kymoneẟ ib. ‘as noble’ (boneẟ ‘nobility’); kyvoet do. 27 ‘of the same age’; cyfryw ‘of the same kind, such’.
(2) In one or two cases the second element no longer exists in its simple form either as a noun or adj.: cyfred ‘as swift’ (rhedeg to run’); cyfref ‘as thick’ (rhefedd ‘thickness’).
(3) Compounds of un- ‘one’ also form the equivalents of equative adjectives: unlliw a D.G. 17 ‘of the same colour as’; neb un fodd § 148 i (6), ‘any one like’ (modd ‘manner’), unwedd a ‘like’, etc.
§ 150. Most adjectives may be compared regularly, including—
i. Many derivatives in ‑aidd, ‑ig, ‑in (not denoting substance), ‑og, ‑us; as peraidd ‘sweet’, eqtv. cyn bereiddied, cpv. pereiddiach, spv. pereiddiaf; so pwysicaf ‘most important’, gerwinaf ‘roughest’, cyfoethocaf ‘richest’, grymusaf ‘mightiest’. But those containing more than two syllables are mostly compared periphrastically.
Verbal adjectives in ‑adwy, ‑edig are not compared (except periphrastically), though caredig ‘kind’, no longer felt as a verbal adj., is, e.g. caredicaf ‘kindest’. Adjectives in ‑ol are rarely compared; those in ‑aid, ‑in denoting material, and in ‑lyd are not compared.
ii. Compounds in which the second element is an adjective; as gloyw-ẟúaf Ỻ.A. 93 ‘of a most glossy black’, llathɏr-wýnnaf ib. ‘most lustrously white’, klaer-wýnnaf ib. ‘most brilliantly white’, cyn vlaen-llýmet…blaen-llýmaf w.m. 176 ‘as sharply pointed…most sharply pointed’.
- Dwy fron mor wynion a’r ōd,
- Gloyw̯-w̯ýnnach na gwylanod.—D.G. 148.
‘Two breasts as white as snow, more luminously white than sea-gulls.’
But when the second element is an adj. compared irregularly, the compound cannot be compared, as maléis-ddrwg, troed-lýdan, pen-úchel, etc. A few of these may, however, be compared by adding the endings to derived forms, as gwerth-fawr ‘valuable’, spv. gwerthvawrussaf Ỻ.A. 80, or gwerthfawrocaf; clód-fawr ‘celebrated’, spv. clodforusaf. (G.M.D. has gwerthvoraf r.p. 1195, an unusual form.)
Adj. compounds with noun final as ysgafn-droed ‘light-footed’ can only be compared periphrastically.
§ 151. i. Adjectives which cannot take the endings of comparison as above may be compared periphrastically, by placing before the positive mor, mwy, mwyaf, to form the eqtv., cpv., spv.
