Transcribed from the 1904 David Nutt edition ,email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
by
HENRY JENNER
member of thegorsedd of the bards of brittany
fellow of the society ofantiquaries
“Never credit me but Iwill spowt some Cornish at him.
Peden bras, vidne whee bis cregas.”The Northern Lass, by Rich Brome, 1632.
LONDON
DAVID NUTT, AT THE SIGN OF THE PHŒNIX
57-59 LONG ACRE
mcmiv
p. ivPrinted byBallantyne, Hanson& Co.
At the Ballantyne Press
H. L. J.
Kerra ow Holon! Beniges re vo
Gans bennath Dew an dêdh a ’th ros dhemmo,
Dhô whelas gerryow gwan pan dhetha vî,
Tavas dha dassow, ha dhô ’th drovyadî.
En cov an dêdh splan-na es pel passyes;
En cov idn dêdh lowenek, gwin ’ganbês,
War Garrak Loys en Côs, es en danskês
Askelly Myhal El, o ’gan gwithes;
En cov lîas dêdh wheg en Kernow da,
Ha nŷ mar younk—na whekkah velêr-ma
Dhemmo a dhîg genev an gwella tra,
Pan dhetha vî en kerh, en ol bro-na;
Dheso mî re levar dha davas teg,
Flogh ow empinyon vî, dhô ’m kerraGwrêg.
GWAS MYHAL.
Scrîfes en agan Chŷ nŷ,
Dawthegves dêdh Mîs Gorefan
En Bledhan agan Arledh,1904.
This book is principally intended for those persons of Cornishnationality who wish to acquire some knowledge of their ancienttongue, and to read, write, and perhaps even to speak it. Its aim is to represent in an intelligible form the Cornish ofthe later period, and since it is addressed to the generalCornish public rather than to the skilled philologist, much hasbeen left unsaid that might have been of interest to the latter,old-fashioned phonological and grammatical terms have been used,a uniform system of spelling has been adopted, little notice hasbeen taken of casual variations, and the arguments upon which thechoice of forms has been based have not often been given.
The spelling has been adapted for the occasion. Allwriters of Cornish used to spell according to their own taste andfancy, and would sometimes represent the same word in differentways even in the same page, though certain general principleswere observed in each period. There was a specialuncertainty about the vowels, which will be easily appreciated bythose who are familiar with Cornish English. Modern writersof all languages prefer consistent spelling, and to modernlearners, whose object is linguistic rather than philological, afairly regular system of orthography is almost p. xanecessity. The present system is not the phonetic ideal of“one sound to each symbol, and one symbol for eachsound,” but it aims at being fairly consistent with itself,not too difficult to understand, not too much encumbered withdiacritical signs, and not too start