Category: Welsh (Cymraeg)

Word of the day – cwtsh

By Simon

cwtsh [ku:tS] = to hug; to cuddle; to kiss; to lie down; a safe place; a cupboard/space under stairs; a scuttle (for coal); snug; cosy; nice and warm; a kiss.

It comes from the Welsh word cwtch, which originally meant a cupboard or cubbyhole, but later acquired the extra meanings to lie down; a cuddle or hug. It was adopted into Welsh from the Middle English couche, a resting or hiding place, which comes from the French coucher, to lie down; to sleep.

Examples of usage:

I just want to go and cwtch him = I just want to go and hug him.
– a comment apparently made by Elizabeth Taylor about Richard Burton

Give me a cwtsh = Give me a hug

This word is an example of Wenglish, a mixture of Welsh and English spoken by many people in Wales, especially in south Wales. It’s first recorded use in English was in the 1920s according to this page. It also the most popular word in Wales, according to this report. I heard being used in a song on Radio Cymru today. It’s a song I’ve heard quite a few times before, and now I finally know what it’s about.

Riviera Lloegr / The English Riviera

By Simon

A photo of Paignton beach and pier

The towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham in the county of Devon in the south west of England are marketed collectively by the local tourist board as ‘The English Riviera‘. Their website offers provides information in a number of languages – the usual suspects like French, German, Italian and Spanish, and also Dutch, Polish, Chinese and Japanese. Recently they’ve had part of the site translated into Welsh – a first for English holiday resorts, according to this article.

A spokesman for the English Riviera Tourist Board said,

“We are a popular destination for visitors from Wales. The Welsh language should be used more on publicity like this in England. It is a UK language.

The board’s director, who used to be in charge of tourism in Anglesey, doesn’t speak Welsh herself, but has a fondness and commitment to preserving the language.

There are also plans to provide downloadable MP3 walking tours for the area in Welsh.

Finger names

By Simon

Finger names

When chatting with some Japanese friends today, the subject of finger names came up for some reason – specifically what the different fingers are called in Japanese and English. It took quite a while to establish which finger corresponded to which name – to make this clear, I found a picture of a hand, added labels and uploaded it to my site.

This is what the fingers are called in those languages:

拇指 (boshi) / 親指 (oyayubi) lit. “thumb/parent finger” = thumb
人差し指 (hitosashiyubi) = lit. “person offering finger” = first finger / index finger
中指 (nakayubi) = middle finger
薬指 (kusuriyubi) = lit. “medicine finger” = third finger /ring finger
小指 (koyubi) = lit. “little finger” = fourth finger / little finger / pinky

In Latin the fingers are named thus:

Thumb = Polex
First finger = Demonstratus (pointer)
Second finger = Impudicus (gesticulates)
Third finger = Annularis (ring)
Fourth finger = Auricularis (removing wax from ear)

Their names in Welsh are as follows:

Thumb = bawd
First finger = bys troed (foot finger)
Second finger = bys canol (middle finger)
Third finger = bys y fodrwy (ring finger)
Fourth finger = bys bach (little finger)

and Irish they’re:

Thumb = ordóg
First finger = corrmhéar (odd finger)
Second finger = méar fhada (long finger)
Third finger = méar fáinne (ring finger)
Fourth finger = lúidín

What about in your language?

Blog newydd / nua

By Simon

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I was thinking of starting a new blog to practice my the languages. Well I’ve finally made up my mind and have created one – Rywsut-rywfodd. I plan to write everything in Welsh and Irish for now, and might write in other languages from time to time.

The title means “somehow or other”, as in “somehow or other I will become fluent in Welsh and Irish, and as many other languages as possible”. The subtitle – meddyliau hap yn y Gymraeg / smaointe fánacha as Gaeilge – means “random thoughts in Welsh / random thoughts in Irish”. I hope to write frequently – this probably won’t be every day though. I might even have a go at audioblogging as well.

When writing a recent post, it struck me how few words Welsh and Irish have in common. The only one that stands out in that particular post is blasus/blasta (tasty). Most of the others are borrowings from English.

I believe this is the world’s first bilingual Welsh/Irish blog. I might be mistaken of course – if there are others out there, I’m sure you’ll let me know. What’s the most unusual combination of languages you’ve come across on a blog or website?

