0964e Gwefan Cymru-
http://www.theuniversityofjoandeserrallonga.com/kimro/amryw/1_enwau/enwau_lleoedd_llyfr_1_0964e.htm
0001z Yr Hafan / Home Page
..........1864e Y Fynedfa yn Gatalaneg /
English Gateway
....................0010e Y Gwegynllun / Siteplan
.............................1447e Enwau Cymru (tudalen cyfeiriol) / Welsh Names (Orientation Page)
.......................................0442e Enwau Lleoedd Cymru (tudalen cyfeiriol) / Welsh Place Names
(Orientation Page)
...............................................2487e 'Enwau Lleoedd Cymraeg'
(llyfr) / 'Welsh-language Place names' (book)
...........................................................y tudalen hwn /
aquesta pàgina
xxxx (ddim ar gael) Y tudalen hwn yn Gymraeg
xxxxx (no disponible) Aquesta pàgina en
català.
|
Gwefan Cymru-Catalonia |
|
These are notes for a book on place names which was
accepted for publication but will now probably appear in another format. Some
sections are complete, others are very incomplete. But we'll get round to
tidying it up eventually.
SECTION ONE: This page
SECTION TWO 0815e
SECTION THREE 0965e
SECTION FOUR 0966e
Place-names Dictionary - Welsh
place names and place-name elements explained 0817e
Place-names Dictionary - Welsh
place names and place-name elements explained 0817e
(The draft of a book on Welsh place names submitted
for publication. Much of the material was cut out by the editors - surplus to
requirements. Publication date unknown. There are some gaps in this draft, but
it should be useful as it stands. No other book of its type on Welsh place
names exists)
CONTENTS OF THIS PAGE
1 Place names and grid references
2 The Indo-European languages
3 Who are the Celts?
4 The British language
5 The pronunciation of Welsh
6 Mutations in Welsh
7 Some place name elements
8 the definite article and a masculine noun (y brÿn = the hill)
9 y brÿn mawr : article + masculine noun + adjective
10 some spelling rules for place names
Place names and grid references
After
many of the place names the Ordnance Survey grid reference is indicated. This
is made up of two letters followed by four digits. The letters refer to one of
the nine 100km grid squares which cover
The Indo-European languages
Welsh, like the great majority of European languages,
is a member of the Indo-European family of languages (so called because the
members of this language family are to be found in the north of the Indian
subcontinent and in
The original language probably comes from the area of the river Dneper in
These are the twelve main divisions of Indo-European. Those in brackets are
extinct.
1 (HITTITE)
2 INDO-IRANIAN
3 ARMENIAN
4 GREEK
5 ALBANIAN
6 ITALIC
7 CELTIC
8 (TOCHARIAN)
9 GERMANIC
10 SLAVONIC
11 BALTIC
The Hittites were an ancient people with a powerful empire in Asia Minor and
Syria from 1900BC-1200BC. The language is preserved in cuneiform inscriptions
from before 1000BC
The Indo-Iranian group includes the languages in the
region of modern-day
The Italic group includes two extinct languages that
were replaced by Latin - Oscan (south-central
Germanic had three divisions - northern, western and
eastern. The Northern one is represented by the Scandinavian languages, and the
western by Anglo-Frisian (from which come modern Frisian, English and Scots)
and German (German, Dutch, and so on). The Eastern branch is extinct - this was
represented by the Gothic language, known from a translation of the Bible in
the fourth century by Ulfilas.
One of the extinct branches of Indo-European is
Tocharian. The Tocharians were a Central Asian people assimilated around 1000AD
by their neighbours. Their language was preserved in manuscripts discoverd in
the twentieth century. The name comes from Greek TOCHAROI, which was taken from
TOCHRI, the Uigir name for this lost people
Here are some words in different languages deriving from the same Indo-European
root:
Indo-European deru = to be firm, to be hard; in
specialised senses 'wood', 'tree';
Welsh derw(en) = oak tree, deri = oakwood;
Irish dair = oak tree, doire = oakwood (Doire - town in
Ireland, Englished as Derry),
Scottish darach = oak tree;
Old English treow, English tree, Norwegian tre,
Greek dendron (from a duplicated form of this root - deru + deru) = tree
(as in rhodendron, literally 'rose tree'), or hamadryad = a nymph that
inhabits a tree and dies with it (hamadruas - hama = together with, drus = tree);
Russian derevo = tree; Sankrit daru = wood.
River names in
Indo-European kwon = dog; Welsh ci (plural cwn) = dog; in
British, also warrior;
Welsh corgi (cor + ci) = dwarf dog;
Irish cú = greyhound; hero, champion; Mac Conmara 'son of the
hound of the sea' (Macnamara), Mac Con Ulaidh 'son of the hound of Uladh
/ Ulster' (MacNally);
Scottish cù = dog;
Old English hund, English hound, Dutch hond, German Hund,
Norwegian hund;
Greek kûon;
Latin canis = dog (and from this the English words canine and Canary
Islands), Catalan (Balearic Islands) ca
Indo-European ekwo = horse. This is probably a
variant of kwon =dog.
