Hi a ovynnawẟ iẟaw pioeẟ mab s.g. 12 ‘she asked him to whom he was son’ (whose son he was). Piwyt gwr di do. 222 ‘to whom art man thou?’ (whose man art thou?).
(2) The interrogative meaning of the compound survived in Ml. W. and Early Mn. verse; but the usual meaning is relative. Interrog. pieu in a question is often followed by rel. pieu in the answer; and this may represent the transition stage, as in the case of pan ‘whence?’ § 163 i (6).
Pieu yniver y llongeu hynn? … Arglwyẟ, heb wynt, mae ymma Matholwch … ac ef bieu y llongeu w.m. 39 ‘To whom belongs this fleet of ships? Lord, said they, M. is here, and [it is] he to whom the ships belong’.
- Pïau rhent Gruffudd ap Rhys?
- Hywel pḯau ’n nhâl Pówys.—T.A., j 17/217.
‘To whom belongs the rent of G. ap R.? [It is] Howel to whom it belongs on the border of Powys.’
When the relative became the prevalent construction, pwy ‘who?’ was used before the verb to ask a question, thus pwy bïau ‘who [is it] to whom belongs?’ This occurs in Ml. W.; as Pwy biewynt wy w.m. 83 ‘who [is it] to whom they belong?’ Cf. § 163 v.
- Pwy bïau gwaed pibau gwin?—T.A., a 14998/29.
‘Who has the blood of pipes of wine?’
(3) Relatival pieu sometimes introduces a dependent relative clause, as Dodi olew ar y gwrda bieu y gaer r.m. 174 ‘administering extreme unction to the goodman who owns the castle’. But it is chiefly used to form the subject-clause after an emphatic predicative noun, § 162 vii (2), as in ef bieu y llongeu (2) above ‘[it is] he who owns the ships’; Meuryc bevɏr bieuoetud M.A. i 225b ‘[it was] bright Meuryc to whom thou [sword] didst belong’; a minneu bieu y ẟwy iarllaeth R.M. 239 ‘and [it is] I to whom the two earldoms belong’.
(4) As pi- is itself relative it is not preceded by the relative a, ZfCP. iv 118; see examples above. Cf. also mi bieivu r.m. 252, mi bḯau … a thithau bḯau I.G. 318, Dafydd bieuvydd L.G.C. 291, etc. The initial of pi- is generally softened, as in most of the above examples, but it frequently remains unchanged, as E koc a’r dẏsteẏn pẏeu a.l. i 20 ‘[it is] the cook and