Idiom of the day

By Simon

In English when you give up on something or admit that you’re defeated, you might say that you’re throwing in the towel or the sponge, a phrase that comes from boxing. In Welsh you put the fiddle on the roof: rhoi’r ffidil ar y tô. I like the image this conjures up.

Other Welsh idioms I like include siarad fel melin bupur = to talk like a pepper mill, i.e. to talk non-stop, mae hi’n bwrw cyllyll a ffyrc = it’s raining knives and forks, i.e. it’s raining heavily, and mae’r olwyn wedi troi = the wheel has turned, i.e. times have changed.

Word of the day – 差不多 (chàbuduō)

By Simon

差不多 (chàbuduō)

The phrase 差不多 (chàbuduō) is one of my favourite phrases in Chinese. It literally means “lacking not much” and can be translated as “more or less”, “near enough”, “almost” or “about”. It’s used frequently in Taiwan, and also in China I think, and seems to embody quite a common philosophy, i.e. there’s no need to do everything perfectly, as long as things get finished, so don’t worry too much. That’s my impression anyway.

A longer version of this phrase is 差不多就可以 (chàbuduō jiù kěyǐ), which means “near enough, that’ll do”. Quite good English equivalents are “close enough for government work” and “near enough for jazz”.

You can see a good example of chabuduoism from Taiwan on Pinyin News.

I found an equivalent expression in my big book of Welsh idioms: yn rhywle o’i chwmpas hi (lit: “somewhere around it”).

Do similar phrases exist in other languages?

Sunshine

By Simon

My Welsh course finished a midday today, after which we had the obligatory group photos on the steps outside the main entrance. We were then presented with certificates for completing the course which mention that we have earned 40 credits for it. Unlike many of my classmates, I’m not doing any of the online courses offered by Lampeter, so these credits aren’t much use to me at the moment.

Mae fy ngwrs Cymraeg wedi gorffen am hanner dydd heddiw. Wedyn mae rhywun wedi tynnu lluniau o’r grwp i gyd ar y grisiau tu allan y priffynedfa. Cawson ni ein tystysgrifau ar ôl hynny.

A number of speeches were made, then two new books were launched – Teach Yourself Welsh Conversation and Teach Yourself Welsh Grammar, the authors of which are members of the Welsh Department at Lampeter. A buffet lunch was also provided, after which most people made their escape, though a few are coming back next week for another Welsh course.

Mae nifer o areithiau wedi’u wneud, ac yna roedd dau llyfrau newydd wedi’u lansio – Teach Yourself Welsh Conversation a Teach Yourself Welsh Grammar – mae’r awduresau ohonyn nhw yn aelodau yr Adran Cymraeg yn Llambed. Roedd cinio bwffe ar gael, ac wedyn dihangodd y mwyafif y myfyfrwyr, ond bydd rhai ohonyn nhw yn dod nôl yr wythnos nesa i wneud cwrs Cymraeg arall.

I have really enjoyed this course and have particularly enjoyed speaking Welsh to other people. I’ll be returning to Brighton tomorrow and will be back at work on Monday.

Dw i’n wedi mwynhau’r cwrs yma yn dda iawn, a dw i’n wedi mwynhau siarad Cymraeg gyda bobl arall yn enwedig. Yfory dw i’n mynd nôl i Frighton, a bydda i’n gweithio un waith eto o ddydd Llun.

Helfa trysor (treasure hunt)

By Simon

We went on a treasure hunt this morning. We were supposed to go yesterday afternoon, but it was raining (surprise, surprise!). Fortunately the sun came out today, at least for a while. I saw bits of Lampeter I hadn’t seen before and learnt a bit about its history. The treasure was some chocolates, which we all shared.

In class this afternoon we played a number of Welsh games, including Gêm yr Eisteddfod and trilingual (Welsh/Breton/Irish) dominoes. The dominoes had pictures of animals on them with their names in the three languages. Some of the names that really caught my eye were gwas y neidr (lit. “snake’s servant”) – dragonfly, glöyn byw (lit. “living coal”) – butterfly, and bilidowcar – cormorant.