Welsh eb- in ebol = foal, Epÿnt (Eb-hÿnt) = horse path -
name of a mountain; caseg gyfeb = mare in foal;
Irish each = horse, and Scottish each = horse, Latin equus
= horse (and from this English equestrian, equine),
Greek hippos = horse (Latin hippopotamus is from Greek hippopotamos
= river horse) (Philip from Philippos = fond of horses)
Indo-European dwô = 2.
Welsh dau = 2, Irish dó = 2, and Scottish dà = 2,
Old English twâ = 2, English two, German zwei, Sanskrit dváu
There are many regular correspondences between Celtic and Latin / Greek words
on the one hand, and Celtic / Germanic on the other. Here is just one example
between Celtic and Germanic, using Welsh / Irish and English / Dutch / German
as examples.
Many words in Welsh beginning with c- [k] correspond to words in
the Germanic languages which begin with h.
(1) Welsh celyn(en) = holly, Irish cuileann = holly
Old English holegn, English holly
Dutch hulst, German Hulst (both meaning holly)
(2) Welsh cae = field; in Old Welsh it meant
hedge (no Irish equivalent)
Old English haga = hedge - the first element in modern English hawthorn
- thorn for making hedges,
Dutch hag(doorn), German Hag(dorn) (both meaning 'hawthorn')
(3) Welsh coll(en) = hazel tree, Irish coill
= wood, forest.
Old English hæsel, English hazel,
Dutch hazel(aar), German Hasel (both meaning 'hazel tree')
(4) Welsh coed = wood, (no Irish equivalent)
Germanic *haithiz, Old English hææth, English heath; heathen
= savage person;
Dutch heide, German Heide (both meaning 'heath')
(5) Welsh corn 'horn; mountain peak', Irish corn
= horn (type of bugle), (drinking horn)
Old English horn, English horn,
Dutch
Who are the Celts?
'Celtic' is a linguistic term. The word 'Celts' means
no more than 'people who speak a Celtic language' (except that nowadays it is
rather more "people who ought to speak a Celtic language but have been
persuaded not to". The Celtic languages are in various stages of
eradication at the present time, and as a result most inhabitants of Celtic
lands have little or no knowledge of what is rightfully their own language)
(INSERT: Origin of the Celts)
These people successfully developed a technology based
on iron, and this permitted their expansion through conquest.
The technology was probably passed on from the Celts to the Germanic peoples
since the Germanic word for iron was a borrowing of the Celtic word *isarn-
(we comment on this later on).
The Celts came to the islands from the European mainland
somewhere between 800 and 500 BC. Who was there before them is not known. In
all likelihood there was no great displacement of population - an original
pre-Celtic population adopted a Celtic language.
The British language
The
British language was for nearly a thousand years (until about 400AD) spoken
over most - if not all - of the island of Britain (there is some doubt about
whether the inhabitants of what is now northern Scotland spoke British).
The arrival of the Hibernian invaders from
The Germanic invaders carved a new homeland - England
- out of the lands they took over in the island of Britain, and the British
peoples were confined to three separate zones in the island - a region on
either side of Carlisle (including the present day English Lake District and
the south of Scotland as far as Glasgow), and what are today the countries of Wales
and Cornwall.
The northern country had ceased to exist by 1100. On
the other hand, settlers from the
Two words in particular in the Germanic languages are
Celtic. One is from Indo-European *dhuno = fortified place, in Celtic dûn-
(and the source of Irish dún, Scottish dùn = fort; and Welsh din
= fort, dinas = city (originally fort). This became Germanic *tûnaz
and from this came Old English tûn, modern English -ton in
place names (= farmstead), and the word town. The corresponding word in
German is 'Zaun' = fence, Dutch 'tuin' = garden
The other, as we have mentioned, is Celtic isarn-
= iron, which in Irish is iarann, and in Welsh haearn (and in
(INSERT: map of the Celtic countries)
The basic vocabulary of all the Celtic languages is broadly similar, and the
way of naming places and the structure of the names are also very similar. With
a knowledge of Welsh place names it is possible to recognise the meanings - at
least in part - of names in
(INSERT: Diagram of the Celtic languages)
As the language chart shows us, the Welsh language is
one of the six Celtic languages in use today. All are on the western seaboard
of
The earlier Celtic of the Continental Celts is termed
'Common Celtic'. When the Celts moved into the two main islands off the
European Continent, two distinctive types of Celtic were spoken. These two
types already existed on the Continent in all probability.
They correspond to the two islands - British (
The "Iberian" emigrants, if we are to accept
this idea, may have occupied both
Some decades before the Christian era, the Romans
began eyeing the islands in preparation for an invasion. It seems that it was a
haven for Gaulish rebels from the Celtic territories on the European mainland
that the Romans had conquered and incorporated into their Empire. For the
Romans, an invasion of the island and the subjugation of the Celtic inhabitnats
would remove a threat to the
The Celts of Britain successfully repelled the Romans'
first attempts to invade, but eventually the Romans occupied the island as far
as the Caledonian Forest, and for four hundred years the island of Britain was
a Roman colony, It remained British-speaking, although the population as a
whole or a segment of it (the upper social class) must to some extent have been
bilingual in Latin.
