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358

The interrogative meaning of the compound survived in Ml. W. and Early Mn. verse; but the usual meaning is relative. Interrog. pieu in a question is often followed by rel. pieu in the answer; and this may represent the transition stage, as in the case of pan ‘whence?’ § 163 i (6).

When the relative became the prevalent construction, pwy ‘who?’ was used before the verb to ask a question, thus pwy bïau ‘who [is it] to whom belongs?’ This occurs in Ml. W.; as Pwy biewynt wy 83 ‘who [is it] to whom they belong?’ Cf. § 163 v.
 * Pwy bïau gwaed pibau gwin?—T.A., 14998/29.

‘Who has the blood of pipes of wine?’

Relatival pieu sometimes introduces a dependent relative clause, as Dodi olew ar y gwrda bieu y gaer 174 ‘administering extreme unction to the goodman who owns the castle’. But it is chiefly used to form the subject-clause after an emphatic predicative noun, § 162 vii (2), as in ef bieu y llongeu (2) above ‘[it is] he who owns the ships’; Meuryc bevɏr bieuoetud i 225b ‘[it was] bright   to whom thou [sword] didst belong’; a minneu bieu y ẟwy iarllaeth R.M. 239 ‘and [it is] I to whom the two earldoms belong’.

As pi- is itself relative it is not preceded by the relative a, ZfCP. iv 118; see examples above. Cf. also mi bieivu 252, mi bḯau … a thithau bḯau I.G. 318, Dafydd bieuvydd L.G.C. 291, etc. The initial of pi- is generally softened, as in most of the above examples, but it frequently remains unchanged, as E koc a’r dẏsteẏn pẏeu  i 20 ‘[it is] the cook and