§ 7 The Indefinite Pronouns
Nep, neb, some or any.
Neppeth, somewhat (neb peth, some thing), anything.
Nebin (neb idn), some one.
Nebas, somewhat, a little, a few; also used to signify little, few, or hardly any.
Pyupennak (sometimes bennak), whoever.
Pa (or pandra) pennak, whatever.
Papennak ŏl, whatsoever.
Ketep, every.
Kenifer, each; kenifer ŏl, every one, as many as there are. Lhuyd gives a very emphatic form, pebs kenifer ŏnen, which would mean “every single one.”
Pŭb or peb, all, every. Placed before the noun. Pŭb dên, every man.
Ŏl (or ŭl), all. Placed before or after the noun. When placed before the noun the latter is preceded by an: ŏl an dîs, all the people.
Bîth or vîth, any; travîth, anything; dên vîth, any man. With negatives it signifies at all; ni wôr dên vîth, no man at all knoweth; nynsyw travîth, there is nothing at all.
Mens (earlier myns), all, whatever; ŏl mens o, all that there was; cowsens dên mens a vedn, let a man say all that he will. It is generally used as a relative combined with the antecedent “all,” but is also used without an expressed verb to follow it, though in such case probably the verb substantive is understood.
Kemmes, kebmes, as many as, whosoever; kemmes a wrîg bodh ow Thas, as many as have done the will of my Father.
Nîl or an nîl and e gîla (formerly nyl and y gyle) signify “the one” and “the other.” Nîl, originally an ail, the second, a word which, except in this case, has dropped out of Cornish in favour of secund and nessa (=the next), though it remains in Welsh and Breton, signifies “one of two”; e gîla (once y gyle or y gele) literally signifies “his fellow,” from e, his, and kîla (formerly kyle), fellow, companion. Thus:—
Voz [bes] an Frenkock feen parrez tho [dhó] cummeraz telhar wara niel [war an nîl] ha an sousenack nobla war e gilla, for the fine French seems to take place upon the one [i.e. on Breton] and the nobler English on the other [i.e. Cornish] (from Nebbaz Gerriau dro tho Carnoack, by John Boson, circ. 1700).
The same expression occurs in the early Dramas, e.g. an nyl a delle pymp cans, ha hanter cans y gyle, the one owed five hundred and half a hundred the other.
Aral, other, plural erel, is sometimes used for e gîla. It is the usual word for other or another: dên aral, another man.
Another form occasionally used in Cornish for either gender, though in Breton it is only used for the regular feminine of e gîla (e gile) is eben, older form yben:—
Heys Crist a gemeras a’n neyll lêf bys yn yben (Poem of Passion, 178), the length of Christ they took from one hand to the other.
Ken is also used for another:—
Dhe ken pow, to another country; yn ken lyu, in another colour.
Nanîl, neither one, neither of two; it is nîl with the negative, and is sometimes written noniel. Boson uses it in a peculiar way:—
Nanagu [na nag yu] an pobel coth tho bose skoothez, war noniel, nor are the old people to be depended upon neither.
Panîl, “which of two” (see above), is compounded with pa, which, and nîl.
Lîas, many, is used, like a numeral, with a substantive in the singular: lîas dôrn, many hands.
Re, some (see § 5), “ones,” “things,” is used also as a noun: an re marow, the dead; an re bîan, the little ones; ma re a lavar, there are some who say. Cf. Welsh rhai; Breton re.
Radn or ran, part, is also used in the sense of “some.”
Honan, self, is used with possessive pronouns as in English: ow honan, myself; dha honan, thyself, &c.