Having now obtained a photocopy of Robert Morton Nance's article from 'Old Cornwall', I'm a little clearer about the origins of the Cornish language version of 'Dabbling in the dew' and its variants. There is more than one historical source, but the original in the handwriting of the singer, Edward Chirgwin, is in the Gwavas MSS in the British Museum and dates to 1698.

Chirgwin's phonetic, 'Late' Cornish spelling was as given by Lucy above, and an English translation was posted in this earlier Mudcat thread: http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=4419#24012
('Whittle' is an English dialect word for shawl.)

The meaning is mostly clear enough, but 'fettow' (line 1) is problematic. Nance suggests (in his Unified Cornish) 'hy fythow'. It's an explanation but I don't find it entirely convincing or elegant. The combination of 'pedden dew' (dark/black head) and 'blew mellen' (yellow hair) seems a little odd, and 'pedden dew' has been altered in the MS (in another hand) to 'bedgeth gwin' (fair/white face) which most singers have preferred to follow. The version sung by Brenda Wooten and Robert Bartlett on the 'Starry Gazey Pie' LP obviously follows Nance but has been improved here and there. Nance's 'hy fythow tek' has been replaced by 'bluth ha tek'.

Below is my attempt to render the song as sung on 'Starry Gazey Pie' in Kernewek Kemmyn (which is the orthographic form of Cornish I'm most familiar with). I was hoping to get a version in Revived Late Cornish but this has not (yet) been forthcoming.

The spelling inconsistencies in this post are not mistakes but reflect varying spelling standardisations and solutions which bedevil the Cornish language revival.

Richard
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DELYOW SEVI

Ple'th esowgh-hwi ow-mos, mowes vludh ha teg,
Gans agas bejeth gwynn, ha'gas blew melyn?
My a vynn mos dhe'n venten, syrra hweg,
Rag delyow sevi a wra mowesi teg.

A allav-vy mos genowgh hwi, mowes, vludh ha teg,
Gans...
Gwrewgh mar mynnowgh-hwi, syrra hweg,
Rag...

Fatel vydh mar kwrav-vy agas gorra-hwi y'n dor,
Gans...
My a vynn sevel arta, syrra hweg,
Rag...

Fatel vydh mar kwrav-vy agas dri-hwi gans flogh,
Gans...
My a vynn y dhoen, syrra hweg,
Rag...

Piw a vynnowgh-hwi kavoes rag syrra rag'as flogh,
Gans...
Hwi a vydh y syrra, syrra hweg,
Rag...

Pandr'a vynnowgh-hwi kavoes rag lennow rag'as flogh,
Gans...
Y das a vydh tregher, syrra hweg,
Rag...