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Archiver > CORNISH > 2001-08 > 0996857014


From: "John Coles" <>
Subject: Re: [CON] Dewhelans
Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 18:08:28 +0100


Carol Polglaze wrote:


>Hi: The first thing I've got to do is SPELL it right: DEHWELANS, not the
>way I spelled it in my e-mail. I substituted a familiar diphthong "WH" for
an
>unfamiliar one, HW." I hope I didn't "start something." I'll have the
whole
>list misspelling it! Sorry. As Samuel Johnson explained his orthographic
>ignorance, "Sheer ignorance, madam," so do I.
>Carol in Murril'nd
>
Hi Carol, I'd already replied to you privately when this posting crossed
with mine, so (to avoid any risk of you joining Ken in Toronto and being
left with "egg on your face" <VBG> I'm sure you won't mind if I forwarsd my
reply to the List as well. So it is...

Dehwelans can also be spelt Dewhelans<VBG> it just depends which version of
the language you use... which is more a question of spelling than anything
(that vast oversimplification will bring criticism my way, I know, but I've
got broad shoulders).

The 'Unified' version which is the one in Morton Nance's famous dictionary,
and the one most folks around the world will have, is the spelling you used:
Dewhelans.

The more recent Kemmyn version of the language (which was mainly an attempt
to revise and simplify spelling / pronunciation) uses Dehwelans. Anna and I
both feel that the latter spelling does more accurately reflect the correct
pronunciation of the word.

As to meaning - strictly speaking it means 'forgiveness, atonement, return
or remission'
(rather in the sense of the Parable of the Prodigal Son) but we are using it
in the sense of 'Return home after a long period'.

We aren't asking you to come home for forgiveness!!!! The word comes from
'Dehweles' which is often used in the context of homecoming when someone has
left, apparently for good. Morton Nance says in his definition "Often will
one be caused to beseech it on behalf of our nearest relatives".

Nance takes that quote from 'Bewnans Meriasek' written in 1439, and Ken
George (who devised Kemmyn) attributes the word to the Cornish 'Mystery
Play' cycle called
the 'Ordinalia' which is even earlier. So this is a very old concept, and
and I think that puts it in context... we are beseeching and seeking our
cousins from around the world to return home. Wherever you may live, and
however long you may have been away, Cornwall is still your home.

Like many Cornish words, the meaning is complex, and yet embracing a
richness of meaning which cannot be directly translated.

Very best wishes,
John Coles,
in Launceston, the Historic Capital of Cornwall.
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