√sāg‑: Ir. saigim ‘I seek’, Goth, sōkjan, E. seek; thus *mlāto-sag- > *'blod-ha- > blota. The noun suff. ‑hai < *sagi̯ō ‘seeker’ § 104 ii (2).
(b) ‘to go as, act as’, in Ml. W. marchockaaf ‘I ride’, marchockaawẟ s.g. 34, marchocawn do. 35; v.n. marchogaeth do. 1, 35. A variant of the verb is formed without a suff.: marchogaf, 3rd sg. pres. subj. marchoco a.l. i 24, imps. marckocer do. 264, also with v.n. marchogayth ib.
Brit. *markā́kos agāme ‘I go as rider’, treated as one word, gave *marchoghaᵹaf > marchocáaf. But the v.n. was a proper compound *markā́ko-aktā > *markā́kāktā > marchogaeth ‘to ride’. In Dyfed a new v.n. was formed from the vb. stem: marchocáu, now corrupted to brochgáu. (‑aaf implies active flexion, but the vb. wasorig. middle.)
(c) ‘to become, be’ with adjectives; as gwanhā́f ‘I become weak’, v.n. gwanháu; cryfhā́f ‘I become strong’, v.n. cryfháu, dial. cryffáu; trugarhā́f ‘I am merciful, have mercy’, v.n. trugarháu, from trugar; etc.
Brit. *u̯ánnos agāme ‘I go weak’ > *u̯annos-agame > W. gwanháaf. Where a vowel drops before s, the latter remains as h, cf. § 183 ii (2). It is a common usage to stereotype the nom. sg. mas. in such phrases; cf. Lat. potis sumus, not *potēs sumus, and Skr. pl. 1. dātā́smas instead of dātā́raḥ smas following the sg. dātā́smi ‘I shall give’ < dātā́ asmi ‘I am a giver.’—W. parhā́f ‘I continue’ (v.n. parháu, pára) < Brit. *paros-agame ‘I go on the same’ < Lat. par.
(d) ‘to make’ with adjectives; glanhā́f ‘I clean’, v.n. glanháu; gwastatā́f ‘I flatten, straighten’, v.n. gwastatáu, cadarnhā́f ‘I strengthen’, v.n. cadarnháu.
Brit. *glanosagāme > W. glanháaf. The nom. sg. mas. was used because it had been stereotyped in this form of phrase in group (c).
To this group should probably be referred difétha ‘to mar, spoil’ < *di-feẟ-ha ‘to make unusable, unenjoyable’, √med- ‘enjoy’, § 199 i (3). The verb was difetháaf, see difetha-awẟ r.b.b. 394, diffethe-eist w.m. 29, diffetha-er w.m.l. 137 (old ff for f § 19 ii (2)); it is now re-formed as diféthaf, though the v.n. remains unchanged.
(e) ‘to use’, etc., with nouns; as dyfrhā́f ‘I water’, v.n. dyfrháu; coffā́f ‘I remember’, v.n. coffáu or cóffa; bwytā́f ‘I eat’, v.n. bẃyta.
Gwyn. dial. bỿ́ta < O.W. bit juv., Ml. W. byd b.b. 84, variant of bwyd § 101 iii (2).—This group follows the analogy of (b) as (d) does that of (c).