When the Romans left, Germanic tribes invaded. There
were already Germanic people living on the island, many employed as mercenaries
in coastal defence forces especially on the eastern coast (to repel Germanic
invaders). They may have acted as a spearhead for the invasion of their
tribesfellows. Over a period of three hundred years these Germans overthrew the
British kingdoms one by one from
The Germanic settlers had an important military
objective in their wars against the British - to drive wedges into British
territory and break up into isolated portions the swathe of land that they
still possessed in the North and along the western side of the island. This was
achieved by military vitories at Dyrham near
At the same time, Irish people (a northern tribe, the
"Scots") had crossed over into the north of the island and began to
establish what was in effect a second
The British were in three increasingly isolated and
shrinking territories - a large area south of the Glasgow-Edinburgh axis; the
upper south-western
These areas became smaller and smaller as the invaders
took over more and more land .
An area covering much of what is today
The territory conquered by the Germans was to become
In the south the British held out in the two
peninsulas. In the upper peninsula - present-day
(INSERT NOTES ON IDENTITY OF PENGWERN) .
A demarcation ditch was built in the reign of Offa.to
indicate where his territory began. (INSERT NOTES)
In the lower pensinsula the Celts gradually lost most
of their territory. The landscape is similar to what became western
During the English expansion, the British also faced a
problem of Irish incursions from the west, and occupation of coastal areas by
settlers from
The British apparently identified themselves as such,
because the British people of Brittany still speak 'British' (Brezhoneg -
language of the Britons), and this overseas British territory of Arvor came to
be known by the name of its new settlers - 'the British' - 'Breizh'. In Latin
it was known as '(the) smaller (province of) Brittania' from which the French
name
The British of what is now Wales (as well as those in the
lost lands of the north - the present-day English Lake District and Southern
Scotland) had begun to refer to themselves as the *Kom-brog-es (equal to modern
Welsh 'cym' = together, and 'bro' district, 'people of the same land,
compatriots'). The name in modern Welsh is the is 'Cymrÿ', and this is also the
name applied to the country, though with a slight change in the spelling made
in the 17th century - Cymru. The pronunciation is the same. It
survives as part of the lost British territories of the north in the former
county name
The word 'Welsh' (In Old English spelt
"wealsc" but pronounced more or less the same as "Welsh")
was used by the Germans to denote non-Germans, foreigners, 'people different to
us', who in the case of the Germanic tribes were the Celts. It is the same as
the first part of 'walnut' (a foreign nut, because the tree was a southern
species), and in numerous Waltons in
The pronunciation of Welsh
MISCONCEPTIONS
1) Welsh names are unpronounceable
2) Some words have no vowels in them.
ONLY THREE SOUNDS ARE UNUSUAL FOR SPEAKERS OF
ENGLISH
- the ones represented by the letters CH, LL, RH.
In fact, most sounds in Welsh are fairly easy to
pronounce as they are the same not so different from English sounds. The only
difficult sounds for newcomers to the language are ll, ch and rh (as well as
the Northern [ii] sound (spelt ÿ or u), though the southern pronunciation
presents no difficulties) .
LL Alongside the ordinary 'l', there is an
aspirated 'l', spelt 'll', and familiar from names such as Llandudno. It
doesn't exist in the other British languages - Cornish and Breton - which do
not have two 'l' sounds
By coincidence, the sound represented by 'll' is found
in Inuit (in
Pronouncing dictionaries such as the one produced by
the BBC for the use of newsreaders and other broadcasters often say that it can
be pronounced
as a simple 'l' (untrue),
as 'fl' (untrue - though that was Shakespeare's solution with his character
Fluellen = Llywelÿn),
or 'thl' (again untrue!).
The best advice for newsreaders is to try and
pronounce it properly!
Basically, the mouth makes a shape as for an 'l' but
instead of making the sound with the voice you breathe out through the mouth.
That's all there is to it.
Technically the 'll' of Welsh is a voiceless alveolar
lateral fricative.
Perhaps the best description for the pronunciation of this sound is the one
given by Caradar, an Englishman who was a grammar school teacher of modern
languages. He learned Welsh and wrote 'Welsh Made Easy' in 1925, incorporating
the suggestions and advice of many of the leading Welsh grammarians and writers
of the time.
"Practise uttering the word 'long' from the right-hand side of the
mouth only, and note carefully where the tongue is placed to produce the l. The
front part will be touching the upper front teeth, while the left side of the
tongue will be pressed against the left teeth to prevent any sound emerging
from that side of the mouth. Now place the tongue in this posiiton again, but
without uttering a sound, and expel the breath sharply. No humming sound should
be heard in the throat. Nothing should be heard but a sudden escape of breath
between the tongue and the upper teeth on the right-hand side of the mouth.
