§ 5 Some Idioms and Expressions
1. To have is expressed in three ways.
a. By the verb bos, to be, with the thing possessed as subject and the possessor in the dative form, i.e. preceded by dhô, to; cf. est mihi in Latin.
Affirmative. Ema levar dhem, there is a book to me.
Negative. Nynsyu levar dhem, there is not a book to me.
Interrog. ’Es levar dhem? Is there a book to me?
This is the common form in late Cornish.
b. By the verb cafos or cavos, to find, to obtain, used as an ordinary transitive verb with the possessor as subject and the thing possessed as object. This is not used for the present tense. Lhuyd gives a past tense, mî a gavaz or mî ’rig gavaz, I had, and a future, mî ven gavaz, I will have, but he, Norris, and Williams are all inclined to confuse this with the third form.
c. By a peculiar idiom compounded of a form of the verb bos, to be, and the third form of the personal (or else the possessive) pronouns. The explanation, as far as it goes, of this verb is to be found in Breton. Even there it has been confused a good deal, though its use is plain enough. Legonidec calls it “le verbe kaout [=Cornish cavos], avoir,” which he distinguishes from kavout or kaout, trouver; Maunoir, whose Breton, according to a picture in Quimper Cathedral, was received miraculously from an angel, wisely does not commit himself, but calls the verb, Latin fashion, after the first person singular of the present. Prof. Loth rightly speaks of it as “le verbe dit avoir,” and M. Ernault calls it “Verbe beza [to be] au sens de ‘avoir,’” and he explains it to be the verb to be, combined with the “pronoms régimes,” which is just what it is. In Breton it is not only used as the ordinary verb to have=to possess, but also as an auxiliary verb in the same manner as avoir, have, haben, are used in French, English, and German. This verb came to be used in Breton with or without the nominative pronoun being expressed. In Cornish the expressed nominative pronoun is less usual, except in the second person singular, where it is the rule. That it should be used at all in either language is a sign that in practice the original formation of the verb has been forgotten. Occasionally in Cornish this oblivion has resulted even in the application of pronominal inflections to the verb.
This form is found frequently in the Ordinalia and in the Poem of the Passion; it is fairly common in the Life of St. Meriasek, it is rarer in the Creation, and is not found at all in Cornish of the latest period (except in a doubtful and muddled form in Keigwin’s version of the Commandments), though Lhuyd gives a fragment of it in his Grammar, evidently taken from the earlier Dramas and not from oral tradition, for he takes the g of geffi and gefyth to be a hard g, whereas it is plainly a soft g for a d, as the analogy of tevyth, and of the Breton deveuz, devez, etc., shows. Moreover, it is sometimes written ieves, which is intended to represent jeves.
It will be well, by way of making this form clearer, to give not only the Cornish but also the corresponding Breton.
The tenses that are found are as follows:—
I. The Present.
Singular.
| Cornish. | Breton. |
| 1. [mî] am bes [bus, bues, bues]. | [me] em euz. |
| 2. [tî] ath ĕs (thues). | [te] ec’h euz. |
| 3. m. [ev] an jeves (for deves). | [hen] en deuz or deveuz. |
| 3. f. [hy] as teves. | [he] e deuz. |
Plural.
| 1. [ny] an bes. | [nî] hon euz. |
| 2. [why] as bes. | [c’houi] hoch euz. |
| 3. [y] as teves. | [hî] ho deuz or deveuz. |
This tense is formed on us, eus, es (Breton euz), one of the forms of the third person singular of the verb substantive. To this is prefixed the verbal particle a, with the letter which is the third form of the personal pronoun, ’m, ’th, ’n, ’s, ’n, ’s, ’s, with the peculiar addition of jev and tev to the third persons and b to the others. The ’th of the second person singular is found written in this but not always in the other tenses, for it was probably often silent before f by a sort of assimilation. Its effect is observable in the initial mutation. Of this tense the first, second, and third persons singular and the second person plural are found. But for the existence of the form as bes [bues] for the last, one might suppose, with Williams, that the b of am bes was only the addition of a cognate letter to the m. But cf. the addition of b to oa and oe of the same verb in Breton.
II. The Future.
Singular.
| Cornish. | Breton. |
| 1. [mî] am bedh (byth, beth). | [me] em (or am) bez. |
| 2. tî a [th] fedh (fyth). | [te] ez (or az) pez. |
| 3. m. [ev] an jevedh (for devedh). | [hen] en devez. |
| 3. f. [hy] as tevedh. | [he] e devez. |
Plural.
| 1. [ny] an (or agan) bedh. | [ni] hor bez. |
| 2. [why] as (or agas) bedh. | [c’houi] ho pez. |
| 3. [y] as tevedh. | [hî] o devez. |
It will be seen here and in the other tenses that the pronouns in Breton do not produce exactly the same mutations as in Cornish. The dh of Cornish is always written z in Breton, though that is pronounced dh in some dialects. The whole of this tense is found in the MSS.
III. The Preterite.
Singular.
| Cornish. | Breton. |
| 1. [mî] am bê [bue]. | [me] em (or am) boe. |
| 2. tî ath fê. | [te] ez (or az) poe. |
| 3. m. [ev] an jeve. | [hen] en devoe. |
| 3. f. [hy] as teve. | [he] e devoe. |
Plural.
| 1. [ny] an (or agan) bê. | [ni] hor boe. |
| 2. [why] as (or agas) bê. | [c’houi] ho poe. |
| 3. [y] as teve. | [hî] o aevoe. |
Only part of this tense is found in the MSS., but the rest is easily formed by analogy.
