§ 5 The Demonstrative Pronouns
1. Absolute. Hem, hebma (orig. hemma), this, masculine; hom, hobma (homma), feminine.
Hen, hedna (ong. henna), that, masculine; hon, hodna (honna), feminine.
An remma (=an re-ma) is used also for the plural these, an renna for those.
2. In agreement. An—ma, this, these, e.g. an bês-ma, this world.
An—na, that, those, e.g. an dên-na, that man.
The noun is placed between an and ma or na, the latter being joined to it by a hyphen. In some cases when the noun ends in a vowel the m of ma is doubled, and the noun and demonstrative are written as one word:—
an dremma, this town (for an dre-ma); an chymma, this house (for an chŷ-ma); alemma, hence (for a le-ma), from this place.
The same applies to the n of na.
When the noun is preceded by a preposition, an is omitted: war venedh-ma, on this mountain, not war an menedh-ma.
For emphasis, keth (same) is added after an: an keth dên-ma, this very man, this same man.
In very late Cornish, hebma, hobma, hedna, hodna were often corrupted into hebba, hobba, hedda, hodda.
In the Life of St. Meriasek, helma and holma are used for this, and it is easy to imagine helna and holna for that. The explanation suggested in Dr. Whitley Stokes’s note is “helma=hen lemma, this in this place.” Cf. “this here” and “that there” of vulgar English.