Word of the day - pigan
Pigan, verb = to being to rain / to start raining
Etymology: pigan comes from pig, beak, spout, to interfere
Example of usage:
Mae hi’n pigan = Mae hi’n dechrau bwrw glaw = It’s starting to rain
Related word:
piglaw - heavy rain, drizzle
I came across this word the other day while searching for another word in my Welsh dictionary and it just appealed to me. I don’t think it’s a very common word as I’ve never heard it or seen it being used.
In Chinese you can express the same idea using the particle le:
下雨 (xiàyǔ) = it’s raining, 下雨了 (xiàyǔ le) it’s just started raining
Do other languages have words with the same or a similar meaning?
PP on 14 Feb 2008 at 9:02 pm #
Prší = It’s raining.
Rozpršelo se = It just started raining.
PP on 14 Feb 2008 at 9:13 pm #
Just to note: there is nothing special about these words. Both are just regular inflections/derivations of verb “pršet”. (to rain) roz- can be used with many verbs to denote action which started and not yet finished, and the Czech gramar doesn’t require subject to be specified, so there is no need for dummy pronouns.
TJ on 15 Feb 2008 at 11:12 am #
In Arabic:
It’s raining: إنها تمطر [innahá tomTir]
It just started raining: لقد بدأت بالإمطار للتو [laqad bada’at bil-imTár lil-taw]
It just rained (and finished already): لقد أمطرت للتو [laqad amTarat lil-taw]
Rain: مطر [maTar]
in Arabic there are several names for “rain” according to its level and heaviness, but the main word in general is [maTar]. Most of these names are used right now in literature writings and not in newspapers language or the media, so it is sort of a classic style.
“laqad” can be a conjugative word, or a word that is said to bring the attention first, or to state a fact. There is no direct equivalent for it in English. Anyway it can be removed from the above sentences, but in speech it might be somehow awkword to say them without this particular word!
Nik on 16 Feb 2008 at 2:21 am #
What language is that? Welsh?
TJ on 16 Feb 2008 at 11:57 am #
Yep it is!
goofy on 22 Feb 2008 at 4:05 pm #
Maybe this is from the Proto-Celtic expressive root *bekko-
Welton on 23 Feb 2008 at 10:11 pm #
In Esperanto, the verb which means “to start raining” is “ekpluvi.”
ceri on 03 Mar 2008 at 11:52 pm #
You might hear ‘mae’n pigan glaw’, but I don’t think it’s half as common as the phrase ‘mae’n pigo bwrw’.
DA on 04 Mar 2008 at 11:29 pm #
We have always used the Welsh expression “mae hi’n pigo’r glaw”, translated as “it’s picking rain” meaning that it is starting to rain. No doubt this expression is a corruption of “pigan” - I’m guilty of never having looked it up in the dictionary.