Revue celtique - National Library of Scotland

194
Etymobgical Scraps.
1. Gosper, «vespers, « from Med. Latin vespera, andpylor, «powde
gunpowder; » for this pluor sometimes occurs formed by regroupingtl
consonants; thus *plu-ver ior pulver = Lat. pulvis, pulveris.
2. Goreu, « best, » hishfearr, as well as goreu (also gomg) « fecit,
from the same origin as FépYov, english work. The prefix gor, earliti
gwor is to be hère added as will be seen by comparing it with the Gauliil
ver as in Vernemeton, Vercingetorix : compare also the name Vortigern.
3. Gwr, « man, » probably stands for an earlier *gwor = *gwe
whereas the plural gwyr, « men, » has suffered no such contraction as
represents *gwir-i : thèse agrée respectively with 0. Ir. fer, « vir, » fi
« viri. »
4. Golch-i, « to wash, » golch, « lixivium,)) Bvelon gwelc^h or gwalc\
« lavage, action de laver. » Probably the prefix gwo, now go, might 1:
added.
5
.
Dichon =: dichwen of which Davies says « corruptè pro dichwain
idem quod damwain et damchwain, » « accident: « dichon now meai
« may be » and is used as a kind of impersonal verb as in Dichon y da)'.
« perhaps or may be he will corne. » 1
6. Diosc, « to strip, » « to undress, « from 'gwesc of the same orig
as, and of a more regular formation than gwisc =5 Lat. vestis.
7. Diod, « drink, » O. W. *diot, probably for *di-wet as proved 1
the Cornish dewes, « drink ; » whether this may further be supposed
stand for "di-wend of the same origin as Lat. unda, Lith. vandu^ Engli;
water, I leave undecided.
8. Ongl, « angle, corner, » congl, « corner, » deongl, « to interp
(a dream), « i.e. literally « explanare, » would also belong hère if v
derived thèse words from Fick's vank rather than from the same orig
as the latin angulus.
9. Olwyn, « a wheei, » evidently is an instance in point as it must star
for either 'velv-ln-a or "yel-în-a of the same origin as Lat. volvo. The
in olwyn, I may add, is a vowel, not a semi-vowel, inourpronunciatioi
10. Eos, « nightingale, » I would treat as =3 *e-wos =; *e-wes for 'r
wend-s or *d-wet-s from vad, vand, whence Greek àfjOwv, à^yr^Bm (H>
sychius), which would thus show a remarkable coïncidence with oi
Welsh Word.
VII
The defmite article in Mod. Welsh is yr (and y) in O. Welsh /;
and, as it occasions mutation of féminines, we may suppose it to havi
been at an earlier period ir, mas., and ira, fem. Now what is the origi|
i