Category: Welsh (Cymraeg)

Everything but the kitchen sink

By Simon

The phrase ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ indicates many things or almost everything, as in ‘I took everything but the kitchen sink with me on holiday. The OED gives the earliest use of the phrase in writing as 1965. The kitchen sink part of the phrase apparently comes from army slang and appears in Partridge’s 1948 Dictionary of Forces’ Slang as “Kitchen sink, used only in the phrase indicating intense bombardment ‘They chucked everything they’d got at us except, or including, the kitchen sink.’”

According to Know Your Phrase, however, it appeared in The Syracuse Herald, an New York newspaper in 1918 in the following sentence.

“I have I shall rather enjoy the experience, though the stitlons are full of people trying to get out and the streets blocked with perambulators, bird cages and ‘everything but the kitchen sink.'”

I discovered yesterday that the French equivalent is ‘tout sauf les murs‘ (everything but the walls), as in j’ai tout emporté sauf les murs = I took everything but the walls.

In Welsh the equivalents are popeth dan haul (everything under the sun) and eich holl drugareddau (your whole bric-a-brac).

Are there equivalent idioms in other languages?

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
le filet net rhwyd tanavenn
le siège (chair, stool, toilet); la place (on bus/train); la selle (bicycle) seat sedd seziz
la hache d’arme battleaxe bwyell ryfel; cadfwyell kadvouc’hal
le virago battleaxe (quarrelsome woman) hen sguthan; hen arthes oz(h)ac’hwreg
le coucou cuckoo cwcw; cog koukoug
la pendule à coucou cuckoo clock cloc cwcw
le loutre otter dyfrgi dourgi
le slip underpants trôns; drafers bragez vihan
les caleçons; les longs longjohns / leggings trôns llaes; drafers hir bragoù-dindan
le (chapeau) haut-de-forme top hat het silc
le (chapeau) melon bowler hat het galed; het gron (galed) tog-meloñs; tok pompad
le chapeau mou trilby het feddal; het drilbi
le dent; la roue dentée cog dant; cocsyn; olwyn ddannedd rod dantek
être un rouage de la machine to be (only) a cog in a machine bod neb o bwys yn y drefn
la gargote greasy spoon, cheap restaurant bwyty bwyd loddin; bwyty rhad tarzhell
j’ai tout emporté sauf les murs I’ve packed everything but the kitchen sink popeth dan haul; eich holl drugareddau
la gouttière guttering landeri; landerydd; bargod kan-dour
le jardin d’hiver conservatory ty gwydr; ystafell wydr jardin go(u)añv
la croisière cruise mordaith; criws merdeadenn
être en maraude to cruise (for customers, i.e. taxi)

It’s on the knitting needles

By Simon

Yesterday I discovered that the Welsh idiom, ar y gweill, which can be translated as ‘in the pipeline’, ‘on the way’, ‘in hand’ or ‘underway’ literally means “on the knitting needles”. It’s the plural of gweillen (knitting needle). To knit is gwau or gweu, and a knitter is gwëwr, gweuwr or gwëydd.

Here are some examples of how it is used (from MyMemory translated.net):

– Mae hynny ar y gweill = That has been set in place
– Mae cynlluniau ar y gweill = Plans are in the pipeline
– Mae’r paratoadau ar y gweill = Preparations for this are underway
– Mae’r trafodaethau hyn ar y gweill = These discussions are in hand

I don’t think I’ve come across any knitting-related idioms like this before, so it caught my attention. Do you know any knitting related idioms?

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
la brute; le tyran bully bwli tirant
tyraniser; rudoyer; intimider to bully gormesu; bwlio gaiet gante; abafiñ
la laisse lead tennyn roll
le pont deck (of ship) bwrdd pont
la passerelle (de commandement) bridge (of ship) pont (lywio) pontenn
l’arête (f) / le dos bridge (of nose) cefn ker
le chevalet bridge (of violin) pont pontig
quand le chat n’est pas là, les souris dansent when the cat’s away the mice will play llon llygod lle ni bo cath

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
se vendre to sell out gwerthu rhth i gyd; gwerthu’r cwbl gwerzhañ holl (?)
la sueur sweat chwys c’hwezenn
suer; transpirer to sweat chwysu c’hweziñ
suer/transpirer comme un boeuf to sweat like a pig chwysu fel mochyn/ceffyl
la scène musicale the music scene man cerddoriaeth (?)
ouvert aux éléments open to the elements agor i’r gwynt a glaw; agor i’r tywydd mawr
le pavé paving stone carreg balmant; fflacsen pavez
la gare routière/d’autobus bus station gorsaf fysus gar ar c’hirri-boutin

