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01 acha [ucha?] top acha pen ty = on the top of a
house
A contraction
of ar uchaf - on (the) topmost (part) of
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02 ala to spend “Lle ti'n ala d'amser?” = where
do you spend your time?
In fact, hala
- but in the south-east the 'h' is usually dropped in most words
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03 bendith y mama fairies
Bendith y
mamau - Literally
(the) blessing (of) the mothers. The -a instead of -au is typical of the
south-east
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04 bider clever “Llaw fider iw e draw” = he over
there is a clever one
“Llaw fudur
yw e draw”. In fact, budr, which in the North means 'dirty'. In
words of this type there is an epenthetic vowel - in Welsh, between the last
two consonants the vowel is repeated - budur. In the South 'u' and 'i' are
pronounced identically, so the spelling bidir is also seen. Why this
should be bider I'm not sure.
There are
historical examples of final u > e (Latin dîes Mercuri > dydd
Mercher = Wednesday), and of y > e (Tredegyr - the trev of Tegyr -
> Tredeger, and because the final e in the south-east becomes a,
Tredegar).
And if the
form is bider, why hasn't it become bidar as one would expect?
The usual form is budur / bidir.
In the sentence llaw is 'hand', but can also mean workman, and friend,
fellow, both in the south and in the north.
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05 blac-pats cockroaches
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06 bopa modryb (gair plant)
(gair plant =
children's word) A childish form of modryb - probably
reduced to mob-, with a diminutive -a; (moba). In Welsh initial b and m can
interchange (boba). In the south-east, a b- at the beginning of a
penultimate syllable is devoiced to p- (bopa).
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07 brachga to ride “brachga acha cefan ceffyl”
In fact from 'marchogaeth'
(= to ride on horseback), march (= horse), marchog (= horseman, knight);
-aeth (= suffix for forming a verb).
The sentence
is marchogaeth ar uchaf cefn ceffyl - literally 'to ride on top of the
back of a horse'. The m has been replaced by b - this
interchangeability is a feature of Welsh – the soft mutated form of b is f
[v], and the soft mutated form of m is also f [v]. This is perhaps why the
confusion occurred, For example, the thumb is bawd. An inch was originally bawd-fedd (“thumb measurement”) which became bodfedd (reduction of aw to o in the penult syllable
occurrs in many other words). But the modern Welsh word for thumb is modfedd.
Cefn becomes cefen, with an epenthetic
vowel; this is typical of the south, though in the north this doesn't happen
with -fn. (Dwfn is deep; in the south, dwfwn, in the
north dyfn; and trefn is order – in the south, trefen
and in the north trefn).
In the
south-east final e > a. The village of Cefncoedycymer ('the
hill above Coed y Cymer’ (= the wood which is by the confluence)) above
Merthyr is locally known as Y Cefan - the hill.
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08 bratu to waste needlessly
From afradu
(= to waste); af- (= negative prefix), rhad (= grace), -u (=
suffix to form verbs). Afradu > 'fradu.
The loss of a
pretonic syllable at the beginning of a word is very common in Welsh. An
example is adnabod (= to know), colloquially nabod.
Because f [v]
is often a soft-mutated form of b in some words there is a temptation
to 'restore' this b, even where it is unjustified. Hence 'fradu
< bradu.
In the
south-east, a d- at the beginning of a penultimate syllable is
devoiced to t- (bratu).
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09 can (blawd)
Can is the southern word for flour, standard blawd.
It is from a Celtic word for 'white', and a related word in Welsh is cannaid
(= white, gleaming white). By Merthyrtudful there is a stream name Cannaid,
and a village Abercannaid.
Latin
'candidus' has the same root - as in English 'candid' (= frank), 'candidate'
(in Latin, someone dressed in a white gown).
Blawd is related to blodeuyn / blodyn (=
flower), just as in English “flour” and “flower” are in fact one and the same
word, albeit with different spellings.
