Many illiterate people who could not read or write, were able to sign for wages, employment etc by writing an X on the paper and historic papers exist including some of my grandparents on Marriage certificates.
So today, back to basics and counting
| Number | Cornish | Pronunciation |
| One | Onan, Un | Onan, Oon |
| Two | Dew | Dhew |
| Three | Tri | Tree |
| Four | Peswar | Pez-warr |
| Five | Pymp | Pimp |
| Six | Hwegh | Hwhech |
| Seven | Seyth | Sayth |
| Eight | Eth | Eth |
| Nine | Naw | Nor |
| Ten | Deg | Deg |
| Eleven | Unnek | Oon-neck |
| Twelve | Dewdhek | Dhow-deck |
| Thirteen | Trydhek | Trid-deck |
| Fourteen | Peswardhek | Pez-warr-deck |
| Fifteen | Pymthek | Pim-tek |
| Sixteen | Hwetek | Hwet-ek |
| Seventeen | Seytek | Say-tek |
| Eighteen | Etek | Ettek |
| Nineteen | Nownsek | Noun-sek |
| Twenty | Ugens | Oo-Genz |
Now I also found a website where you can learn to swear in Cornish, though other than Hogday, I haven't found any takers.. but please check it out. I won't put it here as it could be considered offensive. Still if you swore in Cornish, who would know?
2 comments:
Clever way round the X entry. It must have been quite a handicap to only be able to put an X on a line for your name. We take so much for granted.
I understand that after they made the X, they kissed it to show sincerity, thats how we came to use XX as kisses :-D
Email me and I will send you the hexy PDF document my email xx
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