This is the Welsh ll, called a 'voiceless' l, because no sound comes from the
vocal chords when producing it, and a 'unilateral' l, because it is uttered on
one side of the mouth only. [Sir John Morris-Jones has ascertained, after a
series of tests, that the proportion of Welshmen who utter it on the left is as
three to one]. Now put the tongue in position again for this right-hand l, and
breathe steadily, but without making a humming sound; then utter the syllable
'-ong'. To do so, the tongue will be suddenly withdrawn from the teeth to allow
the o-sound to come forth. If these instructions have been correctly followed,
you will have pronounced the Welsh word 'llong', a ship.
The three actions - that of placing the tongue against the upper teeth,
followed by a sharp emission of breath on the right of the mouth, and the
withdrawing of the tongue to allow the voewl-sound to come forth - should be
simultaneous. This can be attained with very little practice. Thus, 'llong'
requires no more time for its utterance than does 'long'.
Practise with 'long...llong' until you can produce the ll-sound on the
right-hand side of the mouth without hesitation. Then try 'lan...llan',
lon...llon', 'lal...llall', 'al...all', 'alan...allan', 'pel...pell',
'coli...colli', hol...holl'...hollol'. If the above instructions misfire, try
this simpler one: say 'long' on ONE side of the mouth and blow sharply when
uttering the l."-(End of quote)
CH This is the same as in Scottish 'loch', or
German 'Nachtmusik', or Castilian 'caja' (box, savings bank).
RH An example of its use is in the word
'rhÿd' = a ford. It you think of it as 'hr' - is like an h followed by an
rolled r - then it makes it easy to pronounce. In fact, in the traditional
Welsh of the south-east the 'h' has disappeared (as in many Latin languages)
and it is pronounced as a simple 'r'.
Northern [ii]. This is somewhat difficult to achieve,
even for southern speakers of Welsh. In fact, in the south, the kind of [ii]
used is the same as in English, as in 'bean, been, chief, etc'.
THE WELSH ALPHABET.
Unlike English, the spelling is a reliable guide to the standard pronunciation
of a word, although the local or colloquial pronunciation may differ slightly.
For example, 'coed' is wood or trees, and is pronounced [koid], although
colloquially in the South it is [kood] (a long 'o') in the South.
The letters may not represent what you might expect
them to
(1) Remember - Welsh f is pronounced as an English v,
and Welsh u is like a short or long English i (depending on the word) as in
bin, bean (at least in the South - the 'i' is slightly different in the north)!
(2) Remember - y can be pronounced in two ways (an obscure vowel, as in English
about; or a short or long i, as in bin, bean)
(3) Remember - w can be pronounced in two ways (as a vowel or as a consonant)
(4) Remember - ng can be pronounced in two ways (as in English FINGER, where
the g is pronounced, or as i English SINGER, where the g isn't pronounced). The
Of the twenty-six letters in the Roman alphabet, four
are not used at all in standard Welsh spelling (though they appear in Welsh
texts in foreign words and names) and 'z' is regarded with suspicion. There is
a tendency to use 's' instead, though this can present problems with words
borrowed from English sinc (= kitchen sink), sinc (= the metal zinc).
a b c d e
f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
There are more sounds to represent than the 22 letters
can cover.
Combinations of letters are used to represent these
sounds - one combinations is (ng); in other cases a letter is doubled (dd, ll),
or an 'h' is added (ch, mh, ngh, nh, ph, rh, sh, th). This is not a perfect
solution - 'ng' as we have noted has two pronunciations.
VOWELS
There are seven letters representing vowels in Welsh:
a, e, i, o, u, w, y.
At one time, i, u, and y were all different sounds. In
The system has some ambiguities -
1) 'w' serves to represent both a consonant and a vowel;
3) 'y' can be 'i' or 'ø' depending on the postion in a word
WORDS WITH NO VOWELS
This idea comes from the believing that the letters
'y' and 'w' in Welsh represent consonants.
In English 'w' is always a consonant.
In Welsh it can be both a consonant (gwin =
wine) and a vowel
[u] (short: cwm = valley),
[uu] (long: tw^r = tower).
In English 'y' can be both a consonant and a vowel -
'you' (consonant), 'why' (vowel).
In Welsh it is always a vowel.
[i] (short: gwÿn = white)
[ii] (long: tÿ = house)
or an [ø] sound (an obscure vowel, or 'schwa', as in the first sound in English
'about') (yn = in)
But why is 'w' a vowel? It is because in earlier Welsh
there were two varieties of 'u'.
There are two varieties of 'u' in English, French,
German, Cornish, Breton. Each has a different system to indicate them - except
English. For example, 'look' and 'luck' are pronounced differently. But the
spelling system is so chaotic that each sound is not represented by a letter
specific to the sound.
|
|
normal
'u' |
special
'u' |
|
ENGLISH |
[u]
look, bull |
[ø]
blood, luck |
|
GERMAN |
u |
ü |
|
FRENCH |
ou |
u |
|
BRETON |
ou |
u |
|
CORNISH |
ou |
u |
|
WELSH |
w |
u (at
one time similar to French u or German ü; nowadays like an 'i') |
In
German, the ordinary 'u' is spelt 'u', but the 'u' with rounded lips has an
umlaut 'ü'
(Zug = train, Züge = trains)
In
French, it is the rounded 'u' which is spelt 'u',
and the ordinary 'u' is spelt 'ou'. (tu = you, fou = mad)
Breton
has borrowed the French solution to the problem, and modern Cornish has copied
the Breton solution!
