An Introduction to Early Welsh - Arthur Pendragon of Wales

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CONSONANT MUTATIONS. u
Vocalic Mutation or Lenation.
14. The history of Welsh lenation has still to be written. In
some respects, particularly with regard to lenation after the verb,
the subject is full of difficulty. In the development of lenation
analogy played a large part, so that to some extent the usage would
differ at different periods. And the fixing of the rules of lenation
for a particular period
is
complicated by the fact that the mutation
is not consistently expressed in writing. The following are the
chief facts about lenation in Mid. W. prose ;
the material is taken
from the Red Book of Hergest.
15. General exception to the rules of lenation. After
final n and r initial 11 and rh were regularly unmutated, e.g. yn
llawen gladly, y Haw = O.W. ir lau the hand. For rh the rule is
seen in Mod.W., e.g. yn rhydd freely, y rhan the part. As rh
was not written in Mid. W. this distinction is not discernible there.
A. LENATION OF NOUN AND ADJECTIVE (INCLUDING NOMINAL
ADJECTIVAL PRONOUNS).
16. (a) After the article.
After the article in the sg. fern, the initial consonant of a
following noun or adjective is lenated, e.g. y gaer the city, yr dref
to the town, y vrenhines the queen. But y Haw the hand ( 15).
(b)
After the noun.
(a) After a noun in the feminine singular or the dual an adjective
is lenated, e.g. morwyn benngrech velen a curlyhaired auburn
maid, deu vilgi vronwynnyon vrychyon
brindled hounds. Also when the adjective is separated
two whitebreasted
from the
noun, e.g. kaer uawr a welynt, vwyhaf or byt they saw a large
town, the largest in the world.
NOTE 1. After the masc. sg. and the plur. lenation of the comparative
is found in sentences of the following type
:
ny welsei dyn eiryoet llu
degach .... noc oed hwnnw no man had ever seen a host fairer than
that KB. 90, 13; na welsynt llongeu gyweiryach y hansawd noc wynt that
they had not seen ships better equipped than they KB. 27, 3.