OLD DEVONIAN (DEUNANSEK KOTH) |
The page attempts to give you a very rudimentary exposure to the ancient Celtic language
of Devon as it may have been spoken around the time of King Arthur. Although generally called Old Devonian this language certainly was not limited to Devon and it would almost certainly also have once been spoken in western Dorset and Somerset (and very possibly beyond) and at least in eastern Cornwall, and for this reason it is also called 'Westcountry Brythonic'. It would also have been the language first spoken by the Brythonic migrants arriving in Brittany. This information on Old Devonian is based on (and therefore greatly indebted to) the work of Joseph Biddulph, author of "A Handbook of West Country Brythonic - The Forgotten Celtic Tongue of South West England c 700 AD ('Old Devonian')" (ISBN 1 897999 06 2). The Handbook can be obtained from the author. Obviously this reconstruction involves a degree of uncertainty and educated guesswork (but then again, the same could be said to be true of Cornish) All credit for this reconstruction goes to Joseph, and any errors in the following work are ours. SECTION ONE Before we start we need to understand the sounds of Old Devonian or Westcountry Brythonic. Because this reconstruction is based on the work of Joseph Biddulph we shall try to use the pronunciation he suggested A is pronounced as a short sound (as in the first a in saturday) unless it is found in a single syllable word when it is long (eg 'Tat' is pronounced 'Taat') E is pronounced as in the 'ay' of the English hay - but not too long K C is almost always a hard sound and is written as K F F and V were probably at a common mid point, and are both written as F H pronounced as in the CH in the Scottish loCH TH as pronounced as in the English NorTH DH as pronounced as in the English THen O is pronounced as in the English 'awe' of awful or the 'or' of Cornish R was probably a rolled sound, as used in Scottish English U is normally pronounced as oo as in moose, but when the emphasis is on another syllable it can be semi-silent and merge into the consonants on either side. W is not used as it would have sounded as a U* Y is not used but would sound like (and is therefore written as) I Most other sounds are relatively straightforward for an English speaker. * So the Cornish DEWNANSEK (Devonian) becomes the Old Devonian DEUNANSEK NB The emphasis of Old Devonian is usually on the penultimate syllable. SECTION TWO How to count - here are some numbers 1 UN on its own: UNAN 2 DEU 3 TRI (feminine TEIR) 4 PEDUAR (feminine PEDEIR) 5 PEMP 6 HUEH before a noun: HUE 7 SEITH 8 EITH 9 NAU 10 DEK 11 UNDEK 12 DEUDEK and so on 15 PEMDEK 16 HUEDEK and so on 20 UGENT 21 UNAN AR UGENT 22 DEU AR UGENT and so on SECTION 3 Mutations (life wasn't meant to be easy!). Like all Celtic languages Old Devonian/Westcountry Brythonic had a number of mutations, where the first letter in a word may change depending on its context. For example MAM (mother) becomes AN FAM (the mother). Mutations depend on the gender. For example feminine singular nouns have a soft mutation after AN (the) but masculine plurals suffer the same for persons only. Therefore BENEN (woman) becomes AN FENEN (the woman) DAFAT (sheep) becomes AN DHAFAT MEBION (sons) becomes AN FEBION The general rules are that in these circumstances P changes to B T changes to D K changes to G B changes to F (remember this is a cross between F and V) D changes to DH G changes to GH (or disappears) GU changes to U M changes to F The same mutation applies after DHA (thy/your [singular]), after the word 'his' and a few others. The mutations are not always consistent (but then neither is English), but these are useful rules to know. SECTION 4 Some basic words and sayings DEUNANS Devon BREIDH Britain SAISON Saxon/English DEN Man AN DEN The man MAM Mother AN FAM The mother (remember the mutation) TAT Father (remember the long "a" here) MAP Son MERH A girl LAGAT Eye DOULAGAT Two eyes PIU? Who? PE? What? GER Word/discourse KOTH Old DOUR Water BROH Badger (note similarity to 'Brock') LAFARAF I speak/I am speaking NE LAFARAF I am not speaking LAFARAF DEUNANSEK I speak Devonian NE LAFARAF GER I am not speaking a word GUELET To see GUELET A GUROH You (plural) see DESKI To teach DESKI A GURE He taught DESKI AN GURE He taught him DESKI AS GURE She taught them (note the 'her' form AS) SECTION 5 Some more complex sayings GURANDAU! AN KOLIEK KEN! Listen! the cock crows (sings) TROIT AN MEND The foot of the mountains [note similarity of Mend to Mendips] PENN AN TOR The top of the tor [after all - this is Devon] EITH HENNA DHE DIR ARAL He went to a different land AN KANT BLEDH MAN These hundred years And the Lords Prayer might look a little like this HAGON TAT SO IN NEFOU, SANKTEDHIT BEDHET DHE HANU, DEFU DHE RUANTELETH, DHE FODH GWRAET BEDHET EN DOAR FEL EN NEF, ROIT DHEN HEDHIU HAGON BARA PEB DEDH, HAK (pardon) DHEN HAGON KAMUEDH, FEL (we pardon) DHEN RE-NA (who) HAGON KAMUOL, HAK NA EN TENTATION, MAT DELIURIT NI DHERAK DRUK. AMEN! (we stress this is based on Joseph Biddulph's work, which provides a number of caveats, alternatives and gaps. The website authors have amended his work) And so that is a very brief introduction to OLD DEVONIAN/DEUNANSEK KOTH - we hope to add more at a later date. For those interested in learning more, and possibly returning this ancient language to the realms of the living here is a link to a discussion group. Try a few phrases in 'Deunansek Koth'. Explore! Question! It is only by use that this language will again explore new boundaries! return to homepage |