Dinair, coin; denarius. Seth, arrow; sagitta. Caus, cheese; caseus. Caul, cabbage; caulis.
These words are certainly foreign words in Cornish and the other Celtic languages in which they occur, and to attempt to supply for some of them a purely Celtic etymology shows a complete want of appreciation both of the history of words and of the phonetic laws that govern each family of the Indo-European languages. Sometimes, no doubt, the Latin words have been considerably changed and modified, according to the phonetic peculiarities of the dialects into which they were received. Thus, gwespar for vesper, seth for sagitta, caus for caseus, hardly look like Latin words. Yet no real Celtic scholar would claim them as Celtic; and the Rev. Robert Williams, the author of the “Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum,” in speaking of a list of words borrowed from Latin by the Welsh during the stay of the Romans in Britain, is no doubt right in stating “that it will be found much more extensive than is generally imagined.”
Latin words which have reached the Cornish after they had assumed a French or Norman disguise, are, for instance,—
Emperur, instead of Latin imperator (Welsh, ymherawdwr).
Laian, the French loyal, but not the Latin legalis. Likewise, dislaian, disloyal.
Fruit, fruit; Lat. fructus; French, fruit.
Funten, fountain, commonly pronounced fenton; Lat. fontana; French, fontaine.
Gromersy, i.e. grand mercy, thanks.
Hoyz, hoyz, hoyz! hear, hear! The Norman-French, Oyez.
The town-crier of Aberconwy may still be heard prefacing his notices with the shout of “Hoyz, hoyz, hoyz!” which in other places has been corrupted to “O yes.”