W. yn, Corn, yn, Ml. Bret, en, ent, Ir. in, ind < *en-do ; W. yn fawr = Ir. in mar. In Ir. the adj. was generally in the dat. ; and Zeuss ZE. 608-9 explained ind as the dat. of the definite article. This ex- planation has been widely received, and is repeated e.g. by Thurneysen Gr. 228. Against it may be urged: i. Other prepositions are similarly used in W., see above. -2. The prep. *en-do like *do governed the dat. 3. In Ir. co (Mn. Ir. go, W. pw 214 iv), which is syno- nymous with *endo. was often substituted for it, and has superseded it in Mn. Ir. 4. W. ymhell, etc., show that simple *en could be used as well as *en-do ; yn bell ' far ' and ymhell ' far ' are a doublet, both forms being in use ; ymhell is the same construction as ymlden where the yn, is a prep. 5. In W. leniting yn is also used to introduce the indefinite complement of verbs of being, becoming, making, etc., which makes it difficult for a speaker of the language to believe that leniting yn is the definite article. 6. The analogy not only of W. and Ir. but of other languages is all in favour of the prep., e.g. E. a-long, a-broad, etc.
(3) Special cases of comparatives after yn : yn hytrach ' rather', yn chwaethach W.M. 10 ' not to speak of, yghwaethach H.M. 85, ygkwaethach do. 150, agltwaethach do. 156, yg kyvoethach \V.M. p. 91 #, anoethach do. 182 ; also later chwaethach B.cw. 14.
hytrach is cpv. of hydr ' strong, prevailing' : O.Bret, hitr, Ir. sethar, of unknown origin. chwaethach (misspelt chweithach\>y Silvan Evans) is generally supposed to be from chwaith iii (5), e. g. D.D. s.v. ; if so it hns F-grade *-uok-t- ; -nchw- > -nhw- 26 vi (3) ; gk = nh 21 i ; an- < *n-do- : * 'en-do- ; yg kyv- seems to have pref. kyv- ; anoethach, with no pref., but with w lost before o 36 iii.
(4) Superlatives with the art. : o'r goreu ' very well ! ' o'r rhwyddaf Gr.O. 31 'most readily'; i'r eithaf ' extremely '; ar y cyntaf ' at first ' ; dial, ar y lleiaf ' rather too little ', ar y mwyaf ' rather too much '.
viii. (1) The prefixes rfiy-, go- and tra- by being accented separately before adjectives have come to be regarded as adverbs rhq, go, and tra ; thus rht[ (Ida ' too good ', go (Ida ' rather good ', tra da 'very good' 45 iv (2). See also 156 i (16), (ai), (22).
In the late period rhi{ is used as a noun ' excess ' for Ml. "W. rwy, as in Nyt gwell rwy no digawn E.B. 963 ' too much is not better than enough ' ; this is prob. the adv., ii (13), used as a noun ; rhwy adv.<
- prei (: *jrrai, Lat. prae) 210 x (5).
(2) lied and pur forming loose compounds with adjectives, 155 iv, are to the present linguistic consciousness adverbs; so prin in prin dclau Gr.O. 58 ' scarcely two ', etc.
