Page:A handbook of the Cornish language; Chiefly in its latest stages with some account of its history and literature.djvu/191

 172 GRAMMAR IV. THE SUBJUNCTIVE (OR OPTATIVE). Singular. CORNISH. BRETON. 1. mi am bo. r 1 am bezo, bo. 2. // athfo,fetho. r 1 az pezo, po. 3. m. [ev anjevo (for devo, r* en devezo, devo. ' written gefo or geffo). 3. f. hy as tevo. r* e devezo, devo. Plural. 1. y an (or agan) bo. r 1 hor bezo, bo. 2. why as (or agas) bo. r 1 ho pezo, po. 3. [y] as tevo (written r 1 o devezo, devo. teffo, tefo). In this tense the Breton does not use the nominative personal pronoun, except when it is a form of the future, but prefixes r (ra). In Cornish re is used to make the optative and perfect, and in this case the 'tk of the second person singular is not omitted, for re th fo and re 'thfe are the forms found. A rather doubtful second tense (secondary present or imperfect), equivalent to the Breton am boa, may be conjectured in am beua (St. Mer. 47, 1686), am bethe may be the equivalent of the Breton imperfect subjunctive, am bize, bij'e, befe, and the third person singular of this may be the an geffa of St. Mer. 20, 159. Dr. Whitley Stokes gives both these forms as secondary presents. There is also a possible pluperfect te ny vea, and nyn gyfye, found in the second and third persons singular. One finds such forms as am buef, as betkough, may 'stefons, etc., as instances of pronominal inflections added to this verb, showing how completely its derivation was forgotten, and it is further confused by being perhaps mixed up with the verb pewa (Welsh ptau, Breton piaoua), to possess, a verb which in all three languages requires rather more disentangling than it has as yet received.