Bret. kere, pl. kereon § 86 i (5); gwehydd ‘weaver’, pl. gwehyddion; marchog ‘knight’, pl. marchogion; cantor ‘singer’, pl. cantorion; pendefig ‘chieftain’, pl. pendefigion; dysgawdr ‘doctor’, pl. dysgodron (in Recent W. re-formed as dysgawd-wr, ‑w̯yr); and adjectives used as nouns § 145 iii. In a few cases the ending is ‑on, as meddygon § 118 ii; Iddew ‘Jew’, pl. Iddewon, Ml. W. Iẟewon Ỻ.A. 19, Iẟeon do. 17; athrawon, etc. § 125 iii.
(2) Some names of implements: cŷn ‘chisel’, pl. cynion; ebill ‘auger’, pl. ebillion; trosol ‘bar, lever’, pl. trosolion; ysgol, Ml. yscawl ‘ladder’, pl. ysgolion, Ml. yscolẏon w.m. 189; ysgolion ‘schools’ follows this probably.
(3) Some abstract nouns: rhybuddion ‘warnings’ (Ml. r͑ybuẟẏeu w.m. 72); esgusion ‘excuses’; trafferthion ‘troubles’; with ‑on: gofalon ‘cares’; cysuron ‘comforts’; but most take ‑au § 120 i (4). H.M. has meddylion ii 194, m 147/639 r., for the usual meddyliau, Ml. W. meẟylẏeu r.p. 1201, 1303.
(4) ebol, Ml. ebawl ‘colt’, pl. ebolion, Ml. ebolẏon w.m. 45; keneu, see § 125 iii; planhigion ‘plants’, sg. planhig-yn.
iii. ‑en < Brit. *‑enes < Ar. *‑enes survives only in ychen ‘oxen’, sg. ych § 69 v; and in Ml. W. Pryden ‘Picts’ (Gynt a Gwyẟyl a Phryden b.a. 24 ‘Danes and Irish and Picts’), O. W. Priten gen. xix.
Ar. ‑en- was the F-grade of the suffix, of which ‑on- was the F°-grade, and ‑ōn the L°-grade § 63 iii.
The first occurrence of the misspelling ychain, § 31 ii (2), known to me is in Rhydychain in the title of the 1690 Bible; it did not come into common use before the 19th cent. The form is always ychen in Ml. W. and in the rhymes of the bards before the recent period. See ychen w.m. 480, r.m. 121, b.t. 59, Ỻ.A. 109, r.p. 1241, m.a. i 230, 426; r͑yt ychen ‘Oxford’ see indexes of r.m. and r.b.b.
- Da’r ardd ychen mewn pen pant.—W.Ỻ. f. 8.
‘Well do oxen plough at the end of a valley.’
- Dig wyf am dewi gofeg
- Yn pen yn Rhydychen deg.—H.D. (m. I.H.S.), p 100/125.
‘I am wroth because the muse of our chief is silenced in fair Oxford.’—See ben/ychen D.G. 400, gên/ychen do. 318, men/ychen L.G.C. 189; wên/Rhydychen S.Ph. c.c. 189; rryd ychen/dalen p 54/242 r.
iv. The R-grade ₑn of the stem-ending became ‑ann- in Kelt. § 62 i (2). In Ir. it appears as ‑ann; in W. as a pl. ending it was affected
