least, as we have consulted) give no explanation. Thus, in Russian, the nouns which form the fifth paradigm of the declension in the grammar of Reiff, i.e., nouns ending in -ianine, -anine, -iarine, and -arine, and denoting origin or state, "do not take in the plural the suffix -ine". Ex :

SING.

Rossianine, a Russian,

Sélanine, a villager.

Boiarine, a lord.

Grazdanine, a citizen.

PLUR.

Rossiané, Russians,

Séliané, villagers.

Boiaré, lords.

Grazdane, citizens, etc.

"These words," says M. Reiff, "have two stems, the one sélanine, containing a pronominal suffix -in, the other séliané." A pronominal suffix! That is more easily said than proved. The learned M. Leskien, in his grammar of old Slavonic, confines himself to a statement of the fact without seeking any explanation of it.2

It appears to us certain that this suffix i-n- is a secondary form of the Indo-European suffix NA. It is curious to find it localised, with the same force, at the two extremities of the European branch, in the Slavonic and in the Britannic languages.

H. GAIDOZ.

1 Grammaire française-russe, par Reiff, 4e ed., revue par M. Leger, Paris, 1878, p. 40.

2 Leskien, Handbuch der alt-bulgarischen Sprache, Weimar, 1871, p. 36.

A CYWYDD

ΤΟ

SIR EDWARD STRADLING AND DR. JOHN DAVID RHYS

UPON THE

PUBLICATION OF THE LATTER'S WELSH GRAMMAR,

From a MS, in the possession of MR. LL. REYNOLDS, B.A., of Merthyr Tydvil.

Of the writer of this Cywydd, Meirig Davydd, not much is recorded. Williams, in his Eminent Welshmen, says he was " an eminent poet of Glamorgan, who presided in the Gorsedd Morganwg in the year 1560, and died in 1600". As Dr. Rhys's Grammar, Cambrobrytannica Cymraecave Linguæ Institutiones et Rudimenta, published at the sole expense of Sir Edward Stradling, appeared in 1592, it follows that this composition was written between that year and 1600.

Sir Edward Stradling was born in 1529, and died in his eightieth year, 1609.

LLYMA GYWYDD I SYR EDWAR YSTRADLING AG IR DOCKDOR DAVYDD AM Y GRAMER KYMRAEG.

Y marchog rywiog benn raith,
jor syth waew a wyr saithjaith,
Syr Edwart mewn hasart jng
js di radlafn ystradling :

ef yw'r hydd penn llywydd llwyd
jawn son dawn yn sain Dynwyd.

oes Addaf hynaf yw hwnn,

a brav ytiw ir brytwn.

nidoes vn brigyn or brig

mawr vwyn hawdd mor vonheddig; vn vodd yw'r marchog jawnfwyn

ar bymtheg llin teg or llwyn; llyna lwyn llawn olaini

llawn glod oll nerth yn gwlad ni :
roes nerth yn jor grasvwyn hv

rann rag kamran ir kymrv
i gael Gramer goel grymiaith
brauvwyn jor i bryvo n jaith,
val na bo i sais o drais draw
vn bawaidd mwy yn baiaw,
na baio gwaith na bywyd

yn hawen vairdd, na n hen vyd.
mae gwarant penn voliant per

orav grym ar y gramer
dockdor por gwyddor ir gwaith-
dyn yw a wyr daunawjaith;
kymro gwych or kymry gwiw,
klennig dysgedig ydiw;
gwr yw ail jpo gywrain,
gorav swydd mewn gair a sain;
kyviaithydd dedwydd didwyll
jaith hardd, ny vynn bai na thwyll.
naddoedd ysgryvenyddiaeth,

yn llawn ag yn jawn i gwnaeth:

kyviaithyddiaeth oedd gaeth gynt,
kair i bo gair i gerynt:
kystrawaeth kost ar awen
kywir byth i kair oi benn:
tonyddiaeth halaeth hylawn.
a gair mewn llevair yn llawn.

10

15

20

25

30

335

40

ag

waeth-waeth, o sywaeth son,

i doniav vydd y dynion.

kann gwell waithon mewn ton teg
kam ryw a vydd kymraueg;
Sion a roes ym synwyr j
hynt aurnod warant erni;
Gric lladin di brin yn brynt
gradd addysc grjaidd yddynt ;
[yr he]n gelvyddyd wiw rwydd
[o] gerddwriaeth gardd arwydd,
a phob kolfen hen ddwfn ddysg
[u]niawn hoewddawn yn hyddysg,
[pob] mesurav samplav son
holl jawn oll a phenillon,
a phob kynghanedd hoff hynt
hyno a pha le henynt,

au henwav hoff rywiav ffraeth
hwynt herwydd i naturiaeth:
mae baiav anavav want
mal llygod aml i llwygant

yny gerdd rai enwog ynt
adwyth ag anardd ydynt.
mae statvs weddys wiwddawn
yw gweled oll galed jawn
ar gerddwyr or gywirddysg,
ar rai na bai divai dysg.

gwae brydydd or dydd, or daw
dyrnod eisteddfod arnaw,

ony wyr yn llwyr holl jaith
y llyfr hwnn llavar henjaith.
da vy r marchog pwyllog pell
a gostawdd hwnn oi gastell;
da vy r dockdor kyngor kall
o dduw a vy ny ddeall;

da duw jr gwyr daidiau gwaith,'

duw dalo i daed eilwaith.

MAIRIG DAVYDD ai kant.

75

80

The preceding composition is printed exactly as it appears in the MS., with only the addition of the bracketed letters in lines 55, 56, and 58, suggested by Mr. Reynolds; the word "pob", in line 59; and the punctuation, there being no stops in the MS. copy.

It will be seen that the transcriber's orthography is not consistent : thus he uses v for the present u, and for the consonantal sound of the English v, for which he also uses ƒ, as we now do. Again the sound of i consonans he variously represents by i, and by j, while he uses the latter occasionally as a pure vowel also, as in lines 29, 51, etc.

In this cywydd the author has " enriched" the language with a number of unrecorded words. These are syth-waew (1. 2), rhadlafn (1. 4), mawrvwyn (l. 10), iawnfwyn (1. 11), grasfwyn (1. 15), grymiaith (1. 17), brauvwyn (1. 18), clennig (1. 28), cerynt (1. 36: this word appears in Pugh's Dict., 3rd edition, in a quotation of the present couplet under cyfiachyddiaeth, but is not recorded in its proper place in the body of the work), aurnod (1. 52), hoewddawn (1. 58), holljawn (1. 60), gwiwddawn (1. 69), cywirddysg (1. 71), daed (1. 82).

L. 6, Sain Dynwyd=St. Donat's, the residence of the Stradlings.

L. 29, jpo doubtless means Hippocrates, with whom the grammarian, as a Doctor of Medicine of Sienna, and a very able physician, is naturally compared.

L. 30, gorav is for gorau, not goraf, as the alliteration proves.

L. 35, kyviaithyddiaeth. The reading in Pugh's Dict. is cyfiachyddiaeth. L. 36, kair i bo, etc. Bo is a clerical error for bob.

L. 41, mewn is here used before the definite article contrary to the rule set down by modern grammarians, who would say "yn y gramer”. L. 82, daed is probably a noun, "God repay them their goodness".