The W. adverbial forms of the rel. prob. represent several of these derivatives of the rel. *i̯o‑; accented o would remain, and, becoming unacc. later, would give y § 65 iv (2). Distinctions of meaning were lost, and the forms were adapted to the initials which followed them.—yẟ before a vowel may represent *i̯ó-dhi ‘where’ or *i̯ó-dhem ‘whence’; possibly in id thrice before aeth in b.b. 3, 97 (marg. bis) an old distinction is reflected: id < *i̯ó-te ‘whither’.—yd [soft] denoting manner as kelvit id gan b.b. 15 ‘[it is] skilfully that he sings’ < *i̯ó-ti or *i̯ó-thā; denoting number, as pop cant id cuitin do. 95 ‘[it was] by the hundred that they fell’ < *ió̯-ti, cf. Ml. W. pet ‘how many?’—y [rad.] prob. has two sources: 1. yd [soft] before t- gives *yd d- which becomes y t‑, i. e. y [rad.], afterwards extended to other initials; 2. yẟ must have been orig. used before consonants as well as vowels, and might take the rad. (yẟ ‘whence’ < *i̯ó-dhem); the ‑ẟ would be lost before the consonant § 110 iv (3).—As yr is not known to occur before the 14th cent. it is improbable that it represents an old r-derivative. It is most probably for Late Ml. yr as in val yr lygryssit…ẏ grofdeu w.m. 75 ‘the way that his crofts had been ruined’, from y ry, as pob gwlat o’r y ry fuum do. 144 ‘every country of those where I have been’. (Earlier, ry is used without y as Huchof re traydhassam a.l. i 58.) The analogy of the art. y: yr might help to spread yr rel. before a vowel.
(3) The neg. rel. ny may be < *no < *ni̯o < *ne i̯o. It caused lenition because orig. unaccented, see § 217 iv; later the mutation after it was assimilated to that following ordinary ny ‘not’; probably nyt rel. is also analogical. na is probably the same as indirect na, see ib.
vii. (1) The relative in all cases comes immediately before the verb of the rel. clause (only an infixed pron. can intervene); and is often preceded by the demonstratives yr hwn, yr hon, yr hyn, ar as well as y sawl, y neb, yr un, y rhai. In translations these, which are properly antecedents or stand in apposition to the antecedent, are often attracted into the relative sentence, producing a confused construction; see Syntax. Before the adverbial forms there occur similarly y lle ‘[in] the place’ (the rel. meaning ‘where’), modd, mal, megis ‘[in] the manner’ (the rel. meaning ‘in which’), pryd ‘the time’ (the rel. meaning ‘when’), etc.