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§ 213. i. The prepositions a [spirant], ag, Ml. W. a, ac ‘with’ and wedi [rad.], Early Mn. and Ml. W. (g)wedy may be followed by independent pronouns; thus â mi ‘with me’, â thi ‘with thee’; â mỿfi, â m’fi, â thỿdi, â th’di § 159 ii (3); ag ef, ag efo ‘with him’; etc.; gueti ef l.l. 120 ‘after him’, gwydi ny b.b. 44 ‘after us’.
- Ac ni bydd oherwydd hyn
- Gwedy ef gwiw dy ofyn.—I.G. 312 (m. D.G.).
‘And therefore it will be of no avail after him to ask for thee’ (i.e. for a cywydd).
- Y Deheu feirdd wedy fo
- Sydd wannach eu swydd yno.—Gut.O., m 146/398.
‘The bards of the South after him are weaker in their performance there’ (m. G.G1.).
- Da oedd cyffion Huw Conwy,
- A da yw Huw wedy hwy.—L.G.C. 463.
‘Good were the ancestors of H.C., arid good is H. after them.’
In Late Mn. W. the use of a pron. as above after wedi is rare.
ii. (1) a is now generally circumflexed to distinguish it from a ' and '. When it is accented it is of course long, but when unaccented it is short. The same is true of a ‘and’.
(2) wedi has late ‑i owing to the frequency of its use, cf. § 16 ii (3). In Early Ml. W. where it rhymes it has ‑ɥ; see e.g. L.G.C. 15, 66. In Ml. W. it has ‑y in MSS. in which i and y are distinguished.
iii. (1) a, ag < *aggós; it has two distinct meanings, and may therefore have a double origin: (a) ' together with ' < *ad‑g‑: Ir. ac, oc, occ < *ad-go‑s: Lat. ad, Goth. at, E. at, Brugmann² II ii 793; this is the prep. used after cyf- and ym‑, as cyf-arfod â ‘to meet with’; and is the same as â, ag ‘as’ after the equative;—(b) ‘by means of’, as O.W. ha crip ox. ‘with a comb’, Mn. W. â phyg Gen. vi 14 ‘with pitch’ < *ab‑g‑: o § 209 vii (5). For ag, a [spir.] in this sense o [soft] is used in Gwent: taro ci o asgwrn ‘to strike a dog with a bone’ Seren Gomer, Mai 7 1814; cf. kymynynt o ẟur r.p. 1042 for k. a dur b.b. 72 ‘they hewed down with steel’; conversely, after a spv. ag is used for o before a relative, as yn oreu ac y gellynt c.m. 54, gyntaf ac y gallawẟ s.g. 408,
- Y glanaf ag a luniwyd,
- A’r goreu oll o’r gwŷr wyd.—T.A., a 14971/53.
