Re: "CALAF" THROUGH WELSH EYES

From: Richard Wordingham
Message: 62847
Date: 2009-02-05

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "The Egyptian Chronicles"
<the_egyptian_chronicles@...> wrote:

> "CALAF" THROUGH WELSH EYES

> Hence, if we carry an investigation into the history of "calaf", we
soon find out that Welsh tradition has it, that "calaf" with initial
èc was an orthographic novelty introduced by Norman scribers of the
Cymraeg Canol (Middle Welsh) period onwards and not before.

What is your source for this?

> Prior to this, "calaf" was written "galaf" with an initial èg not
èc. As a matter of fact ancient Brythonic /Welsh "*galaf" as a term,
existed in the far, far remote past. It existed before the time when
Hen Gymraeg (Old Welsh) developed from the Brythonic language .

> To be precise, "galaf", was around prior to Roman legions setting
their eyes on any Celtic iron age settlements in Wales. Actually, the
age of "galaf" goes back in time when the British isle was
archeologically labeled: Britain of late pre-Roman Iron Age.

Evidence?

> Then, "galaf" was frequently found in compounds such as "
Cangaleifon", and "Gwyngalaf" (gwyn = white + galaf = stalks). These
were in reference to the old names of the Druidic months of August and
September. These were in allusion to the whitened appearance of stalks
(Cf. Gwyngalaf, another old name for the same months.) and were often
mentioned in 'The Wood Memorials of the Bards'- see "The Barddas of
Iolo Morganwg"; a Collection of Original Documents, illustrative of
the Theology, Wisdom, and Usages of the Bardo-Druidic System of the
Isle of Britain. i.412, 416.

The soft mutation is regular in the second element of compounds when
it is the head noun, e.g. _gwyngalch_ 'whitewash' from _gwyn_ +
_calch_ 'lime', or _afonfarch_ 'hippopotamos' from _afon_ 'river' +
_march_ 'horse'.

> You are more than welcome to view the scanned definition from the
Welsh dictionary (fig. #4 at the bottom of the web page) by clicking
the following URL :
>
> http://www.theegyptianchronicles.com/NOSTRATIC/GLF.html

The dictionary, of course, shows it as a compound of //calaf//.

Have you considered the reliability of 'The Barddas of Iolo Morganwg'?
In case that is your source for the following...

> Though it is an established fact that when Roman alphabet was
introduced into Britain, c represented only /k/ and this value of the
letter has been retained in loanwords to all the insular Celtic
languages: in Welsh, Irish, Gaelic, c, is still only /k/. However,
this rule does not apply here, since we discover that the original
form of the term "galaf " is with an initial èg not èc. Incidentally,
the Welsh "èg" dates from the reign of Beli Mawr (Beli the Great) when
it was introduced and added to the Welsh alphabet, along eight other
characters (these being M N B Ff D U and Dd.)

... I quickly found this review comment:

"The Bardic alphabet presented in the 'Symbol' section is completely
invented, based on Runic and Ogham, and has utility as a magical
alphabet. However it is about as genuine as the alphabets of J.R.R.
Tolkien."

(I presume the reviewer is ignoring Tolkien's use of English runes in
'The Hobbit' - that is fairly sound, though he reluctantly admits a
Scandinvian rune - assessed to be for the sound /z/ - for <z>.)

The Wiki article on the Welsh alphabet (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_alphabet ) seems a good place to
start reading on the subject, though it downplays the status of <j>.
Forty years ago it was regularly denied a place in the Welsh alphabet,
but the Welsh Language Board now admits it.

Richard.