Tiny questions with quick answers - continuing thread

or the odd la combe in France

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MY thinking was… Cwm - small curvy bottom valley…Dyffryn - flat bottomed…both potentially formed by glaciers

Glyn however is a river worn valley…not glacial related?

Came across/Wedi dod ar draws…

A funny word…dwthwn…does it mean “the same day”/ “present day”…or is it a specific time?

How do we translate “And What Not”…Is Beth bynnag (Whatever) the right word in context?

Um… when would you use that in English? Context may give me enough of a clue… :slight_smile:

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In the sense of ‘and so on…’ you could say ‘ac yn y blaen’ (‘Ac yn y blaen ac yn y blaen…’).

I think more towards the north you could also say ‘a ballu…’

I think ‘beth bynnag’ is more likely to translate either as ‘anyway…’ or ‘whichever’, depending.

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How about ac ati? Or just ati?

Medr unrhywun esbonio a helpu i mi dallt “rhoi’r gorau”? Dwim yn dallt “rhoi” + “gorau” = “give up”… Pam “gorau”?

Can anybody explain and help me understand “rhoi’r gorau”? I don’t understand the use of rhoi followed by gorau = “give up”… why “gorau”?

Is this a really poetic way of saying you gave your best, implying “to give up”?

I’d say that’s as good an explanation as any… :slight_smile:

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Oeddwn i’n meddwl ond dim siŵr :slight_smile: Diolch i chi Aran am helpu eto :slight_smile:

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I was in the shower and I thought about what we say, in English we shower or have a shower, ditto for bath. What is it in Welsh. Also I clean my teeth. I believe ‘brush’ is now more common in English. (They are all mine, I don’t take them out for cleaning!)
So, @Iestyn, @aran, what is said, in the south? North?

Sorry, I’m obviously not Aran or Iestyn but I’ll try.

You CAEL a shower or a bath (have as in experience may be how I would think of it). As far as brushing teeth, rightly or wrongly I would say brwsio. I could do with confirmation on this too.

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Diolch yn fawr! I tend to think to myself yn Gymraeg when doing things like washing and I thought, “Probably ‘cael’”, so I’m glad you do too!
Bydda fy’n brwsio fy ddanedd heno!

Interesting that we have just plain “Stop”, but we have “Ildiwch” rather than “Ildio” for give way. I have noticed both “Araf” and “Arafwch”. Which ending is most acceptable please?

I may be wrong, but, since it is addressed to multiple road users and of all ages, the plural/polite ‘wch’ ending maybe better? But I’m not sure it is ever used with araf.

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Yes, I think it is on the road sign (arafwch nawr) but not on the road marking.

Gyrrwch yn ofalus.

Drive Carefully.

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What is the difference between “caer” and “din”? Google translate tells me that both mean fort. Does “din” refer specifically to the dun forts (similar to Atlantic Roundhouses) while caer is more general?

On a more general note, how do you know which words to use when consulting a dictionary? For instance, there are many words in cymraeg that mean “beautiful.”

Croes
Croeso - Welcome to the Forum!

You need @Iestyn or @aran really, but I will say that Caer seems to come with the Romans and their castles, whereas ‘din’ or ‘dun’ are found north and south of Hadrian’s wall and are perhaps older British words for the walled enclosures containing round houses now referred to as ‘Iron Age Forts’, but I may be wrong. Generally, I find dictionaries best used with care as it is possible to produce sentences which do not mean at all what you wanted to say. There are some very funny examples in English, none of which I can remember!
p.s. Where are you? If outside Wales, there is a petition I’d love you to sign in favour of decent funding for S4C, Welsh Language TV, available in UK and also on line Internationally, although with more limited content!

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Thanks for the help! That seems like a solid rule of thumb. I live in Idaho, USA. Though I’m not advanced enough to understand the welsh channel, I can see that it’s a great resource, so I signed the petition. Glad that I could be of some help to preserve Brythonic culture.

On another note, what is a good way to learn literary welsh? As much as I appreciate the functionality of colloquial welsh, I would love to be able to read Taliesin in the original language. I’ve heard that literary and colloquial welsh are fairly different and I’m not sure how to bridge the gap.

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