Tegyd; labōrem gave llafur; sagitta gave saeth; rēmus gave
rhwyf. This change is called the “soft mutation.” (2) After nasals
p, t, c, b, d, g became respectively mh, nh, ngh, m, n, ng; thus
imperātor gave ymherawdr, and ambactos (evidently a Brythonic as well
as a Gaulish word) gave amaeth (m, though etymologically double,
is written single). This change is called the “nasal mutation.”
(3) pp, tt, cc became respectively ph or ff, th, ch; thus peccātum gave
pechawd, later pechod; and Brittones gave Brython. This change
is called the “spirant mutation.” The tenuis becomes a spirant
also after r or l, as in corff from corpus, and Elffin from Alpīnus,
but lt gives llt or ll. The combinations act, ect, oct, uct gave aeth, aith,
oeth, wyth, respectively; as in doeth, “wise,” from Lat. doctus,
ffrwyth from fructus. (4) Original s between vowels (but not Latin
s) became h, and disappeared; initially it generally appears as h,
as in halen, “salt,” sometimes as s, as in saith, “seven." Initial
l and r became ll and rh, as seen in examples in (1) above, but
between vowels they remained. Similarly initial v became gw, as
in gwîn, from Latin vīnum, remaining between vowels, though now
written w, as in ciwed from cīvitas.
A consonant occurring medially is, generally speaking, invariable in the present language; thus the p and d of cupidus are b and dd in cybydd, but with the initial consonant the case is different. In one combination the initial may remain, thus *oinos cupidus gave un cybydd, “one miser”; in another combination it may have originally stood between vowels, and so is mutated, as in *duō cupidō, which gave dau gybydd, “two misers.” Thus arose the system of “initial mutation”: an initial consonant may retain its original form, or may undergo any of the changes to which it is subject. The names given above to these changes are those by which they are known when they occur initially the unchanged form being called the “radical.” The liquids l and r were brought into the system, the initial forms ll and rh being regarded as “radical.” The initial mutations, then, are as follows:—
| Radical | p | t | c | b | d | g | m | ll | rh |
| Soft | b | d | g | f | dd | — | f | l | r |
| Nasal | mh | nh | ngh | m | n | ng | No change. | ||
| Spirant | ph | th | ch | No change. | No change. | ||||
The initial mutation of any word depends upon its position in the sentence, and is determined by a grammatical rule which can ordinarily be traced to a generalization of the original phonetic conditions. Thus the second element of a compound word, even though written and accented as a separate word, has a soft initial, because in Brythonic the first element of a compound generally ended in a vowel, as in the name Maglo-cunos. The more important rules for initial mutation are the following: the soft mutation occurs in a feminine singular noun after the article, thus y fam, “the mother” (radical mam); in an adjective following a feminine singular noun, as in mam dda, “a good mother” (da, “good”); in a noun following a positive adjective, as in hên ddŷn, “old man,” because this order represents what was originally a compound; in a noun following dy, “thy,” and ei, “his,” thus dy ben, “thy head,” ei ben, “his head” (pen, “head”); in the object after a verb; in a noun after a simple preposition; in a verb after the relative a. The nasal mutation occurs after fy, “my,” and yn, “in”; thus fy mhen, “my head” (pen, “head”), yn Nhalgarth, “at Talgarth.” The spirant mutation occurs after a, “and,” “with,” ei, “her”; thus a phen, “and a head,” ei phen, “her head.”
3. Vowel Changes.—(1) Long ā, whether from Aryan ā or ō or from Latin ā, becomes aw in monosyllables, as in brawd, “brother” from *brāter; in the penult it is o, as in broder, “brothers,” in the ultima aw, later o, as in pechawd, now pechod, from peccātum. Long ī, whether from Aryan ē or ī, or from Latin ī, remains as i, see examples above. Latin ē was identified with a native diphthong ei, and becomes ŵy, as in rhwyf from rēmus. Latin ō and ū appear as u; see examples above. A long vowel when unaccented counts short, thus peccātórem treated as *peccătórem, gave pechadur. (2) Short ă, ĕ, ŏ remain; short ĭ became y; and ŭ became y (with its obscure sound) in the penult, remaining in the ultima, though now written w. But short vowels have been affected by vowels in succeeding syllables. These “affections” of vowels are as follows:—(α) I-affection, caused by i in a lost termination: ă becomes ai or ei, and ĕ, ŏ, ŭ became y, more rarely ai or ei. Thus *bardos gave bardd, but pl. *bardī gave beirdd; episcopī gave esgyb, “bishops.” This change is also caused by -ō, as in lleidr, “thief,” from latrō. (β) A-affection, caused by a in a lost ending: ĭ becomes e (instead of y); ŭ becomes o. Thus cīvĭtas gave ciwed; colŭmna gave colofn. (γ) Penultimate affection: i or y in the ultima causes several changes in the penult, as arch, “order,” erchi, “to bid”; saer, “carpenter,” pl. seiri; caer, “fort,” pl. ceyrydd. (3) In the modern language other vowel changes occur by a change of position; thus ai, au, aw in the ultima become ei, eu, o respectively in the penult, as dail, “leaves,” deilen, “leaf”; haul, “sun,” heulog, “sunny”; brawd, “brother,” pl. broder or brodyr. The last is an old interchange of sounds, and probably the others are older than their first appearance in writing (15th century) suggests.
Accidence.—Welsh has a definite article yr, “the,” which becomes ’r after a vowel, and y before a consonant unless already reduced to ’r. Thus yr oen, “the lamb,” i’r ty, “into the house,” yn y ty, “in the house.”
