JSIC] On the Nature and Use of Vowels, 



<)f the Welsh, in connection with other 

 languages, aic brought forward, so as to 

 demonstrate to the judicious inquirer, 

 tliat tliese vocables had very precise and 

 explicit functions, in addition to their 

 known powers, as agents of articulation, 

 and mere oniamental expletives, wliich, 

 general I}' speaking, have been consi- 

 dered their only attributes. 



In agreement with the 7th proposi- 

 tion, wherein it is slated, that every ar- 

 ticulation of the human voice was sig- 

 nificant of an idea in the primitive lan- 

 guage; it will be necessary to show the 

 vowel sounds to he endowed with such 

 a characteristic, independently of their 

 being joined with any other auxiliaries. 

 What is here produced out of the 

 Welsh, it is i)resumed, will appear a 

 ino|:c remarkable illustration of such an 

 Lypotlicsis, tlian can be furnislied from 

 any other tongue : of the seven vowels 

 contained therein, /our are radical, or 

 primary, of which the remaining three 

 are derivatives and inflections. The 

 radical vowels arc a, e, i, o, which are 

 significaot of motion, action, and ap;ency, 

 either past, present, or future; and the 

 derivatives are u, tv, y, which qualify 

 the functions of their parent vowels. 



Thus, agreeably to the preceding ob- 

 jervation, a,.e, i, o, are so many words 

 of determinate meaning ; the a implies 

 motion, in the present tense, a going, or 

 moviiig ; e is the ageyit of the motion, or 

 action ; by i is formed the future tense 

 of the like motion, or action ; and it is, 

 therefore, of the nature of a preposition, 

 agreeing >vitb to, into, unto, and for; 

 and o, in like maimer, forms the past 

 and conditional tenses, being also a pre- 

 position, equivalent to of, out of, from ; 

 and by it the conjunction if is expressed 

 likewise. examples. 



A E I LE DA O LE DRWG : 



He Kill go into a good place out of a 

 bad place. 



El O DY I DY : 



T7iou wilt go from house to house. 



ByDD da I Tl O noi YMA : 



It will be well for thee if thou wilt 

 •ome here. 



Byddai o les I m: 



It would be o/' benefit to u». 



A EI Di a m YNo ? Awn. 



Wilt thou and she go Uiere? We 

 will go. 



'I'o understand the full force of the 

 meaning of these vowel-words would he 

 •f great importance, as gi^ing an insight 

 into the most intricate parts of the 

 structure of languajres ; but the iiJiro 



>ioNTHLY Mas. No. 2««. 



105 



duction of namerous examples, for that 

 purpose, migijt seem tiresome to tho 

 generality of readers ; theicfore, I have 

 endeavoured to answer tlie iutcntioa 

 proposed, by selecting a few of the most 

 appropriate instances of their various 

 agencies and uses. 



Proceeding then with the subject; 

 those elements, having the vocable a lot 

 their source, are the basis of t!ie various 

 accidents of verbs, so as to denote beitif^ 

 &nd action. Thus the word a u, besidea 

 its being the name for the liver, is tlie 

 verb to move, to go: and with which eq, 

 to go, found both in the Greek nnd the 

 Latin tongues, is to be identified. Henco 

 we say av, I will go ; ei, t/wit wilt go; 

 A, he will go; and tiiis verb becomes 

 the termination in forming all others ; 

 as CAR AV, I will love ; cakei, thoii wilt 

 love; CARA, he will love. The Englisk 

 and French auxiliary verbs. Have and 

 avoir, are probably derived from a 

 common source with tiiis, as well as the 

 Latin habeo; but, possessing no ab- 

 stract meaning, as nouns, ia these lan- 

 guages, so as'to be identified with Air, 

 I may be pardoned in suggesting to 

 them an import from the latter, by ana- 

 logy. Av and avu, as nouns, mean 

 the liver; as verbs, AV is to go, or to 

 proceed; and avu, to go on, to accumu- 

 late; again, hav, abstractedly, is growth, 

 accumulation, and thence it is our term 

 for summer: so then, the primary mean- 

 ing of our word HAVU, is to accumulate; 

 of HAVU, to summer; and of havau, to 

 become summer. If with these words w* 

 compare habeo, have, and avoir, do 

 we not discover a connection of idea, 

 accounting for their use as verbs? To 

 pursue this identity further, I shall no- 

 tice another word derived from a, which 

 is HA, intense motion, burst, wrath : — . 

 " Yr hwn a beris yr ha 

 A thrin rhwng Groeg a Throia :" 

 He who caused tlie animosity 

 And conflict between Greece and Troy. 

 From HA is formed hau, to sow; and 

 HAD, a generating state, or seed : and 

 syrth I had, a lapse into a generating 

 state, is a term in the theology of the 

 Druids, applied to a wicked soul, when 

 it fell into the circle oi Abred, or trans- 

 migration, which was the hell of that 

 .system, and in which the Greek Hadet 

 is to be recognised. 



Here I cannot refrain from turning 

 aside to examine the sacred inscription 

 over the portal of the temple of Apollo, 

 at Delphos. It consists of only two 

 letters— EI, and it has hitlierto remained 

 P »Jnexi)lained; 



