Gyrru or dreifio

Interesting piece on radio cymru this morning.

The much maligned dreifio has been in use for a century and a half apparently. (Though i may have understood that incorrectly!)

Link below hopefully. About 50 minutes in i think

1 Like

I would say dreifo. I only use gyrru for driving animals or sending a letter/email. The latter usage is really quite Gog, but I don’t care. :wink:

4 Likes

By contrast, I would only every use ‘gyrru’ if I was talking about someone driving too quickly (which is probably why people in the south always sound faintly dangerous to me
;-)).

8 Likes

My (future) mother in law uses the same usage (Llanelwy).

1 Like

Because dreifio, dreifio, dreifio doesn’t scan so well

6 Likes

I live in Swansea and the Welsh speakers I have spoken to around here all seem to use ‘gyrru’.

‘Dim yfed a gyrru’ is a fairly common sighting on the M4 signs when there’s not much traffic-related excitement going on, so imagined that to be the formal usage

1 Like

Yes, it’s what you’d usually see in written Welsh.

1 Like

Ah, rhymes with"hurry", so that should be easy to remember. :slight_smile:

1 Like

GPC shows dreifio from 1876 (“ar lafar yn gyff. (gyffredin(ol)” (common, general)

I didn’t know gyrru can be used this way 


gyrru is actually the only word I ever remember when talking about driving (even if I don’t drive) :slight_smile: