0935e Gwefan Cymru-Catalonia. Geirfa o'r Rhondda. Rhyw bedwar ugain o eiriau o restr a gyhoeddwyd gyntaf yn 1914. Wordlist from the Rhondda Valley. Some 80 words from a list published first in 1914.


http://www.theuniversityofjoandeserrallonga.com/kimro/amryw/1_gwenhwyseg/gwenhwyseg_geirfa_rhondda_1914_0935e.htm

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TEITL: MORGANNWG - CWM RHONDDA YN BENNAF
TITLE: GLAMOR
GAN – MAINLY THE VALLEY RHONDDA

AWDUR: di-enw
AUTHOR: anonymous

FFYNHONELL: “Cymru” - Rhif 46. Blwyddyn: 1914. Tudalen 23
SOURCE: From “Cymru” magazine, Number 46. Year: 1914. Page 23

(Mae gennym ni ddwy fersiwn – yn gyntaf yn y blwch isod y fersiwn wreiddiol â phedwar ugain a dau o eiriau (hefyd â rhifau o’u blaen - er nad oes rhifau yn y rhestr wreiddiol). Ar ei hôl un ceir y rhestr â'n sylwadau ninnau mewn llythrennau gleision.

(We have two versions - the first one in the box below is  is the original list of 82 words from the magazine “Cymru” (though in the original version the words aren't numbered). Following this is the list annotated with our comments in blue text.


01  acha [ucha?]  top  acha pen ty  = on the top of a house
02  ala  to spend  “Lle ti'n ala d'amser?” 
03  bendith y mama  fairies   
04  bider  clever  “Llaw fider iw e draw”  = he over there is a clever one
05  blac-pats  cockroaches   
06  bopa  modryb (gair plant)   
07  brachga  to ride  “brachga acha cefan ceffyl” 
08  bratu  to waste needlessly   
09  can (blawd)    
10  can bara (blawd at wneud bara)    
11  carc (gofal)   carc 
12  celfi  house furniture  rhif unig, celficyn 
13  cernola  a queer place   
14  cetyn  a good while  “Ma fa wedi mynd ys cetyn.” 
15  citsho  to catch  “Citsha yn'o fa.” [Cydio, di-dj-tsh] 
16  conach  to grumble   
17  conyn  a grumbler   
18  crofen  rind  “Crofen cig moch, crofen caws.” 
19  crwbyn  a lump  “Fa gwnnws crwbyn ar i ben a.” 
20  cwato  to hide  “Ma fa'n cwato.” 
21  cwdi-hw  owl   
22  cwlffyn  a chunk  “Cwlffyn o fara.” 
23  cwmws  straight  “Mor gwmws a sâth.” 
24  cwnïaeth (cwmnïaeth)    
25  cwnni  to rise  “Cwnn lan.” 
26  cwpla  finish   
27  cwt  a tail  “Cwt y gath; cwt y ci.” 
28  damshal  to tread upon  “Damshal ar i drâd a.” 
29  derwan  any kind of tree  “Derwan fala; derwan gnou; derwan eirin.” 
30  dino (deunaw)    
31  dishgwl  to look   
32  drwg  hurt  “Gas a lawar o ddrwg?” 
33  dwetydd (diwetydd)  afternoon   
34  dyshefo   (yn yr ymadrodd “Duw dyshefo ni!”) 
35  enad  sense, intellect  “Yr hurtyn di-enad.” 
36  erfyn  to await  “Ma fa'n d'erfyn di.” 
37  gwanu  to run away  “Gwân i odd'ma!” 
38  ifancach (ieuengach)    
39  isht  similar  “Ma fa'n gwmws isht a'i frawd.” 
40  ishta (eistedd)    
41  Jawch   Yn y llw “Jawch ariôd!” 
42  jawl (diawl)   “Jawl a myto i.” 
43  lan  up  “Lan a lawr.” 
44  loshin  lozenges, sweets   
45  llutw  ashes   
46  llwytyn  sparrow   
47  llychetan  lightning   
48  llyfanu  to grind  “Llyfanu bwall” 
49  mashgal  shell  “Mashgal wy, cnou, &c.” 
50  meiddu  to excel  “Pwy feiddws?” 
51  mwlwg  rubbish   
52  mwstwr  noise   
53  nishiad  kerchief  “Nishiad boc.” 
54  owa  uncle (gair plant)   
55  pewin  peacock   
56  pia  magpie   
57  pili-pala (gloyn byw)    
58  pinna côd  clothes pegs   
59  piwr (pur)   “Bachan piwr yw a.” 
60  pornownso  to pronounce   
61  potsh  mushed potatoes   
62  pwdi (digio)    
63  scitsha (esgidiau)  (di-dj-tsh)   
64  scwto  to push   
65  sha  towards  “Mynd sha Merthyr.” 
66  shang-di-fang  topsy-turvy  “Ma popath yn shang-di-fang yno.” 
67  shaw  show   
68  sponar  sweetheart (male)   
69  swrn  the ankle   
70  tampo  to rebound   
71  ticyn  a little   
72  tocins  money   
73  tost  sick, ill   
74  tre  home   
75  twmpyn  much, a lot  “dw i ddim yn hito 'run dwmpyn.” 
76  tyrnpyn  lump  “Cwnnws tyrnpyn mowr ar i ben a.” 
77  twrw  thunder  lluosog, tyrfa 
78  tyla  a steep acclivity   
79  yffarn (uffern)    
80  yfflin  a bit, particle  “Do's gita fi ddim yfflin.” 
81  wedjan  sweetheart (female)   
82  wilïa (chwedleua)  talk 



