Note.—Reversion has puzzled writers of the late modern period, and lexicographers. adain was used regularly by the Early Mn. bards; but the Bible has aden, deduced from the pl. adenydd; from aden a spurious pl. edyn was formed, which seems to occur first in E.P., ps. lvii 1, but did not make its way into the spoken language. In the 1620 Bible ceneu is, by a slip, correctly written in Esa. xi 6, elsewhere it is carefully misspelt cenew; in later editions this became cenaw, an impossible form, since ‑aw could not affect the original a to e; see § 76 v (5). On athro, misspelt athraw, see ibid. Pughe gives eleined as the pl. of elain, and actually asserts that the pl. of gwraig is gwreigedd! He also invented the singulars rhian, edan. Silvan Evans s.v. celan notes this; but himself inserts the equally spurious dagr ‘tear’ and deigron ‘tears’. In his Llythyraeth p. 17 he attempted to change the spelling of Saeson to Seison.
iv. Exchange of ultimate for penultimate affection: Ml. W. bugeil, bugelyẟ, Mn. W. adain, adenydd § 122 iii (2); Ml. W. gwelleu r.m. 123, w.m. 483, ‘shears’, Mn. W. gwellau, pl. gwelleifiau, new lit. sg. gwellaif § 76 vii (1).
v. Anomalous changes: (1) morw͡yn ‘virgin’, pl. morỿnion b.b. 61, morynẏon w.m. 99, Ỻ.A. 109, r.b.b. 70. This was altered to morwynion in the Bible, but persists in the spoken language as m’rỿni̯on. Note the double rhymes in
- Lleẟɏf englỿnẏon lliw r͑os gwỿnnẏon,
- lloer morỿnẏon llawr Meirẏonyẟ.—I.C. r.p. 1287.
‘Sad verses [to her of] the colour of white roses, the moon of the maidens of the land of Merioneth.’
The same change occurs in blw͡yddyn, pl. blỿnedd § 122 iv (2).
This change seems to be due to the survival in Brit. under different accentuations of two R-grades of ēi, namely R1e ei, and R2 i, § 63 vii (5). Thus morw͡yn < Brit. *moréini̯ō < *marei- < *mₑrei‑; morỿni̯on < Brit. *morini̯ónes < *mₑri‑, √merēi‑: Lat. marī-tus < *mₑrī- with R3 ī.—blw͡yẟyn ‘year’, Ir. blíadain < *bleidonī, a fem. i̯ā-stem from an adj. *blei-d-ono‑s from a vb. stem *blei‑d- ‘to blow’, √bhlēi‑, extension of *bhelē‑, *bhelō- whence O.H.G. bluo-ian (< *bhlō‑) ‘to blossom’, Ml. W. blawt ‘blossom’, Lat. flōs, etc. § 59 v, thus blwyẟyn ‘*budding season’; pl. blýneẟ < *blidníi̯ās; tair blyneẟ ‘three < *seasons’.
(2) chwaer pl. chwïorydd § 75 vi (2), § vii (2).
(3) achos pl. achosion, Ml. W. achaws pl. achwysson Ỻ.A. 129, see § 75 i (3).
