§ 3 Pronominal Prepositions
The prepositional form of the pronouns may be applied to almost any preposition, but there are a certain number of common cases in which the prepositions are modified by the composition, vowels being altered or letters being inserted between the preposition and this fragmentary pronoun, either for euphony or as survivals of archaic forms of the preposition or pronoun. The most usual of these modified forms occur in the composition of the prepositions a, of or from, dre, through, gans, with, dhŏrt (earlier dheworth and adheworth, Welsh oddiwrth), from, orth (or worth), at, to, rag, for, dhô, to, war, upon, en or idn, in.
| ahanav, from me. | dredhov, through me. |
| ahanas, from thee. | dredhos, through thee. |
| anodho, from him. | dredho, through him. |
| anedhi, from her. | dredhi, through her. |
| ahanan, from us. | dredhon, through us. |
| ahanough, from you. | dredhough, through you. |
| anodhans, from them. | dredhans, through them. |
Other instances are:—
genev, dhortam, orthev, ragov, dhem, warnav.
genes, dhortas, orthes, ragos, dhes, warnas.
ganso, dhorto, orto, ragdho, dhôdho, warnodho.
gensi, dhorti, orti, ragdhi, dhedhi, warnedhi.
genen, dhorten, orthen, ragon, dhen, warnan.
genough, dhortough, orthough, ragough, dheugh, warnough.
gensans, dhortans, ortans, ragdhans, dhodhans, warnodhans.
and—
ennov or idnov or ettov.
ennos or idnos or ettos.
enno or idno or etto.
enni or idni or etti.
ennon or idnon or etton.
ennough or idnough or ettough.
ennans or idnans or ettans.
There are many various spellings of these words in the manuscripts, and especially there is great uncertainty as to the vowel which precedes the pronominal suffix. As the accent is always on the preposition, the vowel of the pronoun is usually obscure, and there is not so very much difference of sound in the last syllables of dredhov, genev, and warnav, but still there is a slight difference, and there must have been even more in early days.
The older form of the third person plural ended in e or a, anedha, dredha, ganse, orte, ragdha, dhedhe, warnedhe, ynna; but this form became obsolete by the middle of the seventeenth century, and these pronominal prepositions were assimilated to the third person plural of verbs. In this the Cornish began by resembling Breton and ended by approaching more nearly to Welsh.
The pronominal preposition form of dhô has variants for the first and second persons singular and first person plural, dhemmo, to me, dheso, dheso dî, to thee, and dhenny, to us. These are formed by the addition of the personal pronoun in a fuller form. In the cases of the other prepositions it is not uncommon to add the personal pronouns at the end of the pronominal compound, forming thereby a single word with the accent on the last syllable. Thus:—
genev vî, with me, pronounced genavî.
genough whŷ, with you, pronounced genowhŷ.
ragon nŷ, for us, pronounced ragonŷ.
In later Cornish these pronominal prepositions compounds were often neglected, and the prepositions were often used with the second form of the personal pronoun, but this was only a corrupt following of English, not to be imitated.