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is the same as after ny; so the use of ‑t before verbs. (3) Mn. W. ai ê ‘is it so?’, onid ê, onitê ‘is it not so?’ dial. N.W. ai ḗ? ỿn’t ḗ? S. W. ai ḗf e? ī́ ef e? on’t ḗf e?
Examples: (1) Ml. W. A wẟost ti b.t. 27 ‘Dost thou know?’ ae ti a eirch vy merch w.m. 479 ‘is it thou that seekest my daughter?’—(2) O. W. anit arber bit juv. gl. num vescitur? Ml. W. Pony welwch chwi r.p. 1418 ‘do you not see?’ Pany chredwch chwi ib. ‘do you not believe?’ Ponyt ydym ni yn kredu Ỻ.A. 83 ‘do we not believe?’ Ponyt llygoden a welaf i ẏ’th law di w.m. 78 ‘is it not a mouse that I see in thy hand?’
- Pand hir na welir ond nos?
- Pe byr, hir yw pob aros.—I.F., m 148/59.
‘Is it not long that only night is seen? Though short, all waiting is long.’
- Ond hir yr wyd yn tario?—W.Ỻ., g. 293.
‘Is it not long that thou art tarrying?’ Onid oes dinistr i’r anwir? Job xxxi 3. Ond rhaid i trâd fyw? b.c. 119 ‘must not trade live?’
Preverbal a may be followed by an infixed pron. in Ml. W.: a’m dywedyẟ Ỻ.A. 134 ‘wilt thou tell me?’ ae gwẟost di s.g. 4 ‘dost thou know it?’
In Late Mn. W. the p- forms are obsolete; the forms used are oni, onid, more rarely ond. Wm.S. has ani, anid, which may have been dial. forms in the 16th cent.
ii. These particles originated in indirect questions: Ac amovyn a Pheredur a welsei y kyfryw varchawc w.m. 138 ‘and inquiring of Peredur whether he had seen such a knight’; ny wnn a glyweist ywrthaw do. 166 ‘I know not whether thou hast heard about it’; a gofyn a oruc Owein ae dyn bydawl r.m. 187 ‘and Owein asked whether it was a living man’. The point of transition is represented by Dywet… a weleisti w.m. 118, which may be rendered ‘say whether thou hast seen’ or ‘say, hast thou seen?’
ae…ae ‘whether…or’: A wẟosti peth wyt…ae corff ae cneit b.t. 27 ‘dost thou know what thou art, whether body or soul?’ ẏ roẟi dewis uẟunt ae gwrhau iẟaw ae ymwan ac ef, see § 222 ii (2).
iii. a [soft] ‘whether’ may represent unacc. Brit. *ā ‘if’ instr. sg. f. of the pron. *o‑: cf. Gk. ἠ ‘if’ which however is from *ē, variant of *ō instr. sg. m.; for the instr. f. as adv. cf. Lat. eā, quā. See § 222 v (1).
ae [rad.] is a contraction of a and a vocable *y, which orig. ended in a cons., and may be from *id ‘it’, so that ae may be lit. ‘whether it [is]’; cf. nyt § 217 iv (3).
po-ny, pa-ny < Brit. *qu̯ā ne ‘whether not’; *qu̯ā instr. sg. f. as *ā above; if unacc. in Brit, it would give pa‑; if uuacc. later, po‑; see § 71 i (2).