Welsh is similar - but uses 'w' for the ordinary 'u', and 'u' for the rounded
'u'.
In
fact, the rounded 'u' in Welsh is now pronounced as a kind of 'i', and in
The 'w' can be long or short - cwm = valley [kum], dwˆr = water
[duur].
Accentuation
In
English, (in theory ar least) the natural postion for the accent in a word is
the first syllable
Manchester - MAN che stø
In Welsh, words are generally accented on the last syllable but one,
Caernarfon - kair NAR von
Long
vowel or short vowel?
glas [glaas] = green, blue
min [miin] = edge
gwÿn [gwin] = white
Vowels
can be long or short - it depends on the word. There are set rules about this,
but there's no need to explain them here. If you really want to know, the
Dictionary of the
|
letter |
Welsh |
Symbol |
Nearest |
|
a
(short) |
man |
a |
hat |
|
a
(long) |
cath,
bâl |
aa |
hard
(without the 'r') |
|
ae |
maen |
ai |
fine |
|
ai |
main |
ai |
wine |
|
au |
cau |
ai |
by |
|
b |
bae |
b |
bay |
|
c |
cap |
k |
cap |
|
ch |
bach |
kh |
Scottish
loch |
|
d |
dan |
d |
dan |
|
dd |
ddu |
dh |
the |
|
e
(short) |
gwen |
e |
pen |
|
e
(long) |
bedd,
pêl |
ee |
(e
extended!) |
|
ei |
cei |
ei |
say |
|
eu |
heulwen |
ei |
say |
|
ew |
hewl |
eu |
e+u |
|
f |
fan |
v |
van |
|
ff |
ffin |
f |
fat |
|
g |
glÿn |
g |
go |
|
h |
hen |
h |
hand |
|
i
(short) |
pìn |
i |
pin |
|
i
(long) |
min |
ii |
been |
|
iw |
rhiw |
iu |
i+u |
|
j |
jêl |
j |
John |
|
l |
lôn |
l |
lad |
|
ll |
llan |
lh |
(see
above) |
|
m |
min |
m |
mine |
|
mh |
Mharis |
mh |
m+h |
|
n |
nant |
n |
not |
|
ng
(1) |
llong |
ng |
thing,
singer |
|
ng
(2) |
Bangor |
ngg |
finger |
|
ngh |
nghar |
ngh |
ng
(1) + h |
|
nh |
Nhad |
nh |
n+h |
|
o
(short) |
pont |
o |
hot |
|
o
(long) |
lôn |
oo |
Northern English stone (which
uses 'oo' rather than 'ou' |
|
oe |
oer |
oi |
toy |
|
oi |
rhoi |
oi |
toy |
|
ou |
clou |
oi |
toy |
|
ow |
clown |
ou |
soap |
|
p |
pen |
p |
pen |
|
r |
Radur |
r |
red (but a rolled r) |
|
rh |
Rhos |
hr |
h+r |
|
s |
sych |
s |
sit |
|
sh |
shop |
sh |
shop |
|
si |
siop |
sh |
shop |
|
t |
tan |
t |
tan |
|
tsh |
patsh |
ch |
patch |
|
u
(short) |
grut |
i |
grit |
|
u
(long) |
cul |
ii |
keel |
|
uw |
Duw |
iu |
similar
to you |
|
w
(consonant) |
gwÿn |
w |
win |
|
w
(vowel) (short) |
cwm |
u |
bull |
|
w
(vowel) (long) |
dw^r |
uu |
cool |
|
wÿ
(diphthong) |
gwÿl |
ui |
the 'u' of bull + the 'i' of pin |
|
wÿ
(consonant + short vowel) |
gwÿn |
wi |
win |
|
wÿ
(consonant + long vowel) |
gwÿch |
wii |
wee |
|
ÿ
(short) |
llÿn |
i |
pin |
|
ÿ
(long) |
Llÿ^n |
ii |
green |
|
y
(obscure vowel) |
ysgol |
ø |
as in Enlgish about (øbáut) |
|
z |
zinc |
z
|
zinc |
There
are two main regional forms of Welsh - Northern and Southern.
The pronuncation scheme above follows a southern pattern -
1) It is easier to imitate as it is less varied phonologically than Northern Welsh.
The Welsh of the North is more conservative (in the sense that it has been more
resistant to foreign influence) and has in particular preserved the vowel sound
of 'u' / 'ÿ' which is different from 'i'. In the South they are all pronounced
the same, as 'i').
2) Most Welsh speakers speak a southern variety of Welsh
(This is not to say however that any regional variety of the language is
superior to any another)
6 Mutations in Welsh
(TECHNICAL STUFF - MUTATIONS
Skip it for the time being if you want)
There
are nine mutable consonants in Welsh
p t c | b d g | ll rh m
In British, there were case endings to each words, rather as in Latin with
nominative, accusative, genitive, dative and ablative forms
Simply put, unvoiced consonants between vowels tended to become voiced, and
existing voiced consonants also changed. It is not unknown in other languages -
for example t becomes a kind of d in American English - city / 'cidy'. Latin
civitat-em in Spanish is ciudad.