In Catalan,
'the best part of the flour, top-quality flour' is la flor de la farina, and
in French it is la fleur de farine, which probably explains the use of
blawd in Welsh and flower in English – originally referring to
the best part of the powder produced by milling grain, and later the powder
in general.
In the
south-west of Wales fflw^r is used - from the Middle English
pronunciation of “flour” [flu:r].
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10 can bara (blawd at wneud bara)
'flour (of)
bread' (flour for making bread)
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11 carc (gofal) carc
'care,
caution'. The standard word is gofal. From an old English word cark
(= care), from Anglo-Norman, from Latin CARCÂRE < CARRICÂRE (= to
load, to take charge of).
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12 celfi house furniture rhif unig, celficyn
The usual word
in the south for furniture - in the North dodrefn. The singular form
is celficyn. Celfi means “tools, furniture”, and the singular form to
be expected, and which also exists, is celfiyn, since celfi is a
collective noun, and -yn is a singulative suffix.
Maybe -yn was
confused with the diminutive suffix -cyn, as in bryncyn (=
hillock)
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13 cernola a queer place
This word does
not seem to occur in literary Welsh. Perhaps it is “cern olau”, Cern
is a feminine noun meaning “side of the head, cheekbone; hillside, exposed
slope; corner”, and golau is light, illuminated; sunlit. So – sunlit
hillside? Or maybe the explanation is altogether different.
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14 cetyn a good while “Ma fa wedi mynd ys cetyn.”
“He's been
gone for a while”. From cat (= piece), + (diminutive suffix -yn). The vowel y has affected the previous a, causing it to
open out to e. The Welsh word cat is from a Middle English word
cat (= piece).
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15 citsho to catch “Citsha yn'o fa.” [Cydio,
di-dj-tsh]
Also 'get hold
of'. “Catch it, get hold of it”. Yn'o is ynddo, in it, with the
loss of the consonant dd. Fa is south-eastern for fe =
he, it
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16 conach to grumble
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17 conyn a grumbler
The stem con- from conach (= to grumble), with the
suffix for making nouns -yn.
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18 crofen rind “Crofen cig moch, crofen caws.”
“Bacon rind,
cheese rind”. Form of crawen, also in Cornish as krevenn (=
crust, scab), and Breton as kreun (= crust of bread).
Crofan would
be expected though, with “a” in the final syllable.
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19 crwbyn a lump “Fa gwnnws crwbyn ar i ben a.”
“A lump rose
on his head”. Crwb (=lump) (the word is also found in the North), and -yn
(= diminutive suffix).
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20 cwato to hide “Ma fa'n cwato.”
“He's hiding”.
From dialect English quat (= to hide)
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21 cwdi-hw owl
Usually gwdi-hw.
Imititaion of an owl's call. In the North tylluan / dylluan
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22 cwlffyn a chunk “Cwlffyn o fara.”
“A lump of
bread.” Cwlff (= lump, chunk), and -yn (= diminutive suffix).
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23 cwmws straight “Mor gwmws a sâth.”
In standard
Welsh mor gymwys â saeth (= as straight as an arrow).
Final -wy
is usually reduced to w (Afon Ebwy > Afon Ebw). This
has influenced the y in the first syllable.
In the South ae
> ä [ɛ:] in monosyllables, hence saeth > säth.
Other examples are ymlaen (= forward) > blän, maen (=
bakestone) > män, llaeth (= milk) > lläth. In
fact, in the Rhondda, the long “a” is, in common with the rest of the
south-east, pronounced ä (this represents the sound similar to that is
English air, dare, where, etc). The pronunciation aa is typical of the
south-west (west of the Tawe valley) .
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24 cwnïaeth (cwmnïaeth)
company,
companionship. mn reduced to n
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25 cwnni to rise “Cwnn lan.”
Get up. Cwnnu
(often spelt cwnni, since in the south u and i are
pronounced the same), is from an original cychwynnu, a variant of cychwyn
(= to begin). Standard Welsh uses codi (= to rise, get up).
