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syllable, thus *s’mₑl‑; the e in Mn. W. may come from forms like felly where the a is affected by the y; but Bret. has evel also. Ir. amal governs the acc. case.
megys seems to be a spv. (eqtv.?) of the same word corresponding to comparatives in ‑ach (< *‑āk-son); thus *s’m‑āk‑istó- > megys; *sam‑āk‑istó- > Ml. W. yvegys g.c. fac. i. The use of megys as a noun, as yn y megys hwnn c.m. 39 ‘in this manner’, does not prove it an orig. noun; cf. Mn. W. yr un fel ‘in the same way’.
216. Compound Prepositions.—This term may be used to denote expressions in which the last element is a preposition, to distinguish them from composite prepositions, in which the last element is a noun. They fall into two classes: i. prep. + prep.; ii. noun, adv. or pron. + prep.
i. (1) Ml. W. ẏ am ‘from about; besides’, § 209 v; ẏ ar ‘from on’; ẏ gan ‘from with’; ẏ wrth ‘from by’; Mn. W. oddi am ‘from about’; oddi ar ‘from on’; gan ‘from’ § 211 ii (2), more rarely oddi gan, see oddi gennyf § 194 v (3); oddi wrth, now mostly oddi̯ẃrth; Ml. W. oẟ is r.m. 151, 172. Inflected: oddi amdano Gu.O. g. 193, oẟy uchtaw r.m. 141, etc. Ml. W. ẟi-eithɏr s.g. 8 ‘except’, o‑ẟi‑eithɏr Ỻ.A. 143 ‘outside’; Mn. oddíeithr ‘except’, dial. corruption oddígerth.
oddi is itself a compound of o + ẟi; in Ml. W. it is comparatively rare before vowels: oẟyarnati Ỻ.A. 159, but occurs before adverbial expressions as oẟyyma s.g. 7, 40, in which, however, it is generally oẟ- before a vowel, as oẟymma s.g. 4, oẟyna w.m. 19; this is also the usual spoken form. The ‑i (mostly i̯ before a vowel) is taken in Late Ml. and Early Mn. W. from forms in which a consonant follows, as oddi draw, Ml. W. oẟydraw c.m. 46. (oddíeithr is for o ddíeithr.)
In the Gwentian dial. oẟ was taken from these connexions, and used for o before a vowel, and iẟ for i was made on its analogy. These forms occur in late Gwentian writings; and Pughe made a determined but unsuccessful attempt to substitute in the written language the new Gwentian oẟ y ‘from the’, etc., for the ancient o’r, etc., in order to avoid the apostrophe!
(2) Mn. W. er ys, er’s § 214 vii; er cyn, as in er cyn cof ‘from before memory’ i.e. from time immemorial.
(3) gor-uwch, gor-is § 45 iv (2); cyf-rwng § 210 viii (4).
