Cornish curiosity

Unknown
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edited April 2022 in General Chat #1
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  • ABM
    ABM Forum Participant Posts: 14,578
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    edited May 2022 #2

    Could it be a sarcastic reference to the visitors standard of driving perhaps  undecided

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,134 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2022 #3

    Sorry, I can’t really help, WTG. Local dialect often drops the letters T or D as in "didn ee me ansum" *. Maybe that has some bearing on it🤷🏻‍♂️

    * Didn’t you, my 'affectionate term of your choice'.

  • Unknown
    Unknown Forum Participant
    edited May 2022 #4
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  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited May 2022 #5

    I sometimes take a little book to Cornwall that translates the meanings of words, some words merge in strange ways. Tintagel = Din - Tagell. The word Din can mean fort or rocks or even hill and it's the same elsewhere thanks to our old languages. Just to throw a spanner in the works not far from us we have Tintinhull and Tintinhull Forts.

    In Cornish Tintagel is sometimes called Trevena, Tintagel came a lot later. wink

  • Unknown
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    edited May 2022 #6
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  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited May 2022 #7

    The people who built the Tower of Babel have much to answer for.

  • mickysf
    mickysf Forum Participant Posts: 6,474 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2022 #8

    Nothing to do with Cornish I know but in Lincolnshire the old Shepherds counted their flock using this language/number system. We were taught it in junior school. 

    1 Yan
    2 Tan
    3 Tethera
    4 Pethera
    5 Pimp
    6 Sethera
    7 Lethera
    8 Hovera
    9 Covera
    10 Dik
    11 Yan-a-dik
    12 Tan-a-dik
    13 Tethera-dik
    14 Pethera-dik 
    15 Bumfit 

    and so it goes on.

    Wonder how the Cornish counted their sheep?

     

  • mickysf
    mickysf Forum Participant Posts: 6,474 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2022 #9

    We school boys laughed at 10 and15 but in our defence we were young!🤪🤣

  • nelliethehooker
    nelliethehooker Club Member Posts: 13,636 ✭
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    edited May 2022 #10

    micky et al, it isn't just in your counties that those number names are used it also applies across Cumbria, with variations depending on the local area.

    https://www.liquisearch.com/cumbrian_dialect/cumbrian_numbers#:~:text=Cumbrian%20Dialect%20-%20Cumbrian%20Numbers%20%20%20,%20%20peswar%2Fpeder%20%208%20more%20rows%20

     

  • Metheven
    Metheven Club Member Posts: 3,987 ✭✭✭
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    edited July 2022 #11

    My granddaughter is into the Cornish language, me I don't have a clue although being Cornish myself. She replies but I'm not certain I explained clearly to her: frown

    Quote "Mutations are really common in all Celtic languages, but from my understanding in Kernewek ‘T’ is regularly mutated to D. This is usually determined by the noun (in this case ‘Tintagel’)’s indefinite article (‘a’, ‘an’) etc. so it’s really determined by what comes before it. 

    Some words have more than one mutation which gets confusing 🤣 

    For example: ‘cat’ is ‘kath’ in Kernewek. 

    But two cats is ‘gath’

    Three cats is ‘hath’

    Four cats is ‘kath’ again 🤣

    Also for interest. It’s a mutation of the English ‘Tintagel’. The Kernewek for Tintagel is ‘Tre war Venydh’ which means ‘village on a mountain’"

    She followed up with:

    Quote " I thought it was a mutation because in the Cornish language, T is regularly mutated to D, but that's usually caused by an indefinite article. But I believe the Cornish 'Tintagel' is 'Dintagel' deriving from 'din' (fort) and 'tagel' (neck, throat, narrow)"

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,134 ✭✭✭
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    edited July 2022 #12

    Wow! 😃👍🏻

  • Metheven
    Metheven Club Member Posts: 3,987 ✭✭✭
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    edited July 2022 #13

    She's only started learning the language last year, so quite proud of her.smile

    Whether it answered WTGs poser, I still don't know laughing

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,134 ✭✭✭
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    edited July 2022 #14

    Good for her! There are attempts afoot to revive Kernewek, as I’m sure you know.

  • Unknown
    Unknown Forum Participant
    edited July 2022 #15
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