words, the difference between the words themselves—the closed yn and the open fy—remained, and persists in the ordinary spelling of to-day, as in yn nhy fy nhad ‘in my father’s house’.
v. (1) The representation of the nasal initial mutation after yn and fy has presented considerable difficulty to writers of the language. In Late Ml. W. mss. p, t, k appear unmutated, and fy is treated as fyn; thus yn ty vynntat i Ỻ.A. 35. That this is a conventional spelling is shown by the fact that scribes so rendered forms already mutated in their copies. Thus where a.l. ms. a. has emen i 84, the later ms. b. has em pen. Similarly the r.b. scribe writes down the radical of a consonant mutated in the same passage in the w.b., as vyg̃hof w.m. 104 = vyg̃ cof r.m. 76, vymhechawt w.m. 399 = vym pechawt r.m. 255, etc. Further, the cynghanedd always implies the mutated form; as
- yn-trugareẟ yn r͑ i gwirion,—r.p. 1216;
- o syrth ym-perigɏl swrth a mharawt,—do. 1250;
where ntr is to be read nhr to correspond to nr͑, and mp must be mh to answer mh. In w.m. and w. we sometimes find a survival of the curious transitional form met with in O. W. § 106 iii (4); thus ymphen w.m. 256, vyg̃chret do. 390; vyg̃ khof w. 7b. The last example shows that what is meant is not the voiceless spirant, for χ is never written kh.
(2) The mediae b, d also are frequently written unmutated, especially after yn; thus yn diben w.m. 129 made yn niben in r.m. 202; conversely ymlaen w.m. 54 made ym blaen in r.m. 38; both have ymon colofɏn w.m. 181, r.m. 84. Here again the cynghanedd belies the non-mutation, as in
- yg-karchar yn-daear yn yt,—r.p. 1168,
where we must read yn naear (to give ná/ný as required by the cynghanedd sain). With yn, g is generally doubled, as in yg̃g̃ovot, yg̃g̃wyẟ w.m. 123, but is sometimes single, esp. before w̯, as in yg̃uales w.m. 57; in all cases it is doubtless to be read ŋ. After fy the single nasal is used; thus in w.m. we have vy mot 32, vy marɏf 59, vy mrawt 62, vy-g̃wreic 62, vy ni waradwyẟaw 43; more rarely the nasal and mute, as vym-brawt 51, vyn da 459. It is seen that in spite of inconsistencies, the difference between closed yn and open fy is unconsciously reflected in these spellings.
(3) In mss. of the 15th and 16th cent. the consonant is regularly mutated, and the two words are generally joined; thus in the Report on the Peniarth mss., we find ynghaer llion 50/90, ymyellt, ynghaer 53/126, ymorgannwg 54/37, vymod 54/21, vyngwallt 54/280, ymhob 54/209, vymhennadur 57/27. Sometimes the words are separated; thus yn nef 75/172; ym hob 54/250, 61/18, 67/330; y mendith (’y for fy) 54/78 ; vy nolur 56/72.
(4) Salesbury wrote vi-dew, vi-popul for fy Nuw, fy mhobl, “to saue the word the les maimed,” as he explains (1586 Pb. Preface). G.R.