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26 cwpla finish
A form of cwblháu
(= to finish); cwbl (= the whole), -háu (= suffix for making
verbs, usually from adjectives)
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27 cwt a tail “Cwt y gath; cwt y ci.”
“the tail of the
cat; the tail of the dog”. Cwt is also 'queue' in South Wales. The
northern form (and the standard form) is cynffon, from cyn- (=
dog) and ffon (= stick)
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28 damshal to tread upon “Damshal ar i drâd a.”
One of many
forms of damsang (= tread upon). Damsang ar ei draed e – to step on
his foot. See 23 for trâd / träd instead of traed. In the
Rhondda it would be in fact träd.
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29 derwan any kind of tree “Derwan fala; derwan gnou;
derwan eirin.”
Derwen is usually oak tree. In the south-east it
has become a generic name for tree – standard written form derwen afalau, local
pronunciation derwan fala (= apple tree),
Cf standard
written form derwen gnau, local pronunciation derwan gnou (=
hazel tree,”tree of nuts, tree of hazelnuts”);
standard
written form derwen eirin, local pronunciation derwan irin (=
plum tree).
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30 dino (deunaw)
Deunaw (= eighteen). Final -aw generally
in Welsh becomes o (croesaw > croeso = welcome). In deunaw however
the naw is preserved in most of Wales because it is clearly dau + naw (two
nines). The sense has impeded the usual reduction, but it seems from this
example that in the Rhondda the expected reduction has happened. In the
south-east the sound [ei] in the penult becomes [i·] (a half-long vowel) – dinaw>
dino.
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31 dishgwl to look
From disgwyl,
which in modern Welsh is 'to wait'. The old sense has of 'to look' been retained
in the south. In various parts of Wales there is the place name disgwylfa (=
look-out). Final wy > w, and s after i becomes sh in
the south.
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32 drwg hurt “Gas a lawar o ddrwg?”
'A gafodd e
lawer o ddrwg?' 'Was he badly hurt?' (did he get a lot of
hurt?). Cas (he - she- it got) is the form used in the south for
standard cafodd. An e in the final syllable in the south-east
becomes a- hence llawer (= much; a great quantity, a lot) is llawar.
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33 dwetydd (diwetydd) afternoon
A compound of diwedd
(= end) + dydd (= day), the day's end.
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34 dyshefo (yn yr ymadrodd “Duw dyshefo ni!”)
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35 enad sense, intellect “Yr hurtyn di-enad.”
“The dull fool.”
Enaid = literally, soul. The change of final ai > e is usual in
colloquial spoken Welsh, and in the south-east e > a.
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36 erfyn to await “Ma fa'n d'erfyn di.”
“He's awaiting
you, he's waiting for you.” In standard Welsh, erfyn = implore, beg
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37 gwanu to run away “Gwân i odd'ma!”
Gwân hi oddi
yma. “Foot it from
here!”. From gwadn (= sole of the foot), which is the south is gwaddan.
The 'dd' has been lost to give gwân / gwän,
the root of the verb gwanu = foot it, run off. Odd' 'ma is from
oddi yma (= from here).
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38 ifancach (ieuengach)
This is the
usual form in spoken Welsh throughout Wales, though the literary form is ieuangach.
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39 isht similar “Ma fa'n gwmws isht a'i frawd.”
Mae ef yn gymwys
yr un sut â'i frawd. He's the
same likeness as his brother. From French suite (= continuation); the
same word was also taken into English, as in a suite of rooms. In
modern Welsh pa sut 'what likeness' has come to mean 'how'
(colloquially sut in the North, shwd in the South)
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40 ishta (eistedd)
To sit. The
loss of the final -dd occurs in many words in Welsh. Eiste-. In the South the
penult ei is reduced to ii - (before a single consonant) or i-
(before a consonant cluster), hence iste. In the South, too, i+s gives ish. And the final -e
becomes -a in the South-east. In this way we end up with ishta.
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41 Jawch Yn y llw “Jawch ariôd!”
Diawl erioed. In the oath 'Devil from the beginning'.
