Val i May Ysgrifenedig: Derivatives with Suffix -edig in Three Early Modern Welsh Texts

Abstract

The association of Latin and English past participles with Welsh derivatives with the suffix -edig has a long tradition. In the analysis of the texts of Oxford, Jesus College MS. 119 (The Book of the Anchorite of Llanddewi Brefi (Llyfr yr Ancr), dated 1346), Parina and Poppe found that for the translated texts we can compare with an assumed Latin source about two thirds of edig-derivatives correspond to Latin past passive participles (see Parina & Poppe (forthcoming)). As our research moved on towards the 16th century, we were interested in trends in the usage of edig-derivatives in this later period in the history of the Welsh language. The aim of this contribution is to analyse a sample of three translated texts from the 16th century: Gesta Romanorum, Treigl y Marchog Crwydrad and Perl mewn Adfyd. All of them are translated from English, and our focus is similar to that in the study of the texts in Llyfr yr Ancr: for each text, we aim to identify the main types of grammatical equivalents in the source language. Our main question is the degree of correspondence with English past participles, but we will also look at the derivational patterns and the productivity of the suffix. In this way, we hope to detect diachronic trends in the development of the edig-suffix.