even as late as c.c. 338 (dated 1588). blwyddiaid is the only form of the pl. of the adj. blwydd ‘year old’, and is used adjectivally, as saith oen blwyddiaid Lev. xxiii 18; see § 122 iv (2), p. 206.
iv. Many superlatives have pl. forms which are substantival only; one, hynaif ‘elders’, is formed by affection; the others take ‑i̯on or ‑i̯aid, as goreuon, hynafi̯aid (the a of ‑af is not affected); eithafoeẟ r.m. 186, L.G.C. 140, 152 (beside eithafion) and pellafoedd are peculiar in having ‑oedd.
- Hopcyn ar lasfryn a’i laif,
- Hwnnw oedd fal yr hynaif.—L.G.C. 167, cf. 10.
‘Hopkin on a green hill with his sword, he was as the men of old.’
- Llan Nefydd, lle i hynafiaid.—T.A., a 31102/158.
‘Llan Nefydd, the place of his ancestors.’
- I wyth ynys y’th aned,
- O’th ofn crynn eithafion Cred.—T.A., a 14971/390.
‘For eight islands hast thou been born, the uttermost parts of Christendom tremble for fear of thee.’
v. Derivatives in ‑ig, ‑og, ‑ol, ‑us have substantival plurals in ‑i̯on only; as y dysgedigion ‘the learned’, y cyfoethogion ‘the wealthy’, meidrolion ‘finite beings’, rheidusion m.a. i 315a ‘needy ones’.
Ac yr wyf inneu yn mynet yn erbyn bonheẟigẏon y wlat hon s.g. 293 ‘and I am going against the gentlemen of this country’. Efe a dywallt ddirmyg ar foneddigion Ps. cvii 40.
vi. Many compounds have plurals used as nouns only: kyvoedẏon C. m.a. i 233b ‘contemporaries’, anwariaid ‘savages’, y ffyddloniaid ‘the faithful’; pengryniaid and pengrynion ‘round-heads’'; prydferthion ‘beauties’, abstract.
Gender.
146. i. Many adjectives containing w or ɥ have f. forms in which these vowels are affected to o or e respectively, §§ 68, 83. The change takes place chiefly in monosyllables.
ii. Monosyllables containing w or y may be classified thus:—