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YR UN RHESTR A’R UN FLAENOROL, Â’N SYLWADAU WEDI EU HYCHWANEGU ATI
LIST AS ABOVE, WITH OUR COMMENTS ADDED


01  acha [ucha?]  top  acha pen ty  = on the top of a house
A contraction of ar uchaf - on (the) topmost (part) of

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

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

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.

05  blac-pats  cockroaches   

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).

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. Cefn becomes cefen, with an epenthetic vowel; this is typical of the south, though in the north this doesn't happen with -fn. In the south-east final e > a. The village of Cefncoedycymer ('the hill with the wood which is by the confluence') above Merthyr is locally known as Y Cefan - the hill.

08  bratu  to waste needlessly   
From afradu = to waste; af- = negative prefix, rhad = grace, -u = suffix to form verbs. Afradu > 'fradu. 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).

09  can (blawd)    
Can is the southern word for flour, standard blawd. Connected with the word 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 fleur de farine, which probably explains the use of blawd in Welsh / flower in English coming to mean the poder of milled grain in general. In the south-west of Wales fflw^r is used - from the Middle English pronunciation of 'flour' - fluur.

10  can bara (blawd at wneud bara)    
'flour (of) bread' (flour for making bread)

11  carc (gofal)   carc 
care, caution. The standard word is gofal. From an old English word cark, = care, from Norman, from Latin CARCÂRE < CARRICÂRE = load, take charge of

12  celfi  house furniture  rhif unig, celficyn 
The usual word in the south for furniture - in the North dodrefn. The singular form is celficyn.

13  cernola  a queer place   
??

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 word cat is from Middle English = piece

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. Fa is south-eastern for fe = he, it

16  conach  to grumble   

17  conyn  a grumbler   

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.

19  crwbyn  a lump  “Fa gwnnws crwbyn ar i ben a.” 
“A lump rose on his head”. Crwb =lump (also found in the North), and -yn = diminutive suffix.

20  cwato  to hide  “Ma fa'n cwato.” 
“He's hiding”. From dialect English quat = to hide

21  cwdi-hw  owl   
Usually gwdi-hw. Imititaion of an owl's call. In the North tylluan / dylluan

22  cwlffyn  a chunk  “Cwlffyn o fara.” 
“A lump of bread.” Cwlff = lump, chunk, and -yn = diminutive suffix.

23  cwmws  straight  “Mor gwmws a sâth.” 
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 > aa in monosyllables, hence saeth > saath.

24  cwnïaeth (cwmnïaeth)    
company, companionship. mn reduced to n

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

26  cwpla  finish   
A form of cwblháu = to finish - cwbl = the whole, -háu = suffix for making verbs, usually from adjectives

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.

28  damshal  to tread upon  “Damshal ar i drâd a.” 
One of many forms of damsang = tread upon. Damsang ar ei draed e - step on his foot

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. “derwen afalau” = apple tree, “derwen gnau” = hazel tree, 'tee of nuts, hazel nuts'; “derwen eirin” = plum tree.

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 imoeded the usual reduction. In the south-east the sound [ei] in the penult becomes [ii] (in fact, a half-long vowel).

31  dishgwl  to look   
From disgwyl, which in modern Welsh is 'to wait'. The old sense has 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.

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?)

