A Year of Late Cornish

A Bit of a Lesson 1 You will know that a sentence has to have a subject, that does or is something, and a predicate, containing a verb telling the actions or properties of that subject. In English we might say “ He came .” In Cornish that would be “ Ev a dheuth.” We can be a bit more precise about the subject by using a name or a noun rather than a pronoun. Jowan a dheuth.                              John came. Den a dheuth.                                   A man came. An den a dheuth.                             The man came. Adjectives give us more ...

Dedh Naw De Merher, nawhes mis Genver Wednesday, 9 th  January Caletter brâs ew lewern rag gwithyjy yer. Me a glowas lowarnes et ow lowarth e’n seythen eus passyes bes na wrüga vy hy gweles. En pras en ogas, otta disqwedhyans gwrians lowarn po lowarnes. Ma lies plüven gwydn. Thera yer dhe gentrevek e’n pras na. Nebes a veu scattrys ha nebes a veu ledhys. Wor’tiwedh, üdn yar a wrüg dos tre heb trocter, üdn yar aral a dheuth tre gen askell sqwachys ha’n cülyek heb y blev lôst teg. Ma colomednow resek dhe’n kentrevek ewedh. Heb arholas ens.  Foxes are a big problem for poultry keepers. I heard a vixen in my garden in the past week but I didn’t see her. In a field nearby, see the evidence of the activity of a fox or a vixen. There are lots of white feathers. A neighbour had chickens in that field. Some were scattered and some were killed. At last, one hen did come back unscathed, one other hen came back with a broken wing and the cockerel without his beautiful t...

Dedh Eth De Meurth, ethves mis Genver Tuesday, 8 th  January Lies tra ew dhe vos gwelys reb vorr (fordh) po trolergh, po dhorto. Hir ha divers ew an vorr dhort an savla kyttrin dhe chei vy. E’n eur-ma ema lies flour alan wheg, gen sawarn pecar’a vanilla, war ladnow. (Whenn ens, saw wheg na whath.) Nag eus trolergh veth reb radn an vorr, ha nag ew possybyl dhe gerdhes war an ladn. Etho res ew pòrres kerdhes e’n vorr. Terweythyow ma carr war an trolergh, ha ma odhom a gerdhes e’n vorr e’n eur-na ewedh. Many things are to be seen by a road or footpath, or from it. The way from the bus stop to my house is long and varied. At the moment there are many sweet coltsfoot flowers, with a scent like vanilla, on verges. (They are weeds, but sweet nevertheless.) There is no footpath at all by part of the road, and it is not possible to walk on the verge. So it is essential to walk in the road. Sometimes there is a car on the footpath, and one needs to walk on the road then as ...

Dedh Seyth De Lün, seythves mis Genver Monday, 7 th January Pub tra a wrüg mos (ew gellys) tre dhe ûsadow. Nag eus ostyjy dhe nei, pub chambour ew compes hag oll an lien gwily ew golhys (saw nag ewa segh, na whath). En seythen ma me ell gwil o gwrians ûsyes. De Meurth me wra metya gen cothman rag tavas Kernôwek, de Merher me a vedn omweles war o mergh wydn, de Yow e vedh bagas art, de Gwener ma odhom dhebm a bowes ha de Sadorn me a vedn mos dhe Falmeth rag bagas scriforyon. Re bell ew de Sül dhe ragleverel!           Everything has gone back to normal. We have no guests, every bedroom is orderly and all the bed linen is washed (but it’s not dry, not yet). This week I can do my usual activities. On Tuesday I’ll meet a friend for Cornish language, on Wednesday I shall visit my granddaughter, on Thursday there will be an art group, on Friday I need a rest and on Saturday I shall go to Falmouth for a writers’ group. Sunday is too far away to predict!

Dedh Whegh De Sül, wheffes mis Genver Sunday, 6 th  January Degol Stool ew – dewdhegves dedh Nadelik. Wella Rowe (1668-1709) a dreylyas radn an Beybel en Kernôwek – story an Düs Für. Otta an kensa trei vers en y scrifyans ev. Ha òja hedna an kethsam gwersyow en scrifyans modern. Nei ell desky meur dhort anjei adro dhe Kernôwek e’n seythdegves cansbledhen. 1.          Leben po ue Jesus gennez en Bethalem a Judeah en deethiow Herod an Matern, a reeg doaze teeze veer thor an Est tha Jerusalem. 2.        Lavaral, Peleah ma E, yw gennez Matern an Ethewan? Rag ma gwellez gen a ni E steran en Est, ha tho ni devethez tha gortha thotha. 3.        Pereeg Herod an Matern Clowaz hemma , e ve troublez, ha oll Jerusalem gonz eve. 1.   Lebmyn, pa veu Jesus genys en Bethalem a Judy en dedhyow Erod an Metêrn, e wrüg dos tüs für dhor an Est dhe Jerusalem. 2. ...

Dedh Pemp De Sadorn, pempes mis Genver Saturday, 5 th  January Nei a wel lies mater en cartednow Nadelik. Terweythyow ma lymnans a gurl Nadelik, an dewdhek dedh a Nadelik rag sampel. Me a fanjas cartednow gen grügyar en gwedhen peren, ha cartednow erel gen edhyn deffrans – payon, rüdhogyon, godhow, elerhy, colom.   We see many topics in Christmas cards. Sometimes there is an illustration of a Christmas carol, the twelve days of Christmas for example. I received cards with a partridge in a pear tree, and other cards with different birds – a peacock, robins, geese, swans, a dove.

Dedh Pajar De Gwener, pajwora mis Genver Friday, 4 th  January Terebo nessa a wedhen Nadelik! Dha weles a degednow! A'n owr a wolowow! Pres ew dhe dhiswül an garlons Nadelik ha’ga gorra en kisten. Anjei a vedh gwithys bys en nessa Kevardhû. Nag eus odhom anodhans lebmyn - oll agan vysytors ew gellys (ha na vadna vy còrtos bys en Degol Stoul). Creunyores o vy! Radn an tegednow ew pur goth – bloodh anjei ew moy es trei ügens. Cofroyow ens dhort o floholeth. En termyn na thera anjei war wedhen wir gen cantolyow gwir. Keniver bledhen nebes moy ew sqwachys. Gwres ens a weder pur vrettel. Nebes ew pur vian. Till next time, Christmas tree. See you, baubles! Bye-bye lights. It’s time to dismantle all the Christmas decorations and put them in a box. They will be stored till next December. There is no need of them now – all our visitors have gone (and I don’t want to wait until Twelfth Night). I’m a hoarder! Some of the baubles are very old – they are more than sixty years...