Like Latin, but unlike modern Welsh, there were three genders - masculine,
neuter and feminine British, masculine nouns ended in -os; neuter -on; feminine
-a.
a 'fair head' would be 'pennos tekos' > 'pennos tegos' >
pen teg in modern Welsh
a 'fair river' would be 'abona teka' > 'avona dega' > afon
deg
There are nine letters / sounds affected by mutation
They fall into three groups
1
|
c
[k] |
p
[p] |
t
[t] |
2
|
g
[g] |
b
[b] |
d
[d] |
3
|
m
[m] |
ll
[hl] |
rh
[hr] |
For
the moment, all that is necessary to know is that
the soft mutation affects 1,2,3 - that is, the consonants c p t g b d m ll rh
the nasal muation affects 1,2 - that is, the consonants c p t g b d
the spirant mutation affects only group 1 that is, the consonants c p t
An initial C- can become G-, NGH- or CH-
according to the context.
In place names, the soft mutation is very common, the nasal mutation less so,
and the spiral mutation almost absent.
7 Some place name elements
Before we go on, here is a list of a hundred or so place name
elements divided into categories. See how many you recognise. They are
explained more fully and the pronunciation is given in the list at the back of
the book (when we get round to it - 15 07 2000 - it's not available at present)
trees and bushes
collen,
cÿll - hazel tree, hazel trees
derwen, derw - oak tree, oak trees
dâr, deri - (especially South Wales) oak tree, oak trees
bedwen, bedw - birch tree. birch trees
ffawÿdden, ffawÿdd - beech tree / beech tres
onnen, onn / ÿnn - ashe tree, ash trees
draenen / drain = hawthorn, hawthorns
eithinen / eithin = gorse bush / gorse bushes
banhadlen / banadl = broom bush / broom bushes
grug = heather
pinwÿdden / pinwÿdd = pine tree / pine tress
celynen / celÿn = holly bush / hollybushes
bedwen / bedw = birch / birches
helygen = willow
perth = hedge
bid = (South-east Wales) quickset hedge (i.e. a hedge of hawthorns or other
bushes)
animals / birds / reptiles / fish
gwiwer - squirrel
dwrgi - otter
llwÿnog - (North Wales) fox
cadno - (South Wales) fox
hÿdd - stag
llygoden = mouse
bwch = stag
carw = deer
brân - raven, crow
eos - nightingale
pioden - (North Wales) magpie
pia - (South Wales) magpie
gwennol - swallow
aderÿn - bird
colomen = dove
broga / ffroga = frog
neidr / nadroedd = snake
pysgod = fish
extinct wild animals
afanc
- beaver
blaidd - wolf
arth - bear
twrch - wild boar
farm animals and fowl
hwÿaden, hwÿaid - duck
ceiliog - cock (USA: rooster)
buwch - cow
tarw - bull
ÿch - ox
dafad, defaid - sheep
oen / wÿn = lamb
gafr - goat
llo - calf
ceffÿl = horse
caseg = mare
ci / cwn = dog / dogs
ebol = foal
gwartheg = cattle
hwch = sow
mochÿn= pig
march / meirch = stallion
ÿch = ox
kinds of house
tÿ, tai - house, houses
bwthÿn - cottage
plas - mansion
cwrt - court, mansion
llÿs - court, mansion
neuadd - hall
adjectives - colour, size, etc
gwÿn - white
glas - green (vegetation), blue
coch - red
du - black
gwÿn - white
llwÿd - grey (USA: gray)
mawr - big
bach - small
newÿdd - new
teg - fair
hyfrÿd - pleasant
melÿn = yellow
hir = long
llydan = wide
garw = rough
rivers, streams, lakes, bogs, the sea
afon - river
nant - brook, stream
ffynnon - well
pistÿll - well, waterspout
ystum - river bend
glan - riverbank, lakeside, marshside, seashore, etc
aber - (inland) confluence of two streams; (coast) river estuary
ffrwd - hillside stream
môr - sea
llÿn - lake
cors - bog
roads
heol - (especially South Wales) road, street
ffordd - road
lôn - road, lane
strÿd - street
rhÿd - ford
pont - bridge
sarn - causeway, Roman road, paved road
occupations
saer - carpenter; mason; craftsman
gof - smith
bugail - shepherd
hills, mountains and valleys
brÿn - hill
mynÿdd - mountain; (uplands, upland pasture)
tyle / tyla - (South-east Wales) hill
twÿn - (South Wales) hill
tarren - (rocky) slope
cwm - valley
glÿn - valley
dyffrÿn - valley
pant - hollow, valley
ogof - cave
rocks and stones
craig - cliff
clogwÿn - cliff
maen - standing stone
carreg - stone, boulder, standing stone
carn - cairn, pile of stones
religion
llan - church
capel - chapel
merthÿr - church
betws - church
abatÿ - abbey
priordÿ - priory
ficerdÿ - vicarage
persondÿ - parsonage
human body
1 pen = (a) head; (b) hill, mountain; (c) headland, promontory; (d) top,
summit; (e) end
2 talcen = (a) forehead; (b) the first element tâl is found in place nmes with
the meaning 'end'
3 ael = (a) brow (b) hillcrest
