The sound is now i, as llinin, dibin, amddiffin, giliẟ, gwreiẟin, etc.; the y written is an etymological spelling. Sometimes it is wrongly written, as in ers meityn for ers meitin § 70 v. This may also occur in Ml. W. as in yr meityn w.m. 17, r.m. 11 beside the correct er meitin w.m. 128, 138, yr meitin r.m. 280, cf. meitin/ffin b.a. 18; dilyt beside dilit w.m. 41.
iv. In Mn. W. ɥ followed by i in some common groupings became i; thus cerɥ di ‘thou lovest’ became ceri di, and ceri supplanted cerɥ as the regular form. So wrthɥf i, wrthɥt ti became wrthif i, wrthit ti, and the 1620 Bible has wrthif, wrthit; so gennif, gennit; but later the Ml. forms with y were restored in writing. [The dialects developed new formations.]
v. The diphthong ɥw is now sounded iw after front consonants: after c (≡ k̑) in cyw ≡ k̑iw (but pl. cỿwi̯on ≡ qəui̯on), after r in rhyw and its compounds amryw, cyfryw, etc., in dryw, ystryw, gwryw, after n in benyw, and initially in yw ‘is’, yw ‘to his’ now written i’w. (Gwryw, benyw, yw ‘is’ are not dialectal forms in N. W., but are sounded with ‑iw in reading or quoting.) Ml. W. nywl r.m. 46, w.m. 64 ‘fog’ is now written niwl, § 37 ii. In distryw, dilyw the ‑iw sound is earlier, on account of the preceding i; both are often spelt with ‑iw in Ml. W. After d and ẟ the sound iw is still earlier; thus ydiw, heẟiw are so spelt in Ml. W. in MSS. where i and y are distinguished.
The only words remaining now with ɥw are bɥw, clɥw, llɥw ‘prince’ and llɥw ‘rudder’ (also sounded lliw), gwyw ‘withered’ in addition to Duw which is sounded Dɥw in Late Mn. W.; and compounds of these lledfyw, hyglyw, etc.
vi. In the Mn. language ɥ in the unaccented ult. is sounded i before ll in some words; as cyllyll ‘knives’, gwyntyll ‘fan’; in some, as candryll ‘shattered’ (lit. ‘100 bits’), both ɥ and i are heard; others have ɥ always, as sefyll. This modification sometimes appears in late MSS.; but is not recognized in the rhymes of the bards.
vii. (1) In Ml. W. u (≡ ü) was unrounded to i after the labial in govut ‘pain’; the usual Ml. form is govut w.m. 138 l. 15; 231; but gofit w.m. 138 l. 4; 131, 141, etc.; Mn. W. gofid.
(2) In a few cases ɥ came to be rounded after a labial; thus pump ‘five’ for an earlier pɥmp, O.W. pimp, bustl ‘gall’ for *bɥstl: Bret. bestl (Bret. e = W. y § 16 iv (2)).
viii. As it was difficult to pronounce unrounded i or ɥ and rounded ü in consecutive syllables, assimilation took place: *iẟunt ‘to them’ (cf. iẟaw ‘to him’) became uẟunt and always appears so in Ml. W. see a.l. i 2; p 17/1 r.; Ỻ.A. 7, 8, 11, 21, etc.; w.m. 6, 26; r.m. 4, 7, etc. The natural sound in Gwyn. is uẟun, though the artificial Mn. lit. iddynt and the analogy of iddo may have influenced the pronunciation of some speakers. Similarly ei became eu, as in r͑eudus w.m. 21, r.m. 13, r.p. 1238 for rheidus ‘needy’; teulu ‘household troops’ for teilu, the form implied in the spelling teylu of a.l. i 2, 12, etc.; eulun often later for eilun, and now sounded eulun. In the reverse order we have Ml. W. Meuruc for Meuric.