Jawch is an altered form of Jawl, from diawl , with palatalisation di >
j. In the South oe > ô, hence oed = age, ôd. Erioed = in
all the past; never until now, from er (since) + ei (his, its)
+ oed (age). In the south, er has become ar in this
expression, as if it were the preposition ar = on.
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42 jawl (diawl) “Jawl a myto i.”
Y Diawl a'm
bwyto i. May the Devil
eat me. Standard bwyto is byta in spoken Welsh.
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43 lan up “Lan a lawr.”
Glan = bank, hill. I lan is literally 'to
hill, uphill'. Llawr is 'floor, valley bottom'. I lawr is 'to floor,
bottom'. In such adverbials in spoken Welsh, the preposition i (= to)
is dropped. Hence lan a lawr = up and down, rather than “I lan ac I
lawr”..
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44 llutw ashes
From lludw
= ash. Also llutu, lliti (these two have the same pronunciation)
in the south-east.
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45 llwytyn sparrow
From llwyd =
grey + diminutive -yn. The d at the head of a penultimate
syllable is generally unvoiced to t in the south east. Llwydyn >
llwytyn. The literal meaning is '(the) little grey
(bird)'
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46 llychetan lightning
In the South,
flashes of lightining is lluched. The root is a Celtic element
LEUK- =
bright, related to Latin 'lux' = light, lûcêo = shine. In Cornish the
corresponding word is lûghez, and in Breton luch'ed. The
singular of lluched is formed by adding -en : llucheden. The d
at the head of a penultimate syllable is generally unvoiced to t in
the south east, and final e becomes a in the south-east.
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47 llyfanu to grind “Llyfanu bwall”
Llyfan bwyell. Apparently from a lost word llifan, probably a “file”, from llif (= a saw;
a file) + (suffix -an), corresponding to Irish líomhán (= a
file).
In “bwyell”
the penult wy becomes w (as in gwybod > gwpod, to know) and final e
becomes a.
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48 loshin lozenges, sweets
The general southern
word for sweet or sweets. From English lozenge.
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49 mashgal shell “Mashgal wy, cnou, &c.”
'Eggshell,
nutshell, etc'. Standard Welsh “masgl”. With epenthetic vowel masgl >
masgal. Inexplicable palatisation s > sh.
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50 meiddu to excel “Pwy feiddws?”
A southern
word. Standard spelling maeddu. Probably related to Irish maidhm (=
break, burst).
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51 mwlwg rubbish
From English
“mullock” = waste, rubbish. In Ceredigion, there is a word mwl (=
chaff, rubbish), from an obsolete English word 'mull' (= dust, ashes,
rubbish).
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52 mwstwr noise
In the north mwstwr
is a crowd. From this would come the sense of noise. In origin it is from
English, from French 'moustre' (no longer in modern French) (= soldiers),
from Latin mōnstrō, mostràre (= to show), from moneō, monêre
(= to admonish; advise.) Related to Latin mônstrum (= an omen of coming evil
or misfortune; a monster), from monêre (= to advise).
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53 nishiad kerchief “Nishiad boc.”
Handkerchief.
From an older English word “nycette”(of unkown origin) = handkerchief.
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54 owa uncle (gair plant)
(gair plant =
children's word). From ewythr = uncle. The first syllable, with a
change of vowel e > o, and a suffix –a
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55 pewin peacock
In standard
Welsh, paun
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56 pia magpie
From English “pie”
(= magpie) in turn originally from French pie, from Latin pîca = magpie,
related to Latin pîcus = woodpecker. In modern French the word is still
'pie'. Magpie is Mag (woman’s name =
Margaret, used in the sense of a chatterer) + pie).
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57 pili-pala (gloyn byw)
Butterfly. The
other name in use in Welsh is literally 'live ember', but the second element
at least is probably a deformation of another form - byw is very likely an
altered form of Duw = God, since the Cornish and Breton names also
contain 'Duw'.
