Sound file now up for the last set of words! Thank you so much for your patience! 
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Word(s) of the Day 23/11/2018
Today’s word is inspired by the slow creep in to Christmas we see happening all around us…
Trothwy = troth-we (short ‘o’ sound)
Trothwy literally means threshold. But as in English, you’ll seldom hear people using it in everyday speech when referring to ‘that bit you stand on before walking through an entrance’, because we all tend to say doorstep.
But as in English, is is often used to describe the beginning of something. So this time of year you may hear people say Da ni ar drothwy’r Nadolig, which means we are on the threshold of Christmas.
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So a good word for petrolheads? The bit on a car under the door that you step over.
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Diolch yn fawr iawn for your well wishes! Beuno is much better by now and will be sleeping in his own bed for the first time tonight. Will have to continue to be careful for a while, but he’s been very brave and cheery throughout it all.
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Technically, yes. But you’ll tend to hear people say hosbis, so not to be confused with a regular hospital.
You are right, clafdy isn’t in in common use any more. But place names still exixt as you rightly point out. Rhydyclafdy in Pen Llyn is another example.
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Word(s) of the Day 27/11/18
Today we have some wind related phrases, inspired by the lively weather we’re having today.
Gwynt Traed y Meirw = goo-int trah-ed uh may-roo
Gwynt Traed y Meirw means a blustery eastern wind.
gwynt means wind. Traed means feet. Meirw / y meirw means the dead.
This phrase has it’s origins in the tradition of burying the dead with their feet facing east. So a cold wind from the east is Gwynt Traed y Meirw.
Now seeing as we live in an old cottage and that it’s blowing gales outside, we’re battling another kind of wind today…
Gwynt Cilddor = goo-int keel-thor
Gwynt Cilddor means a draught.
Cil means a corner or nook, an angle / small angle, nape, back of, shaded part, retreat.
Dor / Ddor is another word for door
Cilddor or Cil y Drws means the open space between a door and it’s frame when the door is only slightly open.
Therefore Gwynt Cilddor is the wind that comes in through the edge of a slightly open door. So Gwynt Cilddor is used to mean a draught.
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You may have heard of this traditional Welsh nursery rhyme Ty Bach Twt which uses the phrase Cil y Drws.
The nursery rhyme is sung to the tune Robin Ddiog which is a folk dance. The song does have more stanzas than below, but these are the better known ones.
Mae gen i dipyn o dŷ bach twt
o dŷ bach twt, o dŷ bach twt
Mae gen i dipyn o dŷ bach twt
A’r gwynt i’r drws bob bore
Hey di ho di hey di hey di ho
A’r gwynt i’r drws bob bore
Agorwch dipyn o gil y drws
o gil y drws, o gil y drws
Agorwch dipyn o gil y drws
Cewch gweld y môr a’r tonnau.
Hey di ho di hey di hey di ho
Cewch gweld y môr a’r tonnau.
Ac yma byddaf yn llon fy myd
yn llon fy myd, yn llon fy myd
Ac yma byddaf yn llon fy myd
A’r gwynt i’r drws bob bore
Hey di ho di hey di hey di ho
A’r gwynt i’r drws bob bore
Translation -
I have a little tidy house,
a tidy little house, a tidy little house,
I have a little tidy house,
With the wind blowing to its door each morning.
Hey di ho di hey di hey di ho
With the wind blowing to its door each morning.
Open the door a little bit,
a little bit, a little bit,
Open the door a little bit
So that I can see the sea and the waves.
Hey di ho di hey di hey di ho
So that I can see the sea and the waves.
And here I’ll be happy and content
happy and content, happy and content,
And here I’ll be happy and content
With the wind blowing to the door each morning.
Hey di ho di hey di hey di ho
With the wind blowing to its door each morning.
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This is really fascinating to me. On the East Coast of the United States, we experience ‘Nor’Easters.’ Strong and consistent winds out of the North East, hence the totally uninspiring name. Nor’Easters can cause a lot of damage and I now have a more interesting and appropriate phrase to use.
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I remember reading an Icelandic ghost story, where the dead man rises from his grave because he was buried on a north-south axis instead of east-west (I’m not sure which end the head and feet went, but quite probably the same as in Wales). The thing was, you could tell the storyteller came from the north of Iceland, because they settled all around the coasts, and so usually one of the compass points gets replaced by ‘out (to sea)’: the ghost had been buried ‘out and south’ instead of east and west. If you told the same story in the east, it’d be ‘north and south’ instead of ‘out and west’.
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Ooh, how very interesting - a bit like that indigenous Australian language (/s?) that only use points of the compass instead of left/right - fascinating how such tiny shifts can create entirely different mindscapes…
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Totally unrelated but I think very interesting … I heard somewhere that they describe the future as behind them and the past as being ahead, opposite to how we do. It makes sense when you think that you can see the past but not the future.
