Category: Welsh (Cymraeg)

High Stones

By Simon

A photo of Harlech castle and town

I spent yesterday in Harlech [ˈharlɛx] with a friend looking round the castle, exploring the village and wandering along the beach. We wondered where the name Harlech comes from, so I thought I’d find out. According to Wikipedia, there are two possible sources: from the Welsh ardd (high; hill) llech (stone) or from hardd (beautiful) llech (stone). Apparently it was referred to as ‘Harddlech’ up until the 19th century in some texts, so the second derivation might be more likely.

The word ardd is not used in modern Welsh – high is usually uchel and hill is bryn. There are cognates in the other Celtic languages: arth (hill) in Cornish; arz (high) in Breton; ard (head; ascent; incline; high; height; senior; advanced) in Irish; àrd (high, lofty, tall; great; loud; chief, eminent, superior, supreme) in Scottish Gaelic; and ard (high, towering, tall, big, loud, height, high place, fell, incline) in Manx.

These all come from from the Proto-Celtic *ardwos (high), from the Proto-Indo-European *h₁rh₃dh-wo- (high, steep), which is also the root of the Latin words arduus (lofty, high, steep, tall, elevated) and arbor (tree, mast, javelin), the Ancient Greek word ὀρθός (orthós – straight), the English word arduous, [source].

Les mots de le semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
la camelote tat hen drugareddau
la maternelle nursery school / kindergarten ysgol feithrin; meithrinfa
grillées (à sec) (dry-)roasted wedi ei rostio (yn sych) (?)
le brushing blow-dry chwythsychu
faire défiler to scroll (on screen) rholio
mur wall mur; wal
mûr mature; ripe aeddfed
mûre blackberry mwyaren ddu; mafonen ddu
les arts ménagers domestic science gwyddor ty
l’économie (f) domestique home economics economeg y cartref
le râtelier à bicyclettes/vélos bike rack (on floor/ground) rhesel beiciau
le porte-vélos bike rack (on car) rhesel beiciau
la galerie roof rack rhesel ben to
le porte-bagages luggage rack rhesel baciau/fagiau

Blackberries and Walls

By Simon

The French words mur (wall) mûr (ripe; mature) and mûre (blackberry; mulberry) are written differently but pronounced the same – [myʁ], so are only distinguished by context in speech.

The word mur (wall) comes from the Latin mūrus (wall), from the Old Latin *moerus/*moiros, from the Proto-Indo-European *mei (to fix, to build fortifications or fences) [source].

The word mûr (ripe; mature) comes from the Latin mātūrus (mature; ripe; early), from the Proto-Indo-European root *meh₂- (to ripen, to mature) [source].

The word mûre (blackberry; mulberry) comes from the Vulgar Latin mora (mulberry), from the Latin mōrum (mulberry) from the Ancient Greek μόρον (móron – mulberry; blackberry) from the Proto-Indo-European *moro (mulberry; blackberry). [source].

One Welsh word for wall, mur [mɨ̞r/mɪr], comes from the same root as the French word mur, probably via Norman or Latin. Another word for wall in Welsh is wal, which was probably borrowed from English. The word pared is used for interior walls, though only in literary Welsh. This probably comes from the Latin pariēs (wall) from the Proto-Indo-European *sparri (wall), which is also the root of the Spanish word pared (wall), the Portuguese parede (wall), and similar words in other Romance languages [source].

The word wall comes from the Old English weall (wall, dike, earthwork, rampart, dam, rocky shore, cliff), from the Proto-Germanic *wallaz/*wallą (wall, rampart, entrenchment), from the Latin vallum (wall, rampart, entrenchment, palisade), from the Proto-Indo-European *wel- (to turn, wind, roll) [source].

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
la sécheresse drought sychder; sychdwr; sychin
le col (de montagne) (mountain) pass bwlch
prudent careful (cautious) gofalus; gwyliadwrus; pwyllog
soigneux careful (handling) gofalus
minutieux careful (examination, study) gofalus; gwyliadwrus
fais attention (be) careful! gan bwyll! gofalwch! cymer ofal!
attentivement (listen, look) carefully yn ofalus; â gofal
avec soin; soigneusement carefully (planned; controlled; worded) yn ofalus; â gofal
prudemment (drive) carefully (gyrru) yn ofalus; â gofal
éviter soigneusement de faire qch to carefully avoid doing sth osgoi gwneud rhywbeth yn ofalus

Cigire or Cigydd? Cross-language confusion

By Simon

Last week in Ireland on the last night of the course each class played some tunes, did a sketch, sang songs, and/or did some other party piece. One of the Irish language classes did a sketch about a bunch of unruly school kids whose class was being visited by an inspector, played by Paul Kavanagh, Irish Ambassador to China. When the inspector turned up and he introduced himself as a “cigire scoile” (school inspector), and I processed the word cig in cigire as the Welsh word for meat. So at first I thought he was the school butcher, which would be cigydd ysgol in Welsh, though that made no sense in the context. I soon realised that he was an inspector, but it took a while for my mind to accept that word cigire had nothing to do with meat.

