Chapter XIII Swear-Words and Expletives
Cornish is a disappointing language in respect of swearwords, for it is by no means rich in those “ornaments to conversation.” Except for a few very distressing expressions, now better forgotten, which are put into the mouths of the evil characters in the Dramas, the swears are mostly quite harmless, and even pious. It is not at all difficult or morally dangerous to learn to swear in Cornish.
Surprise is generally expressed by Re Varîa! By Mary! By Our Lady! shortened at times to Arîa! and Rîa! This is used as an Englishman might say “By Jove!” or “By George!” or a Frenchman “Dame!”
If there is an element of annoyance mingled with the surprise, An Jowl! The Devil, may be mentioned with effect, perhaps by those to whom Re Varîa! savours too much of Popery; but Re Varîa! is in better taste. An Jowl may be used, as in English, after words signifying where, what, why, when, to strengthen a question.
An assertion is strengthened by the use of the name of a saint, preferably the patron of one’s own parish (though any Cornishman may swear by St. Michael 154), with or without the particle re, which puts the initial in the second state, prefixed. The title “saint” is usually omitted. Thus:—
Re Yêst! By St. Just! Re Gŏlom! By St. Columb! Re Îa! By St. Ia [Ives]. Re Vihal! or Mîhal! By St. Michael.
A little stronger, for those whose principles will allow them to mention it, is Re’n Offeren! By the Mass! and some bold, bad persons have been known under great pressure to say Re Dhew! In the Dramas, Re thu am ros (Re Dhew a’m ros), By God who made me! (or who gave me) is a more elaborate form of this swear. One also finds Abarth Dew, On God’s part=In God’s name, and in the mouths of pagans, Abarth Malan (a Celtic goddess) and even Abarth Satnas.
Ill-temper is generally expressed by variations on mollath, pl. mollathow, curse. A moderate amount of anger may be indicated by Mollath! or Mollathow! alone, or Mollathow dheugh! Curses to you! or Mollath warnough! A curse upon you! A little more is expressed by specifying the number, generally large, of these curses, Mil mollath warnough! or even Cans mil mollath warnough!
Some, moved by very great indignation, have been known to say Mollath Dew warnas! God’s curse upon thee! and Carew in his Survey of Cornwall of 1602 gives a by no means nice phrase (which he spells all anyhow and translates wrong), Mollath Dew en dha ’las! The curse of God in thy belly! Another serio-comic but rather cryptic expletive, peculiar to Camborne, or at any rate to the Drama of St. Meriasek, is Mollath Dew en gegin! God’s curse in the kitchen! It does not seem to mean anything in particular, except perhaps that one’s food may not agree with one, though it makes quite as much sense as the “universal adjective” of English swearing, and is a good deal less offensive. Venjens, a borrowed English word, may be substituted for Mollath. 156 One finds Mil venjens warnas! and even Venjens en dha ’las! But all these last expressions represent unusually violent states of mind, and cannot be recommended for general use; for if one were to use up such expletives as these on matters of little moment, there would be nothing left for state occasions.
The expressions Malbe, Malbew, Malbew dam, Malbe dam, found in The Creation and in St. Meriasek, are considered by Prof. Loth to be maledictions referring to the French expression Mal beau or Beau mal, a euphonism for epilepsy, so that Malbe dam has no connection with the similar sound of part of it in English, but only means “Epilepsy to me!”
The seventeenth and eighteenth century speakers of Cornish sometimes wished to express contempt or dislike by abusive terms. These often take the form of epithets added to the word pedn, head. Thus, Pedn brâs, literally “great head,” is equivalent to the impolite English “fat-head”; Pedn Jowl, devil’s head; Pedn mousak, stinking head; these three are given as common terms of abuse by Carew. When the late Mrs. Dolly Pentreath was at all put out, she is reported to have used the term Cronak an hagar deu (The ugly black toad), and there are several equally uncomplimentary epithets scattered up and down among the Dramas. But these words do not accord with the polite manners of those who belong to the most gentlemanlike race, except the Scottish Highlanders, in all Christendom, and those Cornishmen who require that their conversation should be a little more forcible than “yea” and “nay” (for which, by the way, there is no real Cornish) are recommended not to go beyond Re Varîa, Re’n Offeren, and an invocation of St. Michael of the Mount, or of the patron saints of their own parishes. What would happen if one were to swear by the patron of some other parish does not appear, but probably, if a St. Ives man were to strengthen his assertion by an appeal to St. Meriasek of Camborne, instead of his own St. Ia, he might be suspected of a wilful economy of truth. The more forcible expressions may be left to the “Anglo-Saxon,” for Cornishmen and Celts generally, even of the lowest position, are not, and never have been, foul-mouthed.
The usual interjections, Oh! Ah! Alas! are borrowed from English. Woe! is expressed by Trew! Woe is me! is Govî! Woe to him! Goev! compounds of gew, woe, with pronouns.
Lo, Behold (the voila, voici of French) is expressed by otta (older forms awatta, awatte, wette, otte=perhaps a wel dî? dost thou see?). This combines with pronouns, e.g. ottavî, “me voici,” ottadî, ottavê or ottensa, ottany, ottawhy, ottanjy. These compounds are often followed by a participle, e.g. ottavî pares, behold me prepared. The distinction of voila and voici is expressed by ottama and ottana.