| français | English | Cymraeg |
|---|---|---|
| la fiche | flash card | cerdyn fflach |
| le dispositif d’écoute; le micro caché | bug (listening device) | |
| le bogue | bug (computer) | nam; diffyg |
| le virus; le microbe | bug (germ) | byg; clust |
| l’insecte (m); la bestiole | bug (insect) | pryf |
| mangeable | edible (palatable) | bwytadwy |
| comestible | edible (safe to eat) | da i’w fwyta |
| tremper | to dunk | gwlychu; trochi |
| trempé | soaked | gwlyb |
| trempé jusqu’aux os | soaked to the skin | gwlyb diferol; gwlyb diferol; gwlyb at y croen |
| un pétard mouillé | damp squib | matsien wleb |
| le pigeonneau | squab (baby pigeon) | cyw colomen |
| le fruit de l’imagination | figment of the imagination | dychmygu pethau; ffrwyth eich dychymyg |
Category: Welsh (Cymraeg)
Wysinnwyg
The other day I listened to a programme on BBC Radio 4 with an unusual title – Wysinnwyg. When I first saw the title of immediately thought it was a Welsh word, although not one I’d come across before, and I tried to work out what it might mean. I couldn’t find it in any Welsh dictionary, so assumed it was a made-up word. After listening to the programme I realised it was a variation on wysiwyg (what you see is what you get), which also looks Welsh, and means “what you see is not necessarily what you get”.
There aren’t very many Welsh words that start with w, in fact, and many of them are loanwords from English. Here are some examples:
– waldio [ˈʊaldɪɔ] = to beat, to thrash
– wb [ʊb] / wbwb [ˈʊbʊb] = wi! oh! alas!
– wedi[ˈʊɛdɪ] = after
– wedyn [ˈʊɛdɨn] = afterwards
– weithiau [ˈʊɛɪθɪaɨ] = sometimes
– wele [ˈʊɛlɛ] = behold!
– wfft [ʊft] = fie! for shame!
– wfftian [ˈʊftɪan] = to flout
– wit-wat [ˈʊɪtʊat] = fickle
– wtio [ˈʊtɪɔ] = to boo
– wrth [ʊrθ] = by, with, to, compared with, because
– wy [ʊɨ] = egg
– wyneb [ˈʊɨnɛb] = face, surface
– wyth [ʊɨθ] = eight
– wythnos [ˈʊɨθnɔs] = week (eight-night)
Do you ever see acronyms or made-up words and think they are from a particular language? Or see words in one language and think they’re really from another language?
Whenever I see words with w’s and y’s and double l’s I think of Welsh. So Amarillo looks like a Welsh place name to me.
Les mots de la semaine
| français | English | Cymraeg |
|---|---|---|
| la charnière; le gond | hinge | colyn; colfach; crogfach |
| le pot-de-vin | bribe | llwgrwobrwy; llwgrwobr; cil-dwrn |
| acheter; soudoyer; offirir des pots-de-vin | to bribe | llygru; prynu; llwgrwobrwyo; rhoi cil-dwrn |
| la corruption; la subornation | bribery | llwgrwobrwyaeth; llwgrwobrwyad |
| la corruption | corruption | llygredd; llygredigaeth |
| corrompu(e) | corrupt (person) | llygredig; llwgr |
| corrompre | to corrupt | llygru; difetha |
| le robinet à flotteur | ball-cock | tap pelen |
| l’accent (m) | emphasis (vocal stress) | pwyslais; pwys |
| le mot composé | compound word | gair cyfansawdd; cyfansoddair |
| le mot-valise | portmanteau word | cyfansoddair cywasgedig |
Back in Bangor
I arrived back from New York a few hours ago after an overnight flight from JFK to Manchester. The flight went smoothly, apart from a bit if bumpiness at one point, and I managed to sleep a bit. The sun was shining in Manchester and in Bangor, though it’s a lot cooler here than it was in New York.
The second and final day of the conference was great with some interesting talks and lots of opportunities to practise languages. In the evening quite a few polyglots went to a roof top bar with great views and I spoke quite a lot of Welsh, Irish and Mandarin, and bits and pieces of my other languages.
On Monday morning I went on a language-spotting trip to Queens with a few other polyglots, and we found at least 15 different languages there. In the afternoon I went to a kind of book fair – one of the conference organisers was gvien many language courses, dictionaries and other language-related books by a publisher, and she decided to share them. Her apartment is in The Asonia, a very elegant former hotel in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. After that we went to bar in Brooklyn for some more socialising and polyglottery.
Yesterday morning I finally made it to Staten Island, and also walked the entire length of Central Park – 2.5 miles, though it felt further with my heavy bag, and getting lost. Then I headed to the airport. If I’d arrived earlier on Friday I would have gone to a polyglot picnic in Central Park, but by the time I got out of the airport and into Manhattan, it was finished.
So now I’m trying to catch up with the emails that arrived while I was away. If you’ve written to me recently and haven’t yet received a reply, please be patient.
Polyglot Conference, New York
This weekend I am in New York for the 2015 Polyglot Conference. I arrived yesterday afternoon after an uneventful flight from Manchester. It took a couple of hours to get out of the airport, and another hour or so to Manhattan.
Last night I met up with some other polyglots near the Statan Island ferry terminal – we were planning to take the ferry over to Statan Island, but unfortunately it started raining heavily and we decided to postpone the trip. We explored Lower Manhattan and Greenwich Village for a while, then I went home, while the others went on to a bar.
The conference started this morning at the SVA Chelsea Theater, which is just around the corner from where I’m staying. There were talks all day about a variety of interesting subjects, including Forensic Linguistics, Proto-Indo-European and Lakota language revival. There are plenty of people here who I know from previous polyglot events, and I’ve met lots of new people.
