Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

FOURTH SERIES.—VOL. XIII, NO. XLIX. JANUARY 1882. COMPARISON OF CELTIC WORDS FOUND IN OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE and ENGLISH DIALECTS with MODERN CELTIC FORMS. PART III. The remaining part of our investigation will treat mainly of the consonantal differences between Anglo- Celtic words and their equivalents in modern Celtic. Our task here will be easier than in discussing the vowel-changes, because the consonantal systems, or modes of expression, do not differ so widely in the Eng¬ lish and Celtic tongues as the vocalic; nor is there any reason to suppose that in this department so many Anglican changes have been made in course of time as in the other. Before beginning, however, to treat of consonantal changes, we may turn aside for a while to consider the changes that have been wrought in the languages them¬ selves. A constant process of change goes on in all languages, from various causes; new words are brought in from allied or other sources; words that belonged to the primitive stock, and were retained to a given age, become at length obsolete. In some instances the mean¬ ing is lost; but whether the meaning has been retained in some old vocabulary, or has altogether passed away, 4th sjer., vol. xiu. 1