33  dwetydd (diwetydd)  afternoon   
A compound of diwedd + dydd = end + day, day's end.

34  dyshefo   (yn yr ymadrodd “Duw dyshefo ni!”) 

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.

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

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, the root of the verb gwanu = foot it, run off. Odd' 'ma is from oddi yma = from here.

38  ifancach (ieuengach)    
This is the usual form in spoken Welsh throughout Wales, though the literary form is ieuangach.

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. In modern Welsh pa sut 'what likeness' has come to mean 'how' (colloquially sut inn the North, shwd in the South)

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 sinle consonant) or i- (before a consonant cluster), hence iste. In the South, too, i+s gives ish. And the sinal -e becomes -a in the South-east. In this wasy we end up with ishta.

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 > oo, hence oed = age, ood. 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.

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.

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.

44  llutw  ashes   
From lludw = ash. Also lliti in the south-east

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)'

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 luc'hez, 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.

47  llyfanu  to grind  “Llyfanu bwall” 
Llyfan bwyell. From llyfn? = smooth. In bwyell the penult wy becomes w (as in gwybod > gwpod, to know) and final e becomes a.

48  loshin  lozenges, sweets   
The general southern word for sweet or sweets. From English lozenge.

49  mashgal  shell  “Mashgal wy, cnou, &c.” 
'Eggshell, nuthell, etc'. Standard masgl. With epenthetic vowel masgl > masgal. Inexplicable palatisation s > sh.

50  meiddu  to excel  “Pwy feiddws?” 
A southern word. Standard spelling maeddu. Probably related to Irish maidhm = break, burst.

51  mwlwg  rubbish   
In Ceredigion, the word mwl = chaff, rubbish, from an obsolete English word 'mull' = dust, ashes, rubbish. This seems to be mwl with an unusual ending -wg.

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 mônstrum, from monêre = to advise.

53  nishiad  kerchief  “Nishiad boc.” 
Handkerchief. From an older English word nycette = handkerchief.

54  owa  uncle (gair plant)   
(gair plant = children's word). From ewythr = uncle. The first syllable, eith a change of vowel e > o, and a suffix –a

55  pewin  peacock   
In standard Welsh, paun

56  pia  magpie   
From English, (now Margaret + 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'.

57  pili-pala (gloyn byw)    
Butterfly. The other name in use in Welsh is literally 'live ember', but the second elelment 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'.

58  pinna côd  clothes pegs   
Pinnau coed - 'pins (of) wood'. The final -au is -a in Gwentian, and oe > oo.

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

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)

61  potsh  mushed potatoes   
Probably from some English word

62  pwdi (digio)    
Pwdu is the usual spelling. To get angry, to sulk. Apparently from an earlier form of English 'pout'.

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.

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)

65  sha  towards  “Mynd sha Merthyr.” 
Mynd tua Merthyr. A palatalised form of tua (origin: tu = side, â = with).

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.

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).

68  sponar  sweetheart (male)   
From English 'spooner'.

69  swrn  the ankle   
A word confined to the South-east.

70  tampo  to rebound   
Also - to be enraged. From an English dialect word 'tamp'.

71  ticyn  a little   

72  tocins  money   
From English 'tokens'.

73  tost  sick, ill   
Apparently from a Latin word tostus = ??

74  tre  home   
In Old Welsh, tref was a farmstead or small village. Rather as Enlgish tuun = farm has become town, tref in Welsh now means town. In the south-east, though, it has retained something its old meaning.

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.

76  tyrnpyn  lump  “Cwnnws tyrnpyn mowr ar i ben a.” 
'A big lump rose (i.e. grew) on his head'

77  twrw  thunder  lluosog, tyrfa 
From Welsh twrf, from Latin turbô whirlwind, turbâre = throw into confusion. Rf > rw is not unusual in Welsh.
(cwrw (= beer) was historically cwrf > cwryf > cwrwf > cwrw)

78  tyla  a steep acclivity   
Further west, tyle. Apparently related to Irish tulach = hill

79  yffarn (uffern)    
In oaths, = hell

80  yfflin  a bit, particle  “Do's gita fi ddim yfflin.” 
'I don't have even a particle, I've none at all'

81  wedjan  sweetheart (female)   
Or spelt wejan. From English wench, with the feminine diminutive suffix -en, which is -an in the south-east.

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 ii. - chwe'liia. Chw- is reduced to w- : we'liia. The first e closed to give i, probably influenced by the following i - wiliia.
DIWEDD / END
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