Page:Morris-Jones Welsh Grammar 0092.png

92 Ar. *uqsō, whence O.H.G. ohso, Skr. ukṣā (Av. uxš- implies &#8209;q&#8209;); the pl. ỿchen (< Ar. *uqsénes, whence Skr. ukṣáṇaḥ, E. oxen) has ỿ from u unaffected, § 66 i.

When any of the above changes takes place in the ultima, a in the penult becomes e; see kedyrn, elyrch, pelydr, Selyf, esgyrn above. o also became e, as gosod ‘to set’ gesyd ‘sets’, liable to become ỿ before st, as Ml. W. ebestyl, ebystyl < apostolī, sg. abostol < apostolus. In Ml. W. the affection extended, as in the last example, to the ante-penult.

i. a and sometimes o in the syllable which is now the penult became e when the following syllable had ī or ĭ (now i or ɥ), except where the ĭ was itself affected to e, § 68. Thus cerydd ‘reprimand’ < *karíi̯o(s) beside caredd ‘fault’, Ir. caire, < *karíi̯ā;—Ml. W. gwedy ‘after’, O. W. guotig;—Ml. W. pebyll ‘tent’ < *papíli̯o < Lat. pāpilio;—Ebrill < Aprīlis;—cegin < coquīna; melin < molīna; etc. In Ml. W. the affection extends over two syllables, as ederyn ‘bird’, Mn. W. aderyn, pl. adar.

(1) Before i̯ the same change took place, and a and o appeared as e in O. W.; but the e was further affected by the i̯, and became ei in Ml. and Mn. W.; thus Mariānus > O. W. Meriaun iii. > Ml. W. Meirẏawn 81, Mn. W. Meiri̯on;—so O. W. Bricheniauc 895, Mn. W. Brycheini̯og;—O. W. mepion xii, Mn. W. meibi̯on ‘sons’. See § 35 ii.