Gair neu Idiom y Diwrnod - Word or Idiom of the Day 14/10/2019
Life - crazy, expensive, yet full of interesting experiences. Our car died a sudden and rather ugly death last week so an immediate replacement was necessary. Then next week we take the kids on their first proper holiday in over three years - something we’ve been planning and looking forward to for many months. So as you can imagine, I’ve spent many hours on comparison websites this last week looking for all kinds on insurance…
We are back from our adventures in Greece and at the helm once more. I would like to know from you if there are any words/idioms/vocabulary groups you would like me to introduce you to on this thread?
So please give me your suggestions and I will do my very best to answer you. Diolch!
Just being picky: lluvr-aye lluvr-gell
(Sorry - had a moment where I wondered if there was some sieving reason that meant I’d been saying these both wrong, & had to check the soundfile.)
Thank you for these - will particularly want to try to retain mynegai, meingefn, broliant, crynodeb
Being Northern, this is my go to, but what I’ve found in the past is, that if you’re not very familiar with that northern Welsh ‘u’ sound, it’s very hard to explain phonetically and a difficult one to get right. So I often resort to using the southern ‘ee’ pronunciation, which often replaces the northern ‘u’ and is much easier to write.
So do Southerners actually say it with a clear y, like llifrau? I thought the “two different vowels in mynydd” thing was fairly universal (although I have heard yfed as ‘ifed’ on TV, and I think Aran said that was very Ceredigion).
Oh my goodness it’s cold!!! We’re experiencing unusually cold temperatures here in Snowdonia, colder than average with snow in the mountains and sleet showers on lower levels. We don’t usually get snow till late December and January! So I thought I’d share these words again…
Here’s a bonus for you today. An old favourite Welsh nursery rhyme about the red breasted Robin and the beginning of winter. There are many different versions of this nursery rhyme all from different parts of wales, but this is the one I’m most familiar with…
Robin goch ar ben y rhiniog - Red robin on the doorstep a’i ddwy aden fach anwydog - with his two little cold wings ac yn dwedyd yn ysmala - and he said with amusement “Mae hi’n oer, mi ddaw yr eira”. - “It’s cold, the snow is coming”.
Robin goch ar ben y rhiniog - Red robin on the doorstep yn gofyn tamaid, heb un geinog - asking for a little something, without a single penny ac yn dwedyd yn ysmala - and he said with amusement “Mae hi’n oer, mi ddaw yr eira”. - “It’s cold, the snow is coming”.
We don’t usually get snow until at least late November, but it is pelting down snow today, and we had our first snow on Halloween morning. I am not ready for winter!
Gair neu Idiom y Diwrnod - Word or Idiom of the Day 12/11/2019
Well the weather continues to be totally horrible!
We’ve gone from low temperatures, sleet and hail to non stop torrential rain for hours and hours. So here’s another nursery rhyme…
Bwrw Glaw yn Sobor Iawn
Mae’n bwrw glaw yn sobor iawn - it’s raining terribly
wel dyma b’nawn anghynes, - well what a cold/awful afternoon
'mochel dan yr ambarel - sheltering under the umbrella
a cherdded fel brenhines. - and walking like a queen
Eisiau ambarel yn siŵr - I want an umbrella for sure
i gadw’r dŵr o 'nghlustiau, - to keep the water from my ears
clustiau’n gwrando ar y wlad - my ears are listening to the land
yn siarad am fy siwrne. - talking about my journey
Holi hwn a holi lall - asking this one and asking that one
a holi John Dwygeiniog, - and asking T’upenny John,
pwy 'di hon a’r ambarel? - who is she with the umbrella?
Wel mae hi’n ddel gynddeiriog. - well she’s exceedingly pretty
After reading about the good fortune that @JohnYoung had to be looking after Ceiri, I was wondering how he got on with commands like “heel!” and “leave!”. Or is Ceiri bilingual?
It is easy enough to find out how to command your dog in Welsh if he or she is a working sheepdog but what about for those everyday commands when you’re not getting him to move the herd left and right? And what about the “leave that cow-pat alone!” type of thing or generally useful dog-related expressions?