The noun has two numbers, and two genders, masculine and feminine. A plural noun is formed from the singular by i-affection: thus bardd, “bard,” pl. beirdd; ffon, “stick,” pl. ffyn; or by adding a termination as ffenestr, “window,” pl. ffenestri, with any consequent vowel change, as brawd, “brother,” pl. brodyr; gwlad, “country,” pl. gwledydd. The terminations chiefly used are -au, -ion, -on, -i, -ydd, -oedd. These are old stem endings left after the loss of the original -es; thus latrō gives lleidr, latrones gives lladron; the forms having dd represent i̯ stems, i̯ becoming dd in certain positions.
In some cases the singular is formed from the plural by the addition of -yn or -en; thus sér, “stars,” seren, “star.”
Feminine names of living things are formed from the masculine by the addition of -es, as brenin, “king,” brenhines, “queen” ; llew, “lion,” llewes, “lioness.” It is difficult to lay down rules for the determination of the gender of names of inanimate objects.
Adjectives are inflected for number and gender. Plural adjectives are formed from the singular by i-affection or by adding the termination -ion or -on; thus hardd, “beautiful,” pl. heirdd; glas, “blue,” pl. gleision.
Adjectives having y or w are made feminine by a-affection, due to the lost feminine ending -a; thus gwyn, “white,” fem. gwen; trwm, “heavy,” fem. trom.
The adjective has four degrees of comparison—positive, equative, comparative, superlative; as glân, “clean,” glaned, “as clean (as),” glanach, “cleaner,” glanaf, “cleanest.” A few adjectives are compared irregularly.
The personal pronouns are: simple sing. 1. mi, 2. ti, 3. masc. ef, fem. hi; pl. 1. ni, 2. chwi, 3. hwy, hwynt; reduplicated, myfi, tydi, &c.; conjunctive, minnau, tithau, &c. Prefixed genitive: sing. 1. fy, “my,” 2. dy, 3. i, ei; pl. 1. yn, ein, 2. ych, eich, 3. eu. Infixed genitive and accusative: sing. 1. ’m, 2. ’th, 3. ’i; pl. 1. ’n, 2. ’ch, 3. ’u. Affixed: sing. 1. i, 2. di, 3. ef, &c., like the simple forms.
The demonstrative pronouns are hwn, “this,” hwnnw, “that,” fem. hon, honno, pl. hyn, hynny.
The relative pronouns are nominative and accusative a, oblique cases ydd, yr, y. The expressions yr hwn, y neb, “the one,” are mistaken for relatives by the old grammarians; the true relative follows: yr hwn a = “the one who.”
The interrogative pronouns are substantival pwy? = “who?” adjectival pa? Substantival “what?” is expressed by pa beth? “what thing?” or shortly beth?
The verb has four tenses in the indicative, one in the subjunctive, and one in the imperative. The old passive voice has become an impersonal active, each tense having one form only. The regular verb caraf, “I love,” is conjugated thus:—
Indicative—Pres. (and fut.) sing. 1. caraf, 2. ceri, 3. câr; pl. 1. carwn, 2. cerwch, 3. carant; impers. cerir. Imperfect sing. 1. carwn, 2. carit, 3. carai; pl. 1. carem, 2. carech, 3. cerynt, carent; impers. cerid. Aorist sing. 1. cerais, 2. ceraist, 3. carodd; pl. 1. carasom, 2. carasoch, 3. carasant; impers. carwyd. Pluperfect sing. 1. caraswn, 2. carasit, 3. carasai; pl. 1. carasem, 2. carasech, 3. caresynt, -asent; impers. caresid.
Subjunctive—Pres. sing. 1. carwyf, 2. cerych, 3. caro; pl. 1. carom, 2. caroch, 3. caront; impers. carer.
Imperative—Pres. sing. 2. câr, 3. cared; pl. 1. carwn, 2. cerwch, 3. 'carent; impers. carer.
Verbal noun, caru, “to love.” Verbal adjectives, caredig, “loved,” caradwy, “lovable.”
As in other languages the verb “to be” and its compounds are irregular; the number of other irregular verbs is comparatively small.
Prepositions also are “conjugated” in Welsh, their objects, if pronominal, being expressed by endings. Thus ar, “on,” arnaf, “on me,” arnat, “on thee,” arno, “on him,” arni, “on her,” arnom, “on us,” arnoch, “on you,” arnynt, “on them.” The second conjugation has for endings -of, -ot, -ddo, -ddi; -om, -och, -ddynt; the third -yf, -yt, -ddo, -ddi; -ym, -ych, -ddynt.
The negative adverbs are ni, nid, conjunctive na, nad. Interrogative particles: a, ai. Affirmative particles: yr, fe.
The commoner conjunctions are a, ac, “and”; ond, eithr, “but”; o, os, “if”; pan, “when” ; tra, “while.”
Syntax.—A qualifying adjective follows its noun, and agrees with it in gender and generally in number. It may, however, precede its noun, and a compared adjective generally does so.
In a simple sentence the usual order of words is the following:—verb, subject, object, adverb; as prynodd Dafydd lyfr yno, “David bought a book there.” The verb may be preceded by an affirmative, a negative, or an interrogative particle.
When a noun comes first, it is followed by a relative pronoun, thus, Dafydd a brynodd lyfr yno, which really means “(it is) David who bought a book there,” and is never used in any other sense in the spoken language, though in literary Welsh it is used rhetorically for the simple statement which is properly expressed by putting the verb first. In negative and interrogative sentences this rhetorical use does not occur.
