2022 · open round · I · 15 points

A Cornish Conundrum

Babette Verhoeven · phonology · morphology · table completion

Cornish (known in Cornish as Kernewek) is the Celtic language of the county of Cornwall (Kernow) in South West England. It stopped being actively spoken in the late 1700s, but knowledge of the language survived, and since the early 1900s, attempts have been made to revive it. Currently, there is a growing number of second language speakers, as well as some children who are being brought up speaking Cornish.

I1. Complete the table below by filling in the gaps with the correct Cornish words. For the singular English word “frog”, the definite singular is “the frog”, the plural is “frogs”, and the definite plural is “the frogs”.

Singular	Definite Singular	Plural	Definite Plural	Meaning
benyn	an venyn	benenes	an benenes	‘woman’
gwarier	an gwarier	gwarioryon	an warioryon	‘male actor’
kares	an gares	karesow	an karesow	‘girlfriend’
pennsevik	an pennsevik	pennsevigyon	an bennsevigyon	‘prince’
kwilkyn	an kwilkyn	kwilkynyow	an kwilkynyow	‘frog’
davas	an dhavas	deves	an deves	‘sheep’
tiek	an tiek	tiogow	an diogow	‘male farmer’
gweli	an gweli	gweliow	an gweliow	‘bed’
mowes	an vowes	mowysi	an mowysi	‘girl’
pluven	an bluven	pluvennow	an pluvennow	‘pen’
dehen	an dehen	dehennow	an dehennow	‘cream’
dama	an dhama	damyow		‘mother’
	an gasek		an kasegi	‘mare’ (female horse)
kulyek	an kulyek	kulyoges		‘cockerel’ (young male chicken)
myghtern		myghternedh	an vyghternedh	‘king’
myghternes		myghternesow		‘queen’
tas		tasow		‘father’
bogh		boghes		‘billy-goat’ (male goat)
banow		banowes		‘sow’ (female pig)
badh	an badh		an badhes	‘boar’ (male pig)
tevesik			an devesigyon	‘adult man’
pons	an pons	ponsyow		‘bridge’
maw	an maw		an vebyon	‘boy’
	an desen	tesennow	an tesennow	‘cake’
	an tarow	terewi	an terewi	‘bull’ (male cow)

Here are some additional Cornish words and phrases:

Cornish	English
war bons glas	‘on a blue bridge’
war bons perfydh	‘on a perfect bridge’
war desennow perfydh	‘on perfect cakes’
pal drosek	‘noisy spade’ (a spade is a small shovel)
men teg	‘beautiful stone’
pel	‘ball’
war vyghternedh berfydh	‘on perfect kings’
an bal byhan	‘the small mine’
bys bras	‘thumb’
penn daras	‘lintel’ (a horizontal beam over the top of a door)
daras melyn	‘yellow door’
bys troos	‘toe’
war grogen benn	‘on a skull’
war dhas deg	‘on a beautiful stack’
bys byhan	‘pinky finger’
bran bollek	‘intelligent crow’
an badhes tronek	‘the curious boars’
war dhavas	‘on a sheep’
rudhvelyn	‘orange’ (adjective)
war bluven berfydh	‘on a perfect pen’
pel droos	‘football’
krogen wynnrudh	‘pink shell’
duwes bollek	‘intelligent goddess’
gwariores dronek	‘curious actress’
bran drosek	‘noisy crow’
war weliow glasrudh	‘on purple beds’

I2. Fill in the blanks in the table below:

Cornish	English
	‘the finger’
	‘on a beautiful cake’
	‘on a door’
an bal berfydh
das
war das

I3. Some people believe that the English word for a certain animal comes from a phrase meaning "white head" in Welsh, a language that is closely related to Cornish. What is this animal? Write your answer in English.

The rest of the questions are below, under Questions.

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Questions

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Some people believe that the English word for a certain animal comes from a phrase meaning "white head" in Welsh, a language that is closely related to Cornish. What is this animal? Write your answer in English.

The animal:

Explanation

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