Die, dice, dis a disiau

[J HINES]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I assume this discussion is continuing for some intrinsic interest
rather than because none of us has anything better to do, so the
following may be of use to some of you:

The Welsh word for die (sg.) is "dis" -- in other words English
"dice", borrowed pre-GVS. (There is a modern anglicized variant,
"deis".) As a loanword it is recorded as early as the C14, and by
the C15 there are records of it regularly pluralizing as "disiau".
Presumably then "dice" was here understood as a singular this
long ago.

As far as I can see, the first unambiguous evidence for "dis"
referring to a single item/specimen, as opposed to being
unspecific, is a Welsh-Latin glossary of 1632 which glosses "dis"
with a series of singulars: cubus, alea, tessera.

Particularly notable in this case, is that "dis" would seem an ideal
candidate for the common Welsh practice of adding a distinct
singular suffix to what is otherwise a non-count noun, e.g.
"pysgoden" (a fish), "pysgod" (fish, pl.). Geiriadur y Brifysgol (the
major university dictionary) records only one instance of such a
form, "disyn", again in the C15.

Returning to the personal reminiscences, I was faced with this
problem when having to translate a Scandinavian article about the
archaeological find of a "terning" (die, sg.) for publication about 20
years ago. I was in no doubt then that "dice" was simply incorrect,
but felt obliged to create the term "gaming-die" for clarity's sake. In
an archaeological context, the term "die" would usually be
assumed to refer to a model used in die-stamping processes.

I can also remember back to student days (1970's) in Britain when
it wasn't totally unknown for the singular to be used. And while my
background wouldn't count for much in terms of street-cred, these
were not the most polished of circles either. OK the usage is
obsolescent, but let's not give up on it yet!

JH


Professor/Yr Athro John Hines
Editor/Golygydd, Medieval Archaeology
School of History and Archaeology/Ysgol Hanes ac Archaeoleg
Cardiff University/Prifysgol Caerdydd
P O Box 909/Blwch S P 909
Cardiff/Caerdydd CF10 3XU
United Kingdom/Y Deyrnas Gyfunol

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