IV. The Subjunctive (or Optative).
Singular.
| Cornish. | Breton. |
| 1. [mî] am bo. | r’ am bezo, bo. |
| 2. tî ath fo, fetho. | r’ az pezo, po. |
| 3. m. [ev] an jevo (for devo, written gefo or geffo). | r’ en devezo, devo. |
| 3. f. [hy] as tevo. | r’ e devezo, devo. |
Plural.
| 1. [ny] an (or agan) bo. | r’ hor bezo, bo. |
| 2. [why] as (or agas) bo. | r’ ho pezo, po. |
| 3. [y] as tevo (written teffo, tefo). | r’ o devezo, devo. |
In this tense the Breton does not use the nominative personal pronoun, except when it is a form of the future, but prefixes r’ (ra). In Cornish re is used to make the optative and perfect, and in this case the ’th of the second person singular is not omitted, for re’ th fo and re ’th fê are the forms found.
A rather doubtful second tense (secondary present or imperfect), equivalent to the Breton am boa, may be conjectured in am beua (St. Mer. 47, 1686), am bethe may be the equivalent of the Breton imperfect subjunctive, am bize, bije, befe, and the third person singular of this may be the an geffa of St. Mer. 20, 159. Dr. Whitley Stokes gives both these forms as secondary presents. There is also a possible pluperfect te ny vea, and nyn gyfye, found in the second and third persons singular.
One finds such forms as am buef, as bethough, may ’stefons, etc., as instances of pronominal inflections added to this verb, showing how completely its derivation was forgotten, and it is further confused by being perhaps mixed up with the verb pewa (Welsh piau, Breton piaoua), to possess, a verb which in all three languages requires rather more disentangling than it has as yet received.
There are very full examples of this verb in Zeuss’s Grammatica Celtica (ed. 1871, p. 565).
2. Besides to have, certain other verbs are expressed with bos and the preposition dhô. Thus:—
Ma cov dhem [pron. ma códhem], I remember, lit. there is remembrance to me.
Ma whans dhem, I want, lit. there is want to me.
Ma whêr dhem, I am sorry, lit. there is grief to me.
Ma own dhem, I fear, lit. there is fear to me.
Ma dout dhem, I doubt, lit. there is doubt to me.
Ma reys dhem, or reys yw dhem, I must, lit. there is need to me.
Another expression for “to remember” is perthy cov, to bear memory. The imperative was sometimes written perco in one word. Perthy is used similarly with other nouns: na berth medh, be not ashamed, na berth own, be not afraid, na berth whêr, be not sorry, an vuscogyon orto a borthas avy, the fools hated him (Passion, 26, 3), na berth dout, do not doubt. The literal meaning is to bear shame, fear, sorrow, envy, doubt, etc.
Similarly nouns and adjectives are used with gan, with, as in Welsh, to represent states of mind. Thus:—
Da yu genev, I like, lit. it is good with me.
Drôg yu genev, I am sorry, lit. it is bad with me.
Gwell yu genev, I prefer, lit. it is better with me.
Marth yu genev, I am astonished, lit. wonder is with me.
Cas yu genev, I hate, lit. hate is with me.
The verbs dal and goth, signifying ought, it behoves, are used either impersonally or, though this is a late corruption, as ordinary verbs.
Ni dal dhen ny / Ni goth dhen ny } we ought not.
Or:—
Mî a dal / Mî a goth } I ought.
3. Gwyn an bês. This poetical expression is common to Cornish, Welsh, and Breton. It signifies, “fair the world,” i.e. happy, and is used with possessive pronouns and appositional genitives.
Gwyn ow bês, fair my world, happy I.
Gwyn dha vês, happy thou.
Gwyn e vês, happy he.
Gwyn bês an den na wrîg cerdhes en cŏsŏl an gamhin-segyon, blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly.
In Welsh, when the possessor of this “fair world” is expressed by a noun, there is a redundant possessive pronoun before byd (bês). Thus Psalm i. begins Gwyn ei fyd y gwr, fair his world of the man. But this is not the Cornish form, which uses the simple appositional genitive in such cases. There is a contrary expression, drôg pês, found in the Ordinalia (Passio Christi, 3089), drok pys of, unhappy am I. In this case drôg seems to put the initial of bês in its fourth state.
4. The following phrases are in common use, and are generally run into one or two words in pronunciation.
Mêr ’ras dhô Dhew (pron. merásthadew). Great thanks be to God.
Mêr ’ras dheugh why (pron. merásdhawhy). Great thanks to you.
Dew re dala dheugh why (pron. Durdladhawhy). God repay to you.
Dew re sona dheugh why (pron. Dursónadhawhy). God sain you.
Bennath Dew genough why (pron. Bénatew génawhy). The blessing of God be with you.
Dew genough why (pron. Dew génawhy). God be with you.
Pandráma (i.e. pa’n dra wrama). What shall I do?
Pandréllen (i.e. pa’n dra wrellen). What should I do?
Pándres (i.e. pa’n dra es). What is there?
Pandryu (i.e. pa’n dra yu). What is?
Pandresses (i.e. pa’n dra wresses). What shouldst thou do?
Fatla genough why (pron. fatla génawhy). How are you?
Trova (i.e. tre o-va), that he was.