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
avoir une idée en tête; être obnublié par qch to have a bee in one’s bonnet chwilen yn dy ben
être imbu(e) de soi-même to be full of oneself bod yn llawn ohonat ti dy hunan
imbiber qch de to soak sth in gwylchu/mwydo rhwybeth mewn intrañ; spluiañ; gouzourañ
s’imbiber de to become saturated with dirlenwi efo/gyda gouzourañ
le noisetier hazel (tree) cyll kelver
la dépression; la cuvette hollow pant; cafn; ceudod izelder
le tourbillon whirlpool trobwll; pwll tro mordro(l)enn(ad); korvent; troenn-vor
le mode de comportement pattern of behaviour patrwm ymddygiad patrom emzalc’h
l’élastique (m) rubber band band rwber/lastig stirenn; lastikenn

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

By Simon

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

On Anglesey not far from where I live, there’s a place with quite a long name: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, or Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Llanfairpwll or Llanfair PG for short. It has the longest officially recognised place name in Europe which was contrived during the 1860s by a local man who wanted to attract visitors to the town – with great success. It was originally called Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll.

The name breaks down into the following parts:

Llanfair [[ɬanvair] = St Mary’s church
– llan = church, parish, village
– fair = mair = Mary – the m of a feminine word mutates to f in a compound like this

Pwllgwyngyll [puɬɡwɨ̞ŋɡɨ̞ɬ] = hollow of white hazel trees
– pwll = pool, pit, hollow
– gwyn = white
– gyll = cyll = hazel trees

gogery = near the (not entirely sure about this part)
go [ɡo] = under (?)
ger [ɡɛr] = near
y [ə] = the

chwyrndrobwll = rapid whirpool
– chwyrn [χwərən] = rapid
– drobwll [drobuɬ] = trobwll = whirpool (tro = to turn, pwll = pool)

Llantysilio [ɬantɨ̞siljo] = St Tysilio’s church

gogogoch = (of the) red cave
gogo [ɡoɡo] = ogof = cave
goch [ɡoːχ] = coch = red

This post was requested by André Bosch.

The importance of stress

By Simon

Last night at the Polyglot conversation group a friend who is learning Welsh told me about the difficulties he had when trying to buy a train ticket to Dolwyddelan, a small village in the Conwy valley in North Wales. None of the ways he tried to pronounce it were understood by the ticket seller, so he ended up spelling it out. I also wasn’t sure what place he was referring to until he spelled it for me, even though I’m used to hearing mispronounced versions of Welsh place names.

In Welsh word stress almost always falls on the penultimate (last but one) syllable, so in Dolwyddelan it’s on the ddel, i.e. /dɔlʊiˈðɛlan/. If you put the stress anywhere else words just sound wrong or incomprehensible.

In languages like Welsh where there stress is usually in the same place it’s not so hard to get it right, but in languages with irregular stress placement, like English and Russian, it’s more difficult. You can try to learn where it goes in each individual word, and/or try to develop an instinct for it through extensive listening. I think I’m beginning to do his for Russian.

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
le poney (des îles Shetland) (Shetland) pony merlen; merlyn; poni (Shetland) pone (Shetland)
la mouette tridactyle kittiwake gwylan goesddu karaveg
l’ornithologue ornithologist adaregwr, adaregydd evnoniour
l’orinthologue amateur bird-watcher; twitcher gwyliwr adar; sbeciwr ar adar evnoniour amatour
la menuiserie woodwork (joinery) gwaith coed munuzerezh
sortir d’un peu partout to crawl out of the woodwork
la charpenterie carpentry gwaith coed/saer; saernïaeth frammerezh; kilvizerezh
l’ébénisterie (f) cabinetmaking gwaith saer ebenouriezh
le cil eyelash blewyn amrant; blewyn llygad (blev) malvenn
le sourcil eye brow ael abrant
pire worse gwaeth gwashoc’h
empirer to worsen gwaethygu; mynd yn waeth gwashañ
ne faire que empirer to get worse and worse mynd o ddrwg i waeth gwashoc’h-gwashañ
au pire if the worst comes to the worst os daw hi i’r pen; ar y gwaethaf ar gwashañ

Partners, other halves and significant others

By Simon

There was some discussion last night at the polyglot conversation group about the words boyfriend and girlfriend and their equivalents in other languages, particularly in Dutch. In English the words boyfriend and girlfriend seem to indicate someone who is relatively young, so don’t seem quite appropriate for use by more mature couples when referring to each other. There are many alternatives, including partner, life partner, other half, better half, companion, gentleman/lady friend, soul mate, significant other, sweetheart, lover, paramour and so on. Do you use or do you know others?

In Dutch it’s much easier – a special male friend is referred to as mijn vriend (my (male) friend), and a special female friend is referred to as mijn vriendin (my (female) friend). A non-intimate friend is simply een vriend(in) (a friend) or een vriend(in) van mij (a friend of mine).

In Welsh it’s straightforward as well – cariad covers both boyfriend and girlfriend, and cyfaill or ffrind is used for ordinary friends.