So far I’ve spoken English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Esperanto and Toki Pona, and have met people who speak various other languages.
The conference continues tomorrow, and then I have a couple of days of sightseeing before returning to the UK.
Irish and Ndebele
Yesterday I went to Global Café, a group for international students which I’ve been going to on and off since I was a student myself. I use it as a chance to meet people and practise my languages, and I got to speak quite a few different languages last night, including Welsh, French, Irish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese and German. There were also speakers of Vietnamese, Arabic, Malay, Northern Ndebele, and probably other languages.
The most linguistically interesting person I met there was a guy who grew up in Ireland where he spoke Northern Ndebele at home, and was educated through the medium of Irish. He also learnt English and French at school, and is currently working on Mandarin and Welsh. His parents come from Zimbabwe, and his dad speaks about 10 languages. He had a bit of trouble with my Ulster Irish, but we managed to communicate okay. I don’t think I’ve met anyone else who speaks a Bantu and a Celtic language before.
What is the most unusual combination of languages you’ve come across?
Hi. Keefak? Ça va?
What language(s) do they speak in Beirut?
According to an interesting programme and article I came across today, many people in Beirut speak Arabic, French and English, and frequently switch between them, often using two of them, or all three in the same sentence.
While some might see this kind codeswitching as a sign that people haven’t learnt any of the languages completely, others believe it is a way people express their Lebanese identity. In fact, codeswitching requires a good knowledge of all the languages you’re switching between, especially when it occurs within sentences.
Are there other places where most people regularly codeswitch between three of more languages like this?
In Wales codeswitching between English and Welsh is common, and with some of my friends we add French, and/or other languages, into the mix.
Custard sandwiches and pancakes
The Welsh word for sandwich is brechdan [ˈbrɛxdan], which comes from the Irish word brechtán (butter, fat), according to the Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru.
However according to MacBain’s Dictionary, is related to the Scottish Gaelic word for pancake, breacag, which is related to breachdan (custard), which comes from the Middle Irish breachtán (a roll), which is related to the Welsh words brithog (mottled, variegated, multi-coloured, speckled, fine) and brith (marked with different colours, variegated, coloured, chequered, mottled, pied, spotted, speckled, brindled, grey), which are related to the word word breac (speckled) in Irish and Scottish Gaelic.
According to the Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru, brechdan is a sandwich, and also a slice of bread and butter; sandwich; cake or shortbread.
There are also a number of interesting types of sandwich in Welsh:
– brechdan fawd / gorddi = slice of bread on which butter is spread with the thumb
– brechdan gaerog / ddwbl / linsi / fetal / deiliwr = an oatcake on a slice of buttered white bread or between two slices of white bread
– brechdan grasu = toast, toasted sandwich
– brechdan i aros pryd = slice of bread and butter to carry on with until the next meal, snack
– brechdan doddion = slice of bread spread with dripping
– brechdan driagl / driog = slice of bread spread with treacle
For details of the origins of the word sandwich, see Sandwiches and Portsmouths
Les mots de la semaine
| français | English | Cymraeg |
|---|---|---|
| les dentier | dentures | dannedd gosod |
| le chantier | building site | safle adeiladu |
| la dictature | dictatorship | unbennaeth; awtocratiaeth; teyrnlywodraeth |
| le dictateur | dictator | unben; teyrn |
| l’autocratie | absolute dictatorship | unbennaeth |
| une quinzaine; quine jours; deux semaines | fortnight | pythefnos |
| le dent de sagesse, le gros dent | wisdom tooth | cilddant olaf, cefnddant |
| poser sa candidature pour | to apply for (a job) | cynnig, ymgeisio, ymgynnig, gwneud cais |
| dépliant | leaflet | taflen; dalen |
| la disquette | floppy disk | disg llipa |
| déblie; allumé | geek, nerd | llipryn, gwlanen, brechdan |
| le monument classifié | listed builing | adeilad cofrestredig |
| le conseil d’administration | board (of directors) | bwrdd (cyfarwyddwyr) |
| l’affairiste; le magouiller | wheeler dealer | sgemiwr a sgiliwr |
| magouiller | to wheel and deal | sgemio a sgilio |
| mettre son nez partout | to have a finger in every pie | bod gan fys ym mhob brŵes/cawl |
| se mêler partout | to have a finger in many pies | bod gan fys ym mhob brŵes/cawl |
Les mots de la semaine
| français | English | Cymraeg |
|---|---|---|
| le ragoût; | stew | stiw; lobsgóws |
| (faire) mijoter; cuire en ragoût | to stew | stiwio; mud-ferwi |
| le ragoût de mouton | Irish stew | lobsgóws; cawl; pwt y berw |
| le pot-au-feu | beef stew | stiw eidion |
| le navarin d’agneau | lamb stew | stiw oen |
| le civet de cheveuil | venison stew | stiw fenswn/feneiswn |
| le ragoût de légumes | vegetable stew | stiw llysiau |
| ça m’a rien donner | I have nothing to show for it | nid oedd gennyf ddim i’w ddangos er |
| ça a fait tilt | the penny dropped | syrthiodd y geiniog |
| épeler | to spell (aloud) | sillafu |
| écrire; orthographier | to spell (in writing) | sillafu |
| la zone humide la terre humide |
wetland | tir gwlyb; cors; corstir; tir corsiog |
| la tourbière | bog (wetland) | cors |
| la tourbière | peat bog | mawnog; mawndir |
| la tourbe | peat | mawn |
| trotter | to trot | tuthio; trotian; trotio |
| trotteur | trotter | tuthiwr; trotiwr |