Wild Wales

第51章

butkutaandcodadhareonlysecondarywords。TheSanscritpossessestheradicalofkuta,andthatiskuda,toheapup,buttheIrishdoesnotpossesstheradicalofcodadh。TheWelsh,withoutpossessinganywordforahillatalllikecodadh,hastheprimaryorradicalword;thatwordiscodi,toriseorraise,almostidenticalinsoundandsensewiththeSanscritkuda。Tillahouseisraisedthereisnohouse,andthereisnohilltilltheNaraorOmnipotentsaysARISE。

TheWelshisoneofthemostcopiouslanguagesoftheworld,asitcontainsatleasteightythousandwords。Ithassevenvowels;winWelshbeingpronouncedlikeoo,andylikeuandi。Itsmostremarkablefeatureisthemutationofinitialconsonants,toexplainwhichproperlywouldrequiremorespacethanIcanafford。

(27)Thenounsareoftwonumbers,thesingularandplural,andafewhaveadualnumber。Thegendersarethree,theMasculine,theFeminineandtheNeuter。Therearetwelvepluralterminationsofnouns,ofwhichthemostcommonisau。Somesubstantivesarewhatthegrammarianscallaggregateplurals,(28)"whicharenotusedinthepluralwithouttheadditionofdiminutiveterminations,forexampleadar,birds,aderyn,abird;gwenyn,bees,gwenynen,asinglebee。"Therearedifferentkindsofadjectives;somehaveaplural,somehavenone;somehaveafeminineform,othershavenot;

themostcommonpluralterminationision。Itissaidbysomethattheverbhasproperlynopresenttense,thefuturebeingusedinstead。Theverbspresentmanydifficulties,andtherearemanydefectiveandirregularones。IntheirregularitiesofitsverbstheWelshlanguageverymuchresemblestheIrish。

Thenumeralsrequiresomeparticularnotice:forty,sixtyandeightyareexpressedbydeugain,trigain,andpedwarugain,literally,twotwenties,threetwenties,andfourtwenties;whilstfifty,seventy,andninetyareexpressedbywordscorrespondingwithtenaftertwotwenties,tenafterthreetwenties,andtenafterfourtwenties。WhethertheWelshhadeveralessclumsywayofexpressingtheabovenumbersisunknown—somethingsimilarisobservableinFrench,andthesamepracticeprevailsinthemodernGaelic;intheancientGaelic,however,therearesuchnumeralsasceathrachad,seasgad,andnaochad,whichcorrespondwithquadraginta,sexaginta,andnonaginta。Thenumeralsdau,tri,andpedwar,ortwo,three,andfour,havefeminineforms,becomingwhenprecedingfemininenouns,dwy,tair,andpedair。InGaelicnonumeralhasafeminineform;certainnumerals,however,haveaninfluenceovernounswhichothershavenot,andbeforecead,ahundred,andmile,athousand,do,two,ischangedintoda,foritisnotcustomarytosaydochead,twohundred,anddomhile,twothousand,butdacheadanddamhile。(29)Withrespecttopedwar,theWelshforfour,IhavetoobservethatitbearsnosimilitudetothewordforthesamenumberinGaelic;thewordforfourinGaelicisceathair,andthedifferencebetweenceathairandpedwarisgreatindeed。CeathairiswhatmaybecalledaSanscriticnumeral;anditispleasanttotraceitinvariousshapes,throughvariouslanguages,uptothegrandspeechofIndia:Irish,ceathair;Latin,quatuor;Greek,tessares;Russian,cheturi;

Persian,chahar;Sanscrit,chatur。Astopedwar,itbearssomeresemblancetotheEnglishfour,theGermanvier,isalmostidenticalwiththeWallachianpatrou,andisverymuchliketheHomericword[Greektextwhichcannotbereproduced],butbeyondWallachiaandGreecewefindnothinglikeit,bearingthesamemeaning,thoughitisrighttomentionthattheSanscritwordpadasignifiesaQUARTER,aswellasafoot。ItiscuriousthattheIrishwordforfive,cuig,isinlikemannerquiteasperplexingastheWelshwordforfour。TheIrishwordforfiveisnotaSanscriticword,pump,theWelshwordforfive,is。PantschanistheSanscritwordforfive,andpumpislinkedtopantschanbytheAEolickpempe,theGreekpenteandpemptos,theRussianpiatandthePersianPantsch;butwhatiscuigconnectedwith?WhyitisconnectedwiththeLatinquinque,andperhapswiththeArabickhamsa;buthigherupthanArabiawefindnothinglikeit;orifonethinksonerecognisesit,itisundersuchadisguisethatoneisrathertimorousaboutswearingtoit—andnownothingmoreonthesubjectofnumerals。

IhavesaidthattheWelshisexceedinglycopious。Itscopiousness,however,doesnotproceed,likethatoftheEnglish,fromborrowingfromotherlanguages。Ithascertainlywordsincommonwithothertongues,butnotongue,atanyrateinEurope,canprovethatithasabetterclaimthantheWelshtoanywordwhichithasincommonwiththatlanguage。NolanguagehasabettersupplyofsimplewordsforthenarrationofeventsthantheWelsh,andsimplewordsarethepropergarbofnarration;andnolanguageaboundsmorewithtermscalculatedtoexpresstheabstrusestideasofthemeta—physician。Whoeverdoubtsitscapabilityforthepurposeofnarration,lethimperusetheWelshHistoricalTriads,inwhicharetoldthemostremarkableeventswhichbefelltheearlyCumry;andwhosoeverdoubtsitspowerforthepurposeofabstrusereasoning,lethimstudyaworkcalledRhetorick,byMasterWilliamSalisbury,writtenabouttheyear1570,andIthinkhewilladmitthatthereisnohyperbole,or,asaWelshmanwouldcallit,GORWIREB,inwhatIhavesaidwithrespecttothecapabilitiesoftheWelshlanguage。

Astoitssounds—Ihavetoobservethatatthewillofamasteritcanbesublimelysonorous,terriblysharp,diabolicallygutturalandsibilant,andsweetandharmonioustoaremarkabledegree。

WhatmoresublimelysonorousthancertainhymnsofTaliesin;moresharpandclashingthancertainlinesofGwalchmaiandDafyddBenfras,describingbattles;morediabolicallygratingthantheDrunkard’sChoke—pearbyRhysGoch,andmoresweetthanthelinesofpoorGronwyOwentotheMuse?Ah,thoselinesofhistotheMusearesweetereventhantheversesofHorace,ofwhichtheyprofesstobeani

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