Hi all.
Hope your finding some shade today, mae mor boeth ym Machynlleth.
I am finding that a phase such as ‘i fy annwyl wraig’ is being given as ‘i’m hannwyl wraig’.
Is this in literary Welsh only?
Is it occurring because annwyl begins with a vowel?
What’s the role of ‘i’? I presume you would not write ‘M hannwyl wraig’.
Diolch a chofion gorau
Shwmae,
In formal written Welsh the ‘fy’ changes to ‘m after’ i’ (amongst other things). This is usually confined to the more formal written form. In addition, whereas ‘fy’ causes a nasal mutation the ‘m does not. However, the’ m causes a ‘h’ to appear on the following word if it begins with a vowel.
‘i’ is a preposition and it’s meaning can vary when translated to English depending on the context but the most common are ‘to’ or ‘for’. So one possibility would be - “for my dear wife” for example.
Yes, it is fairly literary/formal, although not exclusively and there are times when it’s spoken informally*. It’s nothing to do with the next word starting with a vowel, it’s to do with the ‘fy’ following a preposition - in this case ‘i’, but it happens with others too, e.g. ‘o’, ‘a’, etc.
*especially when you use ‘gyda’ - e.g. gyda’n gilydd / gyda’ch gilydd etc (rather than “gyda ein gilydd” / gyda eich gilydd etc)
The role of ‘i’ here is either the preposition ‘to’ or ‘for’ (depends on context), and no, you’d never say or writ “M annwyl wraig”!
There is a whole set of these -
i fy = i’m
i dy = i’th
i ei = i’w
i ein = i’n
i eich = i’ch
i eu = i’w
Diolch am hyn, Siaron. Mae 'na llawer o fanylion i’w dysgu!
Ian
Diolch Dai,
Rwy’n deall bellach.
Ian