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I did a linguistics puzzle thing online that was based on the directions used in a language spoken on a mountainous island (maybe volcanic? – one mountain in the middle). So they did the complete opposite of the Australian absolute thing: cardinal points were uphill, out to sea, clockwise around the mountain, and anti-clockwise. Our ‘North’ could be any one of their four, depending whereabouts you were on the island when you consulted your compass
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how would we translate the Welsh placename Cilcain - a fine nook? … a small village now…was the rallying point for many locals heading on the first wave to Patagonia! (I grew up nearby!)
Word(s) of the Day 06/12/2018
Are you ready for this…?
Nadolig [nad-all-lig] = Christmas
Tymor y Nadolig [tum-more uh nad-all-lig] = Christmas season
Gŵyl [goo-will] = holiday/festival
Llawen [llah-when] = jolly/merry/happy
Paratoi [para-toy] = to prepare
Addurn [ath-thirn] = decoration
Addurniadau [ath-thirn-yad-eye] = decorations
Addurno [ath-thirn-no] = to decorate
Seren [ser-ren] = star
Angel [ang-ngell] = angel
Golau [gol-lie] = light
Goleuadau [gol-lie-add-eye] = lights
More Christmas vocabulary soon… 
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Words of the Day
I thought these phrases may be of use as the Christmas season gains momentum…
Dw i isho/eisiau paratoi at y Nadolig = do-ee ee-sho/ey-shy para-toy at eh nad-all-igg
Dw i angen paratoi at y Nadolig = Dw i ang-enn para-toy at eh nad-all-igg
Mae’n rhaid i mi baratoi at y Nadolig = mine hra-eed ee mee para-toy at eh nad-all-igg
Dw i’n paratoi at y Nadolig = do-een para-toy at eh nad-all-igg
Dw i’n mynd i baratoi at y Nadolig = do-een mind i bara-toy at eh nad-all-igg (mind as in Mindy not as in minder)
Dw i wedi gorffen paratoi at y Nadolig = do i wed-ee gore-phen para-toy at eh nad-all-igg
Dw i isho/eisiau paratoi at y Nadolig means I want to prepare for Christmas
Dw i angen paratoi at y Nadolig means I need to prepare for Christmas
Mae’n rhaid i mi baratoi at y Nadolig means I have to prepare for Christmas
Dw i’n paratoi at y Nadolig means I am preparing for Christmas
Dw i’n mynd i baratoi at y Nadolig means I am going to prepare for Christmas
Dw i wedi gorffen paratoi at y Nadolig means I have finished preparing for Christmas
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Thank you so much for this!!
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I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and new year filled with fun and love!
I thought I’d begin the year with some appropriate words and phrases for January.
Blwyddyn newydd = bluey-thin new-with
Blwyddyn newydd dda = bluey-thin new-with tha
Adduniad = ath-in-yad (soft ‘th’ as in fathom)
Adduniad blwyddyn newydd = ath-in-yad bluey-thin new-with
Dechrau = dech-rah (dech as in deck but with the Welsh ‘ch’ sound on the end)
Dechrau’r flwyddyn newydd = dech-rah-ear fluey-thin new-with
Dechrau’r flwyddyn newydd efo… = dech-rah-ear fluey-thin new-with evo (‘ev’ as in ever and not as in evening)
Dechrau o’r newydd = dech-rah or new-with
Blwyddyn newydd means new year
Blwyddyn newydd dda means happy new year (good new year)
Adduniad means resolution
Adduniad blwyddyn newydd means new year’s resolution
Dechrau means to start/to begin
Dechrau’r flwyddyn newydd means the start of the new year
Dechrau’r flwyddyn newydd efo… starting the new year with…
Dechrau o’r newydd means to start anew
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Diolch, Catrin! I’ve just noticed your great additions! Not sure how I missed them until now.
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Hmmmmmmm, I need to fix this thread.
My initial(1) intention(2) was to post word(s) daily(3). But I can be rather forgetful(4) when it comes to committing(5) to things which are outside my usual(6) routine. So I’ve made a decision(7) to set a daily alarm(8) on my phone to remind(9) me to post a Word of the Day every morning, come rain o’r shine. Let’s hope it works and I’m sorry for not being more organised(10)!
- Cychwynnol = kuch-won-all (Welsh ch sound)
- Bwriad = boor-yad
- Dyddiol = duh-thee-all
- Anghofus = ang-hov-iss
- Ymrwymo = erm-rooee-mo
- Arferol = are-verr-all
- Penderfyniad = penn-der-vun-yad
- Larwm = la-room
- Atgoffa = at-goff-far
- Trefnus = trev-niss
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