TRACES OF OLD CORNISH. 41 



Whit-neck — (a weazel). Comisli, Codna-gevin, neck white ; 



"Welsh, Bron-wen, white breast. 

 " Beoad " FIGS, as opposed to raisins, " dough " figs. Pryce gives 



^'figes ledan " for figs proper. Cornish, ledan, broad. 



May-month — Maroh-month; the way of putting the word 

 month after the proper name, is probably a survival of the 

 Cornish mode of adding Mis (month) to the name, as — 

 ' ' Mis- March ;" " Mis-Me. ' ' 



Busy all — (to do a thing with difficulty). The Cornish word 

 Bysy is used in the Dramas as a substantitive, (^diligence), 

 but also as an adverb — {with difficulty) cf. '' Eesurreetio 

 Christi," 2105 :— 



'■'■Bysy vye ol an blu" — "■hard would it be for all 

 the parish." 



Fatjt — (fault). This pronunciation is the usual rendering of the 

 word in the Dramas — *' fout." 



Fay ! — (Iss, fay) on my faith. Cornish /y(?A ; later /(3!y ; cf . Origo 

 Mundi — 470; — " Ru'mfey,^^ by my faith. 



Q-RAMMERsow — (woodlousc). I do uot kuow what the Cornish 

 for this annulose crustacian may be ; but the " grammer " 

 must be ''grandmother" ; for the Welsh name is 

 Gtorach y coed — " the old woman of the wood." 



Hel— (the passage leading from the door to the parlour). No 

 doubt the Latin aula, English Hall : but the rendering in 

 the Ordinalia is not Rail, but " Hel " as now used. 



"Out of the Way" — (unseemly, improper) ; cf. Resurrectio 

 Christi, 1465, where Cleophas says to Thomas, " y thesas 

 ow muskegy, yn mes a forth,'''' — '* thou art mad, out of the 



III. Then there are some words — very many, I believe — 

 which we cannot be sure are Cornish ; but there is strong pre- 

 sumptive ground for supposing they are so, from similar words 

 in other languages belonging to the Celts elsewhere. 



Perhaps the usual way, when any curious word crops up, is 

 for the local etymologist to rush to his William's Cornish Lexicon 

 and see if it is to be found ; and if not, then to give up the word 

 as hopeless. Having been guilty of doing that before now, my- 

 self, I can well pardon the proceeding. But we must remember 



