I continue my notes on Cornish with a short contribution on the feminine noun in Cornish. This continues my notes out of Edwin Norris' translation and editing of _The Ancient Cornish Drama_ which records the Cornish Ordinalia. The notes are being taken out of Norris' observations on Cornish grammar during his exposure to the Ordinalia and written up by him in his "Sketch of Cornish Grammar" in the second volume. These latest notes discuss material on pp 228-229 of the second volume. OBSERVATIONS ON THE FEMININE CORNISH NOUN The first and foremost item to be noted with feminine nouns in Cornish is that the initial consonant undergoes the soft mutation (which I discussed in an earlier post but encompasses the changes: p>b t>d c(k)>g b>v m>v g>- and d>/DH/) after the articles: un venen a woman < benen an venen the woman un dre a town < tre an dre the town un wethen a tree an wethen the tree < gwethen un bous a robe < pous an bous the robe Adjectives following a mutated feminine noun will likewise undergo the soft mutation but more on that later. Norris notes that feminine derivatives of male terms are often formed by the adding of -es to the word. There also is often vowel change as well: (Norris,1968:229) arluth: lord > arlothes: lady pystryor: wizard > pestryores: witch cowyth: a male companion > cowethes: a female companion maw: a boy > mowes: girl -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to Steve Morris and Jim Blevins for your notes of support and interest. Thanks also to Pawl; I received your list of references with great relish. I must close this contribution as dinner is getting cold. Anthony Velasquez Oregon State Univeristy (E-mail) velasqua@ucs.orst.edu ========================================================================= May huth-thaho ow colon agan guryans na'm bo meth. =========================================================================