‘gentle’, mw͡ynach ‘gentler’, mw͡ynhau ‘to enjoy’; cŵɥn ‘complaint’, pl. cw͡yni̯on, v.n. cw͡yno ‘to complain’. Similarly the rising diphthong remains rising, the ɥ becoming ỿ according to rule, § 82 ii (5); thus gw̯ɥn ‘white’, gw̯ỿnnach ‘whiter’, gw̯ỿnnu ‘to whiten’.
In N. W. dialects w͡y has come to be sounded w̯ɥ in the penult after c, g or ch, as cw̯ɥno for cw͡yno ‘to complain’; gw̯ɥddau for gw͡yddau ‘geese’; chw̯ɥddo for chw͡yddo ‘to swell’. But original w̯ɥ, which in the penult is properly w̯ỿ, has become w in all dialects, as chwthu for chw̯ythu ‘to blow’, chwrnu for chw̯ỿrnu ‘to roar’, gwnnu for gwỿnnu ‘to whiten’; see § 66 ii.
iv. When a word in its radical form begins with wy the diphthong is the falling one; thus ŵɥ ‘egg’, ŵɥth ‘eight’, w͡ythnos ‘week’, w͡ybr ‘sky’, w͡ylo ‘to weep’, ŵɥl ‘weeps’, w͡yneb ‘face’.
w͡ybr, w͡ylo and w͡yneb are frequently mispronounced; and in N. W. dialects the w of w͡yneb having been made consonantal a g has been prefixed to it giving gw̯ɥneb. This vulgarism hardly occurs before the 19th cent.
- Rhaid im ddŵɥn pridd ar f’w͡yneb[1]
- Rhag bod i’m adnabod neb.—D.G. 307.
‘I must bear earth upon my face, so that no one shall know me.’ See wrth f’w͡yneb D.G. 23, yn f’w͡yneb do. 442.
- Amlwg fydd trŵɥn a’r w͡yneb;[1]
- Afraid i ni nodi neb.—E.P. 212.
‘Plain is the nose on a face; we need mention no one.’
- A’r anadl oll a’r w͡yneb[2]
- Fal aroglau si̯opau Si̯êb.—D.G., 330.
‘And all the breath and face like the perfume of the shops of Cheapside.’ See also g. 49.
- Os w͡yneb[2] i̯arll sy ’n y bedd,
- I̯arll a aned erllynedd.—D.N., c. i 161.
‘If an earl’s face is in the grave, an earl was born last year.’
So always in the Bible; see fy w͡yneb[3] Gen. xliii 3, Ex. xxxiii 20, Lev. xvii 10, etc.; eu hw͡ynebau,[3] Gen. xlii 6, etc. An early indication of the mispronunciation is found in y wynebeu, b.cw. (1703), p. 7, which should be yr w͡ynebeu, but has not yet become y gw̯ynebeu.
v. Final wy is always the falling diphthong; as pwɥ ‘who?’ Conw͡y, Myfanw͡y, arlw͡y ‘a spread’, dirw͡y ‘fine’, llỿw͡y ‘beautiful’,
