, if at all (in the case of a feminine singular or masculine plural), by the article.
The genitive, by which must here be understood (in its old-fashioned sense) all those conditions under which a noun would in English be preceded by of, or followed by ’s, is formed in four ways, each of which has a different meaning.
1. The genitive of possession is the appositional genitive. This is formed by placing the noun that is in the genitive immediately after the noun which it qualifies, or, if the former has the definite article, or is qualified by a possessive pronoun or prefixed adjective, with only these intervening. No change of initial is made, 81 except the usual change of feminine singular or masculine plural nouns after an, or the changes caused by possessive pronouns, etc. The first of the two nouns must have no article. Thus:—
chŷ dên, the house of a man, or a man’s house.
chŷ an dên, the house of the man, or the man’s house.
chŷ benen, the house of a woman.
chŷ an venen, the house of the woman.
But not an chŷ an dên or an chŷ an venen.
If there is a succession of genitives, only the last noun can have an article. Thus:—
darras chŷ gour an venen, the door of the house of the husband of the woman.
2. The inflected genitive. This, which only exists, and that doubtfully, in the case of a few words, is formed by the modification of the root vowel. It is one of the common genitives of the Gaelic dialects, and as such is important, for it is not recognised in Welsh or Breton. Lhuyd gives five instances of it—margh, a horse, gen. mergh; mergh, a daughter, gen. myrgh; pen, a head, gen. pyn (used only in the quasi-preposition erbyn, against); whêl, work, gen. wheyl; crês, midst, gen. creys, but even these were very seldom used, and only probably in a few expressions. It would seem that the initial of the genitive word should in this case be in the second state. Thus:—
rên vergh, a horse’s mane.
3. The genitive of attribution, quality, origin, or quantity, denoted in English by the preposition of, but not expressible also by the possessive in ’s, though in many cases an adjective might be substituted for it, is expressed in Cornish by the preposition a, which puts the initial in the second state. Thus:—
a. Quality. Arledh a ’ras, Lord of grace; an Matern a wordhyans, the King of glory.
b. Origin. an Tâs an Nêv, the Father of Heaven (cf. Pater de cælis Deus, translated in the English Prayer-book, “O God, the Father of Heaven”); dên a Gernow, a man of Cornwall.
c. Quantity. Words denoting number, quantity, etc., generally adjectives or numerals, may be followed by this form of genitive. Thus:—
lên a ’ras, full of grace.
lower a ŷs, plenty of corn.
milyow a bensow, thousands of pounds.
4. The genitive of material is rather the use of a noun as an adjective. It differs from the appositional genitive in that the first noun may have the article before it, and the second does not, and that if the first noun be feminine singular, the initial of the second noun is in the second state. Thus:—
tolyer predn, a platter of wood.
tre bredn, a town of wood.
The accusative or objective is usually the same as the nominative, but it is to be remembered that there are a certain number of verbs which in English are followed directly by an accusative, but in Cornish require the intervention of a preposition.
The vocative is preceded by a, which signifies O, or by a personal pronoun. The initial after a and sometimes after the pronoun changes to the second state. Thus:—
mab, son; a vab, O son.
benen, woman; a venen, O woman; ti venen, thou woman.
why princis (Res. Dom., iii. 124), ye princes.