syllable, thus *a'm e l- ; the e in Mn. W. may come from forms like felly where the a is affected by the y ; but Bret, has evel also. Ir. amal governs the ace. case.
tnegys seems to be a spv. (eqtv. 1) of the same word corresponding to comparatives in -ach ( < *-ak-aori) ; thus *8'm-dk-t8t6- > megys ;
- sam-dk-i8td- > Ml. W. yvegys G.c. fac. i. The use of megys as a
noun, as yn y megys liwnn C.M. 39 'in this manner', does not prove it an orig. noun ; cf. Mn. W. yr un fel ' in the same way '.
216. Compound Prepositions. This term may be used to denote expressions in which the last element is a preposition, to distinguish them from composite prepositions, in which the last element is a noun. They fall into two classes : i. prep. + prep. ; ii. noun, adv. or pron. + prep.
i. (i) Ml. W. y am ' from about ; besides ', 209 v ; y air ' from on ' ; y gan ( from with ' ; y wrth ' from by ' ; Mn. W. oddi am ' from about ' ; oddi ar c from on ' ; gan ' from ' 211 ii (2), more rarely oddi gan, see oddi gennyf 194 v (3); oddi wrth, now mostly oddnbrth ; Ml. W. 08 is R.M. 151, 172. Inflected: oddi amdano Gu.O. G, 193, oby uchtaw R.M. 141, ete. Ml. W. Si-eithyr S.G. 8 'except', o-bi-eithyr IL.A. 143 'outside'; Mn. oddieithr ' except ', dial, corruption oddigerth.
oddi is itself a compound of o 4- Si ; in Ml. W. it is comparatively rare before vowels : o8yarnati IL.A. 159, but occurs before adverbial expressions as o8yyma S.G. 7, 40, in which, however, it is generally 08- before a vowel, as o8ymma S.G. 4, o8yna W.M. 19 ; this is also the usual spoken form. The -i (mostly t before a vowel) is taken in Late Ml. and Early Mn. W. from forms in which a consonant follows, as oddi draw, Ml. W. obydraw C.M. 46. (oddieithr is for o ddieithr.)
In the Gweutiau dial. 08 was taken from these connexions, and used for o before a vowel, and 18 for i was made on its analogy. These forms occur in late Gwentiau writings ; and Pughe made a determined but unsuccessful attempt to substitute in the written language the new Gwentiau 08 y 'from the', etc., for the ancient o'r, etc., in order to avoid the apostrophe !
(2) Mn. W. er ys, ers 214 vii ; er cyn, as in er cyn cof 1 from before memory ' i. e. from time immemorial.
(3) gor-uwch, gor-is 45 iv (2) ; cyf-rwng 210 viii (4).
(4) The forms odan, amdan, ohonof, 209, are compound preposi- tions, and are often written o dan, etc. ; 209 vii.
(5) The combinations a chan ' having ', Jieb gan ' without having '
are not compound prepositions, because each prep, has its own
