542 Rev. Mr Williams on one Sowce of the 



still more ancient, or invented a grammar, now peculiar to them- 

 selves. This, although it be simple and scientific in the highest 

 degree, is so completely at variance with all the other grammars 

 of the civilized world that scholars who have to acquire it late in 

 life feel the strongest repugnance to its forms and principles, and 

 are tempted to regard a language more fixed and unchangeable 

 in its principles than any other existing, as more slippery and 

 grasp-escaping than the Proteus of the Grecian mythologists. 



To persons who have formed their conception of verbal roots 

 from the unvarying character of those important elements in the 

 Greek, Latin, and modern languages, it appears strange that these 

 radicals themselves should be continually shifting in form. Let 

 such, however, be assurred that the system is as fixed and regu- 

 lar as that which from 



7v?fiu derives tv-^u r&Tvtpu, tztv^^cci, zrvcpdyv rvfyQwoficu. 



Now, although the grammars of the Latin and Cumrian lan- 



1 Take, for example, the following examples : — 



Pen, a head. — Plur. Pennae. Trod, a foot. — Plur. Traed. 



Ei-Ben, his head. Ei-Drod, his foot. 



Ei-Phen, her head. Ei-Throd, her foot. 



Fy-Mhen, my head. Fy-Nhrod, my foot. 



Gavel, a hold. — Plur. Gaveilae. Cam, a step. — Cammae, steps. 



Ei-Avel, his hold. Ei-Gam, his step. 



Ei-Gavel, her hold. Ei-Cham, her step. 



Fg-Nghavel, my hold. Fy-Ngham, my step. 



Bwyd, food. Carii, to love. 



Ei-Fwyd, his food. Ei-Garii, to love him. 



Ei-Bwyd, her food. Ei-Charu, to love her. 



Fy-Mwyd, my food. Im-Caru, to love me. 



These and such changes never for a moment cause a scholar to confound two radi- 

 cals, which change only on certain conditions and fixed principles. But when a 

 language formed on such a principle breaks up, and a new one is reconstructed from 

 its fragments, and perhaps that of others, we may expect to see such grammatical 

 forms figuring in the new language as independent radicals ; thus, under one of the 

 above described forms, we have three English words : — 

 Bwyd, bait, either for a fish or horse. 

 Ei-Fwyd, his food. 

 Fy-Mwyd, my meat. 



