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§ 215
Prepositions
413

cyn is the adv. cynt ‘sooner’, an obl. case of the cpv. adj. cynt § 148 i (3).

(2) nes [rad.] ‘until’, used before verbal nouns; as, ny chysgaf hun lonyẟ nes gwybot w.m. 167 ‘I shall not sleep comfortably until I know’; nês ei orfedd T.A. g. 237 ‘until his lying (low)’, i.e. ‘until he lay (low)’; rarely before abstract nouns: nes henaint L.G.C. 445 ‘till old age’.

Galw am ddyfod diodydd,
Gwyliaw tân nes gweled dydd.—L.G.C. 430.

‘Calling for drinks to be brought, watching the fire till day is seen.’

The construction survives in Late Mn. W.: nes i mi ddyfod Es. xxxvi 17 ‘until my coming’, cf. b.cw. 83, 115; but a new construction, nes before a noun-clause beginning with y, arose, e.g. nes y dêl y dydd c.c. 211 (end of 17th cent.) ‘until the day comes’. In the dialects the y is omitted and nes becomes a conjunction; but nes with v.n. is still in common use.

nes (≡ nēs, though now sounded nĕs § 51 vi) = nēs ‘nearer’, § 148 i (1); ‘nearer than’ > ‘this side of’ > ‘until’; cf. nys caffaf‑i efo yn nes dioẟef llawer s.g. 291 ‘I shall not get him before suffering much’.

ii. Nominal preps, from nouns are used not only simply, as cylch ‘about’, but with a preceding prep., as o gylch ‘about’; the latter forms may be called composite nominal prepositions. When a pers. pron. is required to be the object, it takes the form of an infixed pron. in the composite prep., as o’th gylch ‘about thee’; o’th achos D.G. 101 ‘on thy account, because of thee’. The simple nom. preps. are the following, all taking the [rad.] except hyd:

(1) achos ‘because of’; compos. o achos id.: noun achos ‘cause’.

o achaws w.m. 12 ‘on account of’; o’th achaws di r.m. 233; pa achaws r.b.b. 112 ‘why?’ achos gwenfun i.mss. 239.

(2) cylch, amgylch ‘about’; compos. ynghylch, o gylch, o amgylch, o amgylch ógylch ‘round about’: cylch ‘circle’.

Yn bwhwman gan annwyd
Cylch drws dy dŷ, Lleucu Llwyd.—Ỻ.G., br. ii 171.

‘Shivering with cold about the door of thy house, Ll. Ll.’, i.e. around thy grave; (v.l. Ynghylch dy dŷ f.n. 29); cylch dolydd Dwylais