Bodinar's letter

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Original

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Bluth vee ewe try egence a pemp.
Theara vee dean bodjack an poscas.
Me rig deskey Cornoack termen me vee mawe.
Me vee demore gen seara vee a pemp dean moy en cock.
Me rig scantlower clowes eden ger Sowsnack cowes en cock rag sythen ware Bar.
Na rig a vee biscath gwellas lever Cornoack.
Me deskey Cornoack moas da maor gen tees coath.
Na ges moye vel pager po pemp en dreav nye ell clapia Cornoack leben,
poble coath pager egence blouth.
Cornoack ewe oll neceaves gen poble younk.

Transliteration

Bloodh vy yw trei ugens ha pemp.
Yth erov vy den boghojek an puskes.
My a wrug deski Kernowek [en] termyn [may] feu vy maw.
My a veu dhe mor gen sira vy ha pemp den moy e'n kok.
My a wrug skant lowr klowes udn ger Sowsnek kowsys e'n kok rag seythen war-barth.
Na wrugav vy byskath gweles lever Kernowek.
My a dheski Kernowek [ow] moas dhe mor gen tus koth.
Nag eus moy avel pajar po pemp e'n drev nei a ell klappya Kernowek lebmyn,
pobel koth, pajar ugens bloodh.
Kernowek yw oll nakevys gen pobel yonk.

Translation

My age is sixty-five.
I'm a poor fisherman.
I learnt Cornish when I was a boy.
I have been to sea with my father and five other men in a fishing boat.
I heard scant a single word of English in the boat for a whole week.
I never saw a Cornish book.
I learnt Cornish going to sea with the old men.
There are no more than four or five in our village who can talk Cornish now,
old people, eighty years old.
Cornish is all forgotten by the young people.

Links

Reference

  • OC Vol III No 7 Summer 1940 also JRIC (photo of original)
  • The Cornish Language and Its Literature, Peter Berresford Ellis, 1974. p119-20