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§ 42

In Ml. and early Mn. W. final w after d, ẟ, n, l, r, s was consonantal, § 26 iv; thus meddw̯ ‘drunk’, marw̯ ‘dead’, delw̯ ‘image’, were monosyllables, sounded almost like meddf, marf, delf. Hence when a syllable is added the w is non-syllabic for the purposes of accentuation; thus méddw̯on ‘drunkards’, márw̯ol ‘mortal’, márw̯nad ‘elegy’, delw̯au ‘images’, árddelw̯ ‘to represent, to claim’. The w̯ is usually elided between two consonants, as médd-dod ‘drunkenness’, for méddw̯dod. In 84 we have uetudaud (≡ feẟw̯dawd), but in Ml. W. generally such words were written without the w̯, as meẟdawt,  1217, 1245, 1250, 1269, Ỻ.A. 147; gweẟdawt  31,  1261 ‘widowhood’. The w inserted in these words in recent orthography is artificial, and is commonly misread as syllabic w, thus medd|w|dod, the accent being thrown on the ante-penult, a position which it never occupies in Welsh. The correct form médd-dod is still the form used in natural speech. When final, in polysyllables, the w̯ is now dropped, and is not written in late W., so there is not even an apparent exception to the rule of accentuation; thus árddelw̯ ‘to claim’, sýberw̯ ‘proud’ are written árddel, sýber. In gwárchadw̯ ‘to guard’, ymóralw̯ ‘to attend (to)’, metathesis took place about the end of the Ml. period, giving gwárchawd, ymórawl, which became gwárchod, ymórol in Mn. W.

In all standard cynghanedd the w̯ in these words is purely nonsyllabic:


 * Da arẟelw̯ kýnnelw̯ Kýnẟelw̯ kéinẟawn.— 1229 (9 syll.)

‘A good representation of the exemplar of Cynddelw exquisitely gifted.’ The accentuation of Kýnẟelw̯ corresponds to that of kéinẟawn. Cf. kývarch / kýfenw̯, 1230.


 * I llórf a’m pair yn llẃyrfarw̯
 * O hud gwir ac o hoed garw̯.—D.G. 208.

‘Its [the harp’s] body makes me faint away from real enchantment and sore grief.’