verbs with stems ending in ‑og, as ysgyg D.G. 370 ‘shakes’ (though we have ennic c.m. 13 from annoc ‘incite’). In other cases the sound is ig. The late Mn. spellings meddyg, tebyg etc., are purely artificial, deduced from meddỿgon, tebỿgu etc. A few words of this class are still written phonetically, as cerrig.
The sound was ɥ in Early Ml. W. as shown by the rhyme cerryg / plyg C. m.a. i 241, and the assonance metic / bid b.b. 76 (≡ meẟɥg / bɥd); and ỿ the mutation of ɥ remains in the penult. Hence we have two forms: (1) ‑ig for ‑ɥg < ‑ĭc‑, which becomes ‑ỿg- in the penult; (2) ‑ig for ‑ig < ‑īc‑, which is ‑ig- in the penult. Thus (1) meddig < Lat. medĭcus, pl. meddỿgon, (2) lleithig < Lat. lectīca, pl. lleithigeu. In Mn. W. one or two words of the second class have passed over to the first: perigl ‘danger’ < Lat. perīc’lum; cynnig ‘to offer’ < Lat. condīco, though still sounded perigl, cynnig are written perygl, cynnyg because, by false analogy, derived forms have come to be sounded with ỿ as perỿglus, cỿnỿgi̯af. In Ml. W. the penult had i in these, as periglwys r.b.b. 44–5, periglus Ỻ.A. 146, berigleu r.b.b. 121, gynigwyt w.m. 168, gynnigẏwyt r.M. 234, kynnigẏwys do. 144.
ii. ɥ becomes i in the unaccented ult. in some cases after g or ng; thus ergyt w.m. 110, 111 ‘shot’; ergit r.m. 80, 81, r.b.b. 42, now ergid (written ergyd); efengil R.Ỻ., f. 5, E.P. 278 ‘gospel’; so sounded now though written efengyl; megis / dis, D.G. 315; cregin for *cregyn. But as a rule ɥ remain ; egyr ‘opens’, diogyn ‘idler’, negydd ‘denier’, dengys ‘shows’, are so pronounced, owing to the influence of analogical forms without g or ng.
iii. In the same position ɥ frequently becomes i after penultimate i or ei; thus llinɥn w.m. 75 ‘string’, but llinin four lines earlier, also 78, llinin r.m. 54, 56 (each time), dibin c.m. 91 ‘hang’, amẟiffin p 21/1 r. ‘to defend’, gwlithin w.m. 455, r.m. 102 ‘dewdrop’, giliẟ w.m. 9, 134 ‘other’, origin Ỻ.A. 122 ‘a moment’, (double dim. of awr ‘hour’), dilin d.g. 343 ‘to follow’.
- Derfel wrth ryfel a thrin
- Dewr oedd, a da i wreiddin.—D.I.D., g. 178.
‘He was a brave Derfel in war and encounter, and of good stock.’
- Herwydd nas gwnai ddyhirin
- Fentri̯o i oes o fewn trin.—S.T., g.r. 369.
‘Because a dastard would not risk his life in battle.’
But analogy has always tended to preserve the termination ‑yn:
- Ysbys y dengys y dŷn
- O ba radd y bo i wreiddɥn.—T.A., f. 33.
‘Plainly does a man show of what degree his origin is.’
- O chyrch dyrfa, deca’ dŷn,
- Daw i’w harail dihirɥn.—D.G., 173.
‘If she hies to a gathering, fairest maid, a knave comes to watch her.’