4 llygad = (a) eye; in place names (b) source of a stream (c) llygad yr haul =
sunlit place
5 trwÿn = (a) nose; (b) rock on a hillside resembling a nose when seen in
profile (c) headland, promontory
6 min = (a) (poetic) lip; (b) edge (of a road, the sea, a lake, a river, etc)
7 genau = (a) mouth; (b) mouth of a valley
8 ceg = (a) mouth; (b) mouth of a river
9 cil = (a) corner of the eye; (b) secluded spot
10 ysgwÿdd = (a) shoulder (b) hill
11 braich = (a) arm; (b) spur of a mountain
12 cesail = (a) armpit; (b) secluded spot, sheltered spot
13 bron = (a) woman's breast; (b) round hill
14 cefn = (a) back (b) hill
15 bol = (a) belly; (b) hillock
16 esgair = (a) (obsolete) leg; (b) ridge
17 troed = (a) foot¸(b) bottom of a slope
8a the definite article and a masculine noun (y brÿn = the hill)
There is no indefinite article (equivalent to English A, AN) in Welsh
brÿn = hill / a hill
afon = river / a river
·····
THE DEFINITE ARTICLE:
(1) The definite article (equivalent to English THE) is 'Y'
At least, that is what happens before a consonant
(b, c, d, dd, f, g, j, l, ll, m , n, p, r, rh, s, sh, t, th, w, z)
It's pronounced [ø], that is, like the first sound in 'about'.
y brÿn = the hill
·····
(2) Before a vowel (a, e, i, o, u, w, y) or h it is YR
(pronounced [ør], that is, like the beginning of 'around').
yr afon = the river
·····
(3) In older Welsh the definite article was YR before a consonant too.
This still happens if the definite article comes after a vowel
For example, and in Welsh is 'a'. To say 'and the' a + yr = a'r
y brÿn a'r afon = the hill and the river
yr afon a'r brÿn = the river and the hill
In Welsh, there are two genders - masculine and feminine.
In this respect, modern Welsh resembles the modern Romance languages
(Castilian, Catalan, French, Italian, Occitan, Portuguese, etc).
For example,
brÿn is masculine
afon = feminine.
Feminine nouns have certain special characteristics. For the time being we
shall look at the masculine nouns.
SOME ETYMOLOGIES OF MASCULINE NOUNS:
bala [BA la] = outlet from a lake
brÿn [brin] = hill. From the root 'bhreus' in Indo-European
meaning 'to swell'. There are examples all over
Brÿn in Ashton-in-Makerfield (near
Brÿn SJ 6072 in
In Cornish it is 'brenn', in Breton place names also 'brenn'.
In Irish it is 'broinne' (= (1) woman's breast; (2) brink, verge)
bwlch [bulkh] = pass, gap between hills
cae [kai]= field (more specifically, an enclosed field,
one with a hedge or wall around it). In Welsh, 'to close' is 'cau', as
in cau dy geg! [kai dø GEEG] = shut your mouth, shut up!). This is based
on this word 'cae', which originally meant 'hedge, hedgerow', and later what
was closed in by the hedge, a field.
In place names in
From the Indo-European root 'kagh' meaning 'to catch, to seize;
enclose', and also 'wickerwork, fence'.
The base form *kag- in Celtic gave *kai- in Gaulish, which is the
origin of modern French 'quai' (= quay or wharf; pier; riverside
embankment, or the road along this (as in Paris, le Quai d'Orsay, the French
Foreign Office), and in a railway station, the platform).
English 'quay' of course is from this French word.
In Germanic, the 'k' became an 'h' (*hag-) which is the basis of English
'hedge' and German 'Hecke' (= hedge); and another English word
for hedge, 'haw', used in the plant name 'haw(thorn)' (= a thorn for
making hedges). In German this is 'Hag(dorn)'. The administrative
capital of the
The Germanic *hag- gave 'haie' in French, 'hedge, row of trees'.
The locality of Gelligandrÿll on the border was called by the
castell [KA-stelh]= castle. From British (the parent language
of Welsh), which got the word from Latin 'castellum' (a diminutive of 'castrum'
meaning a fort - the first syllable cast- with the addition of '-ellum').
cwm [kum]= valley. From British '*kumb'.
The Welsh word 'cwm' is used in English with the pronunciation [kuum]
meaning 'a deep round hollow' or 'natural amphitheatre'.In Welsh though the
vowel is short.
It was also borrowed in the Old English period as 'cumb' from Old Welsh.
In modern English it is [kuum], generally spelt combe, but also coombe.
It means 'narrow valley, deep hollow', and is found in place names in the
south-west of
In Irish it is 'com' (= 'hollow'), in Cornish ('komm' = small
valley), and in Breton ('komm' = trough', and in place names 'hollow').