Another word for dragonfly is gwachell y neidr (“snake’s knitting-needle”), and there are many words in Welsh for butterfly, including iâr fach yr haf (“little summer hen”), pili-pala and bili-bala. Other words for cormorant are morfran (“sea crow”), mulfran (“sad mule crow”), llanciau Llandudno (“bachelors of Llandudno”) and wil wal waliog.

Word of the day – lol

By Simon

The Welsh word lol means nonsense, and according to the dictionary on the BBC Learn Welsh site, it also means foolery, bosh, bunkum, gammon, moonshine, rigmarole, rot, rubbish, tomfoolery or twaddle. Every time I see it, it reminds me of the abbreviation lol for ‘laugh(ing) out loud’.

Here are some examples of usage:

Dyn ni’n siarad llawer o lol yn y dosbarth weithiau.
We talk a lot of nonsense in class sometimes. (quite true!)

Mae’r newyddiadurwr yn ddymunol iawn ond mae e’n ysgrifennu lol weithiau.
The journalist/reporter is very pleasant, but he writes nonsense sometimes.

Words with a similar meaning to lol include ffiloreg, ffwlbri and dwli.

What words do you use to say that something is nonsense?

Aberystwyth

By Simon

As I have no classes this weekend, I decided to go to Aberystwyth today. The bus took about an hour and a half to get there and went through some nice scenery and some pretty villages and towns along the way. I particuarly liked Aberaeron, a small town by the sea with attractive Victorian houses painted in many different colours.

Photo of Aberaeron

Er nad oedd dosbarthiadau heddiw, penderfynais i i fynd i Aberystwyth. Treuliodd y daith ar y bws tua awr a hanner ac aethon ni’n trwy gefngwlad hyfryd ac trwy nifer o drefi a phentrefi pert. Mae Aberaeron yn arbennig o ddeniadol, gyda llawer o dai Fictoraidd lliwgar.

In Aberystwyth I spent quite a bit of time wandering around the town and bought some Welsh CDs, a new Irish course, and another book of tin whistle tunes to add to my collection. There are some good bookshops in Aber, including one with French-Welsh and German-Welsh dictionaries, and courses for learning Breton and Irish through the medium of Welsh. They also had a Cornish course and dictionary.

Photo of Aberystwyth seafront

Treuliais i maith o amser yn grwydro o gwmpas y dre a brynais i gryno ddisgiau gan Siân James, Gwenan Gibbard a Swci Boscawen, Cwrs Gwyddeleg newydd, a llyfr o diwniau ar gyfer y chwiban. Mae nifer o siopau llyfrau da yn Aber, yn gynnwys un sy’n gwerthu geiriaduron Cymraeg-Ffrangeg a Chymraeg-Almaeneg, a chyrsiau Llydaweg a Gwyddeleg trwy gyfryng y Gymraeg. Mae cwrs a geiriadur Cernyweg da nhw hefyd.

After having a look around the castle, I walked along the prom, and then went up Constitution Hill on the cliff railway. The views from the top were amazing – I could see more or less the whole of Cardigan Bay from the Llŷn Peninsula in the north to the Pembrokeshire Peninsula in the south. The sun even came out for a while and the clouds cleared making the view even better.

Photo of Aberystwyth from the Cliff Railway

Ar ôl i mi gael cipolwg ar y castell, cerddais i ar hyd y promenâd ac es i i lân y Graiglais ar y rheilffordd y graig. Oedd y golygon i lawr y bryn yn ardderchog – o’n i’n gallu gweld Bae Ceredigion braidd i gyd o’r Llŷn yn y gogledd i’r penrhyn Sir Benfro yn y de. Disgleiriodd y haul am sbel a gwasgarodd y cymylau hefyd ac felly, oedd y golygon yn well.

On a semi-related matter, I received an email today from Steafan MacRisnidh, a speaker of Scottish Gaelic who is currently working in Japan. He has set up a new blog with some Gaelic lessons in Japanese. He also has a number of other blogs in Gaelic. Just though I’d mention it here.

As we usually have a quiz at the weekend, I don’t want to disappoint you today, so here it is:

Which of the following places is the odd one out?
Caerhirfryn, Caerliwelydd, Caerlŷr, Caernarfon, Caerfaddon, Caergrawnt, Caergaint, Caerwysg, Caerwrangon