An Introduction to Early Welsh - Arthur Pendragon of Wales

35-]
THE ADJECTIVE. 27
dec a fair woman, arveu trymyon heavy arms.
In Celtic, when
the adjective preceded,
it formed a compound with the noun, e.g.
Gaulish Cambo-dunum, which would in W. be *cam-din,
O.Brit. Cuno-maglos lit. lofty chief = W. Cynvael, W. hen-dyn
old man (
= Ir. sen-duine) from *seno-dunyos, W. prif-dinas
chief city (cf. Ir. prim-dun chiefforf), W. hen-wrach old hag, which
would in Irish be *sen-fracc. From this principle W. has departed
in that, under conditions the details of which have still to be
investigated, the inflected adjective may precede the noun, e.g.
bolch-lauyn a cutting blade MA. 263*, gwen Haw white hand
MA. i53
b
, amryvaelon gerdeu various songs.
(b)
In various phrases the noun with the preposition o, a follows
the adjective, e.g. ys drwc a gedymdeith
been a sorry comrade, bychan a dial oed an lloski
a uuost di thou hast
were a small revenge, ys dyhed O beth it is a strange thing.
ni our burning
THE PREDICATIVE NOUN AND ADJECTIVE
WITH YN.
35. A predicative noun or adjective is often preceded by yn
(lenating), e.g. gwedy llosci canhwyll ohonei yn oleuat idaw after she
had lighted a candle as a light to him, mi ath roessum yn wreic y
Uanawydan / have given thee as a wife to
Manawyddan, ych gelwir
chwi yn Grystonogyon ye are called Christians, neum goruc yn
oludawc he has made me wealthy, a phob ty a welei yn llawn o
win and every house he saw full of wine, yd oed ef yn holliach he
was quite well, un a welei yn amdrom one (fem.) he saw very
heavy, paham y maent hwy yn varw o newyn why are they dead
with hunger? mi a wnaf seith cant ohonawch yn ueirw / will
make seven hundred ofyou dead men, an gunel in rit may He make
us free, eu gwneuthur yn rydyon to make them free, eu clusteu yn
gochyon their ears red, eu harwydyon yn purwynn their
standards pure white. The concord after the feminine and the
plural still needs investigation.