A 'cwm' is broader than a 'glÿn'. According to D. Silvan Evans (A dictionary of
the Welsh language...geiriadur Cymraeg, Parts 1-5, A-ENNYD.
.'A hollow, a dell, a bottom. A deep valley where the sides come together in a
concave form' .
There is a tendency in modern Welsh to use 'cwm' as a general word for
'valley' and in some cases it replaces 'glÿn' as in the case of the
Rhondda valley, historically 'Glÿn Rhondda' but nowadays 'Cwm Rhondda'.
The word in Gaulish was 'kumbâ', meaning among other things the 'bottom
of a boat'. The Gaulish word has passed into Catalan. In
cwrt [kurt] = mansion, court
cymer = [KØ mer] confluence, place where two streams
join (THIS ENTRY TO BE COMPLETED)
dw^r [duur] = water; in place names, also stream [duur].
Originally 'dwfr' but the [v] sound has disappeared and the vowel has become
long. However the plural retains the old form with a [v] - 'dyfroedd'
[døv-roidh].
The town of
In Irish, 'dobhar' is water, flood. In Cornish 'Water' is 'dour',
and in Breton too we have 'dour'.
dyffrÿn [DØ-frin] = broad valley. A combination of 'dwfr'
(= water) and 'hÿnt' (= way).
In Cornish hyns = way, Breton hent = road (many road names in
From Indo-European sent- (= to go), from which the English word 'send'
also comes.
glÿn [glin] = valley This is a narrow valley between
mountains, or a deep narrow gorge. Typically it has concave sides, and has been
formed by the action of a river.
From Celtic *glend-.
In Cornish it is 'glynn' (= large valley), and in Breton 'glenn' (=
land, country; the earth as opposed to heaven).
In Irish it is 'gleann' (= valley), and also 'gleann' (= deep
narrow valley) in Scottish - and from Scottish in the 1400's the word entered
English as 'glen'.
llÿn [lhin]= lake
maen [
maes [mais] = field (open field)
mynÿdd [MØ-nidh] mountain (though it also means a
long hill between valleys; or common land on a hill, upland pasture) (THIS
ENTRY TO BE COMPLETED)
pandÿ [PAN di] = fulling mill (where woollen cloth
was beaten to cleanse and thicken it) [PAN-di] (THIS ENTRY TO BE COMPLETED)
pant = [pant] hollow (THIS ENTRY TO BE COMPLETED)
parc [park] = park; field; highland pasture
pentre [PEN-tre] = village
plas [plaas] = mansion
porth = [porth] pass, gap between hills (THIS ENTRY
TO BE COMPLETED)
pwll = [pulh] pool (THIS ENTRY TO BE COMPLETED)
tÿ^ [TII] = house. The circumflex was introduce to
indicate that the 'y' is to be pronounced as long [ii]. This is to distinguish
it from another word - also present in place names - 'ty' = your (pronounced
with a schwa, that is, the indistinct vowel [tø], as in English 'tonight',
'together', 'tobacco') (THIS ENTRY TO BE COMPLETED)
tyddÿn [tø-dhin] = smallholding
ysbytÿ = [ø SPØ ti] (1)
hospital (2) hospice, traveller's rest (THIS ENTRY TO BE COMPLETED)
EXERCISE (ii): What are these words? Put in the missing letters; then check
your answers in the word list
1 the field (open field) y ma _ _
2 the stone y ma _ _
3 the village y pen _ _ _
4 the mansion y pl _ _
5 the lake y ll _ _
6 the gap / pass (road between two hills) y bw _ _ _
Answers:
1 the field (open field) y maes
2 the stone y maen
3 the village y pentre
4 the mansion y plas
5 the stream y llÿn
6 the gap / pass (road between two hills) y bwlch
EXERCISE (i): What are these words? Put in the missing letters; then check your
answers against the word list above:
(1) valley (broad) : d _ f f r _ n
(2) hospital : _ s b _ t _
(3) castle : c a s _ _ _ _
(4) confluence : c y _ _ _
(5) field : _ _ _
(6) pass, gap : p _ _ t h
(7) fulling mill : _ _ _ d ÿ
(8) house : _ _ _
(9) hill : b _ _ n
(10) hollow : p _ _ _
(11) pool : p _ _ l
(12) mountain : m _ n _ d d
(13) stone : m _ _ n
(14) valley ('v' shaped) : g _ _ _
(15) valley ('u' shaped) : _ w _
0815e NEXT PAGE
Ble’r wÿf i? Yr ÿch chi’n ymwéld ag un o
dudalennau’r Gwefan "CYMRU-CATALONIA"
On sóc? Esteu visitant una pàgina de la Web
"CYMRU-CATALONIA" (=
Gal·les-Catalunya)
Where am I? You are
visiting a page from the "CYMRU-CATALONIA" (= Wales-Catalonia) Website
Weø(r) àm ai? Yuu àa(r) vízïting ø peij fròm dhø "CYMRU-CATALONIA" (= Weilz-Katølóuniø) Wébsait
CYMRU-CATALONIA
ffeil: lawpn.doc
Edrychwch
ar yr Ystadegau / Mireu les estadístiques / See Our Stats