Incidentally, the Irish word for butcher is búistéir or feolaire, and feoil is meat.

Do you ever suffer from cross-language confusion?

Cruite, cláirseacha a chrythau

By Simon

Cláirseach / Clàrsach / Claasagh / Telyn / Telenn, & Crwth

I discovered last week in Ireland that one word for the harp in Irish is cruit [krutʲ], which sounds similar to the Welsh word crwth [kruːθ], a type of bowed lyre that was once popular in Wales and in other parts of Europe, but which was largely displayed by the fiddle during the 18th century.

The word crwth from a Proto-Celtic word *krotto- (round object) and refers to a swelling or bulging out, of pregnant appearance, or a protuberance. The Irish word cruit comes from the same root and refers to small harps or lyres. The equivalent English word, which was borrowed from Welsh is crowd, which is also written crwd, crout or crouth, and in Medieval Latin such an instrument was called a chorus or crotta. The English surnames Crowder and Crowther, which mean a crowd player, and the Scottish names MacWhirter and MacWhorter also come from the same root [source].

The more common word for harp in Irish is cláirseach. In Scottish Gaelic the words cruit and clàrsach are used, with the latter being the most common, and in Manx we have claasagh and cruitçh. The Welsh word for harp is telyn, which has an equivalent in Manx – tellyn (Welsh harp). The Cornish word for harp is the same as the Welsh, and the Breton word is telenn.

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
l’onde / le vague de chaleur heatwave ton wres; poethdon
le marché bargin (deal) bargen
faire un marché to make a bargain taro bargen; dod i delerau
faire le (la) difficile to drive a hard bargain bargeinio’n galed; taro bargen galed
l’affaire (f) bargain (good buy) bargen
C’était une (bonne) affaire it was / they were a (good) bargain roedd yn fargen dda
marchander to bargain (haggle) bargeinio
négocier; traiter to bargain (negotiate) bargeinio
la rampe handrail (on stairs) canllaw
la balustrade rail (on bridge or balcony) canllaw
la tringle (curtain) rail ffon llen; ffon cyrten
l’armoire (f) wardrobe (cupboard) wardrob; cwpwrdd dillad; dilladfa
la garde-robe wardrobe (clothes) dilladau; gwisgoedd
l’assiette (f) anglaise cold meat/cuts cig mân
la gencive gum (part of mouth) deintgig
le bilan de santé (medical) check-up archwiliad (meddygol)
l’arête (f) ridge (of mountain; roof) trum; crib; cefn
le diplômé (d’université) (university) graduate gŵr gradd; merch radd; graddedig
le chouchas jackdaw jac-do; jac-y-do; cogfran
la cacahuète peanut pysgneuenl; cneuen ddaear/fwnci
le frein à main hand-brake brêc llaw
le roulement de tambour drum roll sŵn drwm; dadwrdd drwm; tabyrddiad

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
décoller to take off (plane) codi; esgyn
le client (hotel) guest gwestai
l’invité (house) guest gwestai
la combinaison de plongée wetsuit siwt gweithgareddau dwr
le coup de glotte glottal stop ffrwydrolyn/stop glotol
(pousser un) coup de guele (to have a) rant rhefru; arthio; brygowthan
la guele-de-loup snapdragon (Antirrhinum) trwyn llo; safn y llew

Changing accents

By Simon

I heard an interesting discussion on Radio Cymru recently about accents. They talked about Welsh, and English, regional accents that have negative associations for people from other regions, or that people find difficult to follow, and whether they would change their accent to make it easier for others to understand them, and/or to avoid the negative associations.

My accent has changed a bit over time – it is currently more or less RP, but used to be more northern, and it depends to some extent though on who I’m talking to. I haven’t tried to change it deliberately. The only thing I consciously pay attention to in formal situations is the pronunciation of th [θ/ð], particularly the unvoiced version, [θ], which tends to default to [f].

Are the negative associations with accents from particular parts of your country, or with accents of particular social groups within your country?

Have you deliberately changed your accent in your native language(s)? If so, what led you to do so?