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ai ê < ai ḗf ‘is it so?’ yn’t ê for *an’d hḗf ‘is it not so?’: (h)ef < *semo‑s, ‑d ‘that, it, so’ § 159 iv (1). The S. W. second e repeats the pron. of ae. Mn. W. ai comes from ai ḗ, which is easier than ae (aɥ) ḗ.
§ 219. Affirmative Particles.—i. (1) Ml. W. neu, neut before verbs, the former before consonants and with the same mutations as ny, the latter before vowels; with infixed pron. neu’m, neu’s etc.; with the perfective particle neur. Before nouns, adjs. etc. neut [rad.] ‘it is’; with neg. part. neut na(t).
neu cheint b.t. 19 ‘I have sung’; neut atwen nat yr vy lles r.p. 1039 ‘I know that it is not for my good’; neu’m duc i Elffin b.b. 67 ‘E. brought me’; neu’s r̔oẟes w.m. 20 ‘he has given it’; neur vum b.b. 7 ‘I have been’ (also in full neu ry do. 74, w.m. 80); neut kyntevin, neut r̔uẟ r̔ych, neut crych egin r.p. 1036 ‘it is spring, the furrow is red, the sprouts are curly’; neut na’m dawr do. 1227 ‘I care not’; neut nat r̔yẟ ib. In Early Mn. W. neu is a rare survival:
- E fu amser—neu dderyw—
- Och fi! ban oeddwn iach fyw.—D.G. 425.
‘There was a time—it is past—ah me! when I was alive and well.’
(2) neu for *nwy, § 78 iii, < Brit. *nei loc. sg. m. of the pron. *no‑: Gk. ναί, Lat. nae ‘indeed’ (ei/ai § 63 v (2)), Gk. νή, Lat. nē ‘indeed’, instr. sg. m. of the same. The mutations after neu and the two uses of neut are to be explained like those of the parallel ny, nyt § 217 iv.
ii. (1) Ml. W. y, e, yẟ, eẟ; yd, ed, yt; yd‑, yt(t)‑; Mn. W. y, yẟ, yr, yd‑, yt‑. In Mn. W. these are used almost exclusively before the pres. and impf. of the verb ‘to be’. yd- was agglutinated to these tenses early, and ytt- spread from yttynt and yttoeẟ § 189 iii (1), § 180 ii (3). The compounds ýd-wyf etc. were used like the simple forms, and might take other preverbs before them, as neut yttiw dros amser w.m. 182 ‘it is past the time’, nit yttoyẟwn i do. 8 ‘I was not’, a yttiw Lawnslot yma s.g. 1 ‘is Lancelot here?’ Even yr yd- is common; yr ýdwyf § 191 ii (2). In answers and denials the yd- forms only are used in the pres., except in the 2nd sg., as ydwyf ‘I am!’ ydych ‘you are!’ but wyt ‘thou art!’
