melhwes

Cornish

Etymology

From Middle Cornish molhouez, from Proto-Brythonic *melw- (soft), from Proto-Celtic *meldo- (pleasant, mild), *mlido (soft), from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥dus (soft, weak). Cognate with Breton melc'hwed and Welsh malwod. Related to Breton melw (snot).

Noun

melhwes (collective, singulative melhwesen f or melhwyjen f)

  1. snails
    Synonym: bulhornes
  2. slugs
    Synonyms: melhwennow, gluthvelhwennow

Mutation

Mutation of melhwes
unmutated soft aspirate hard mixed mixed after 'th
melhwes velhwes unchanged unchanged felhwes velhwes

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Cornish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

  • Matasović, Ranko (2009), “meldo-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 262