‘lions’, maroryn Ỻ.A. 25 for marworyn D.G. 363 ‘ember’, it generally remained in these words. Late examples of its loss: Ml. W. etwo (varying with etwa by § 34 iv) gives etto r.p. 1357, Mn. W. eto (≡ etto) ‘again’. So penwag became *penwog whence pennog ‘herring’, the pl. retaining the w̯: penw̯aig L.G.C. 158, Ml. W. penw̯eic a.l. i 66.
*gwolchi ‘to wash’ gave golchi, whence gylch ‘washes’; but in Ml. W. the latter was gwylch, as y dwfvyr a wylch pob peth Ỻ.A. 18 ‘water washes everything.’
- Môr a wylch mwyn amgylch Môn.—Ca., r.p. 1244.
‘The sea washes the sweet coast of Môn.’
iv. i̯ drops before w̯ owing to the extreme difficulty of pronouncing the combination, but it remains before vocalic w; thus gweithi̯wr ‘worker’, gweithi̯w͡yd ‘was worked’, but gweithw̯ɥr ‘workers’ (not *gweithi̯w̯ɥr).—Of course vocalic i remains in all cases: ysbī́-wr ‘spy’, pl. ysbī́-w̯ɥr.
v. i̯ drops after w̯ following a consonant, or following a diphthong; thus ceidw̯ad for *ceidw̯i̯ad ‘keeper, saviour’, geirw̯on for *geirw̯i̯on, pl. of garw̯ ‘rough’, hoyw̯on for *hoyw̯i̯on, pl. of hoyw̯ ‘sprightly’. But when w̯ follows a simple vowel the i̯ remains, as in glew̯i̯on, pl. of glew ‘bold’, glaw̯i̯o ‘to rain’.
It is kept in gw̯i̯alen when contracted (as in D.G. 60) for gw̯i|á|len, § 75 vi (2).
vi. i̯ drops after u, as in duon for *dui̯on, pl. of du ‘black’, goreuon for *goreui̯on pl. of goreu ‘best’.
vii. i̯ drops after r or l following a consonant, as meidrol for meidri̯ol ‘finite’ (veidrẏawl r.p. 1233, veidrawl do. 1234), budron for *budri̯on, pl. of budr ‘dirty’, crwydrad for crwydri̯ad ‘wanderer’, meistraid for meistri̯aid ‘masters’, teimlo for *teimli̯o ‘to feel’, treiglo for treigli̯o ‘to roll’.
This rule is not always observed. In some late Bibles crwydrad has been altered into crwydriad. We also find meistriaid in Mn. W.; dinistri̯o always retains i̯, and mentri̯o occurs for mentro.
Ambiguous Groups.
§ 37. i. As above noted iw in ordinary writing represents both the rising diphthong i̯w and the falling diphthong iw̯.
