THE CORNISH LANGUAGE. 
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(2) What literary remains exist of it; 
(3) How it decayed, and when it died out ; 
(4) What relics of it still exist in common speech in the county. 
The first thing that strikes one about the Cornish is, that it was 
a caseless or almost caseless language. On this there has been 
some dispute. Norris and Lhuyd assert that ancient Cornish had a 
genitive, but the absence of it in ancient MSS. has raised doubts 
on this point. This Cornish genitive was said to be formed by 
changing (a) a into e ; e.g. Mark, a horse ; Ren Verh, a horse's 
mane ; or (/3) e into y or ey ; e.g. Merh, a daughter, An Vyrh, of a 
daughter. 
Some however are inclined to view Cornish, like the other 
Cymric languages, as caseless, and that this Cornish genitive 
(though formed on a system similar to the Irish) was a mere later 
corruption. Otherwise the cases were formed as in English, and 
in most of the modern languages of Western Europe, by pre- 
positions : 
1. Genitive by a ; e.g. Arluth a ras, Lord of grace. 
2. Dative by the or thee ; e.g. the dre, to town. 
3. Ablative by a ; e.g. a vaghty, from a virgin. 
4. Vocative by a ; e.g. a vap. 
The similarity of genitive and ablative reminds one of Greek. It 
is a curious point that in most Aryan languages the dative and 
ablative plural should be similar. Carew mentions the general 
similiarity of Cornish and Greek. 
The articles were : 
a. An, the definite article. 
(3. Un> the indefinite article. 
This produces a quaint effect to English ears, for an implies the. 
Thus Street-an-Nowen (the village near where I live, a part of 
Newlyn) means " The new road i.e. Street = road ; An = the ; 
Nowen = new. 
Pedn an las. Pedn — headland ; Latin, caput. 
An~ the. 
Las = green, ellis, &c. 
The article often follows the noun, which gives a curious effect, and 
presents a difficulty to some Cornish folk, acquainted only with a 
