§ 74. i. (1) In Brit. ā was shortened when unaccented. Thus W. pechadur ‘sinner’ < *peccătṓr- < Lat. acc. peccātōr-em beside pechod ‘sin’ < peccā́tum;—W. meitin ‘morning’ < *meid-din < *matū-tī́n- < Lat. mātūtī́num;—W. agw͡yẟawr for *afgw͡yẟawr < Lat. ābēcēdā́rium;—W. Madrun < Lat. mātrṓna beside modryẟ ‘aunt’ < Kelt. *mā́traqu̯ī;—W. ceiliagw͡ydd ‘gander’, Ml. W. keẏlẏacuyt a.l. i 280 < *kali̯ako-géidos beside ceiliog ‘cock’ < *kali̯ā́kos;—W. paratói ‘to prepare’, § 201 iii (5), beside parod ‘ready’ < Lat. parā́tus, etc., etc.
- Naw mwy i frag na cheiliagwydd,
- Naw gwell i synnwyr na gŵydd.—S.T., c 16/93.
‘Nine times more boastful than a gander, nine times more sensible than a goose.’ (The recent spellings parotoi, ceiliogwydd are false; the words are pronounced as spelt above.)
For the apparent exception in Ionawr a sufficient explanation is the secondary accent which was required to distinguish Jầnuā́rius from Fèbruā́rius, and which for emphasis might even become primary.
(2) Words like swyddogol ‘official’ are formed in W., and mostly late, by adding ‑ol to ‑og, and are not derived in full from Brit., for Brit. ‑āk-ā́l- would give ‑ag-ol. The word lluosog is an old formation, but it is not formed from the original of llïaws; the latter has ā́ from ō, the formation being *‑ōs-tāts, while the former has ŏs, the formation being *‑os-tos, extended to *‑os-tākos, § 75 iii (3).
ii. It is seen in the above examples that other long vowels remained long when unaccented; and that ī and ū need not have been accented to cause affection of a preceding vowel.
iii. In Ir. the shortening of long vowels is carried further and is independent of the Brit. shortening of ā. The latter had not set in in Pr. Kelt, as is shown by the development of āu, which when unaccented in Brit. gave au, while Kelt. au gave ou § 76 v (5).
iv. All long vowels were shortened before groups of sonant + explosive, as in gwynt ‘wind’ < *u̯entos < *u̯ēntos; so Lat. ventus. W. dyall < *dii̯ált- < *dii̯ā́lt- § 75 vi (4). Also before two explosives; *‑o-akt- *‑ākt- > *‑akt- > ‑aeth § 203 i (4).
The Diphthongs.
§ 75. i. (1) Ar. ai remained in Kelt. It appears in Ir. as āi, āe, in Gaul. as ai or e. Before a consonant it appears in O. W. as oi, and in Ml. and Mn. W. as oe (oɥ) § 29. Thus W. coeg ‘empty’ (as a nut without a kernel), coeg-ddall ‘purblind’, Ir.