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58 pinna côd clothes pegs
Pinnau coed - 'pins (of) wood'. The final -au is -a in Gwentian, and oe > ô.
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59 piwr (pur) “Bachan piwr yw a.”
'He's a
splendid fellow'. Piwr is literally 'pure', but in the south-east is fine,
generous, nice, splendid, excellent, etc
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60 pornownso to pronounce
A form of
English 'pronounce'. There is a tendency for some words in pr + vowel to
become p + vowel + r (prynu = to buy, pyrnu; paratói = to prepare, pyrtói)
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61 potsh mashed potatoes
Probably from
English potch < hotchpotch < hodgepodge (= miscellaneous collection;
mixture)
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62 pwdi (digio)
Pwdu is the usual spelling. To get angry, to
sulk. Apparently from an earlier form of English 'pout'.
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63 scitsha (esgidiau) (di-dj-tsh)
Shoes. Loss of
the first syllable e- (the loss of a first syllable a common
phenomenon in spoken Welsh) > sgidiau. In the south the plural
suffix -iau becomes -e, and in the south east -a.
However, this is not exactly the case here - the -i is present, and
causes the palatisation of the preceding -d.
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64 scwto to push
Also 'to
shake'. Apparently from ysgwyd = to shake (adition of a verbal suffix -o,
loss of the first syllable y-, reduction of penult wy > w,
devoicing of d > t)
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65 sha towards “Mynd sha Merthyr.”
Mynd tua
Merthyr. A
palatalised form of tua (origin: tu = side, â = with).
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66 shang-di-fang topsy-turvy “Ma popath yn shang-di-fang
yno.”
“Everything
is upside down there”. Popeth = everything, with the usual final e
> a.
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67 shaw show
A word
borrowed from English. In the North sioe (as if English shoy). In the
South, as if English show(er), shou(t). Also” shew” in the South.
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68 sponar sweetheart (male)
From English
'spooner'.
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69 swrn the ankle
A word
confined to the South-east.
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70 tampo to rebound
Also - to be
enraged. From an English dialect word 'tamp'.
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71 ticyn a little
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72 tocins money
From English
'tokens'.
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73 tost sick, ill
Apparently
from a Latin word tō̆stus = scorched;
parched
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74 tre home
In Old Welsh, tref
was a farmstead or small village. Rather as English tuun = farm has
become town, tref in Welsh now means town. In the south-east, though, it has
retained something its old meaning.
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75 twmpyn much, a lot “dw i ddim yn hito 'run dwmpyn.”
Literally
mound, molehill, ant hill. “! don't care one bit” - 'I don't heed the one
molehill'. From English dialect tump = mound.
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76 tyrnpyn lump “Cwnnws tyrnpyn mowr ar i ben a.”
'A big lump
rose (i.e. grew) on his head'
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77 twrw thunder lluosog, tyrfa
From Welsh twrf,
from Latin turbô whirlwind, turbâre = throw into confusion. Rf
> rw is not unusual in Welsh.
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78 tyla a steep acclivity
Further west,
tyle. Apparently related to Irish tulach = hill
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79 yffarn (uffern)
In oaths, =
hell
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80 yfflin a bit, particle “Do's gita fi ddim yfflin.”
'I don't have
even a particle, I've none at all'
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81 wedjan sweetheart (female)
Or spelt wejan.
From English wench, with the feminine diminutive suffix -en, which is -an in
the south-east.
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82 wilïa (chwedleua) talk
Chwedl is
Welsh is legend, tale. Chwedlau is the plural form; chwedleua would be 'to
relate tales'. The meaning was widened in the south to 'to talk'.
The southern
form of chwedl was chweddl / chweddel. So the base form is in fact
chweddleua. The dd dropped away - chwe'leua. The penult eu is generally
pronounced as i. - chwe'lia. Chw- is reduced to w- : welia.
The first e
closed to give i, probably influenced by the following i – wi|li|a.
Then the
stress shifted and a disyllable resulte – wil|ia
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DIWEDD /
END
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