28 April 2011

X is for

Of course there are no Cornish words beginning with X, however I had a clever plan and Baldrick fans will be pleased it doesn't involve a Wurzel (Turnips to non-South Westers).

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:

Rosalind Adam said...

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.

Kath said...

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