Tiny questions with quick answers - continuing thread

unfed is only used in compound numbers - i.e. twenty-first etc (yr unfed ar hugain)

Interesting!

I went off looking for a bit more place-name evidence, and found this paper.

http://www.clanntuirc.co.uk/JSNS/V7/JSNS7%20James.pdf

I found the introduction and the conclusions at the end the easiest bits to understand and most useful.
In the middle is a lot of linguistics-oriented detail that is a bit beyond my ken, to be honest.

i will read it all eventually but it’s nice to see at least one of my long held notions in there!

This is also interesting (and a bit easier-going! :slight_smile: ):
http://www.old-north.co.uk/lang_intro.html

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I came across Calan by searching for Kalends in the English translations in the GPC - the Kalends is, in Latin, just the first of the month, not the start of anything else, and I’d got the impression from the citations that Calan was basically the same. (Note, though, that I really am just talking from a position of ‘having looked stuff up’ rather than any claim to actual knowledge!)

I think that’s only for certain points of the year though. So Calan Gaeaf, Calan Mai, a’r Calan (1af Ionawr). I am giving up on my quest. I’m sure I’ve heard another name for Cyntaf, but I didn’t need it for anything in particular :slight_smile:

The GPC entry does also cite Calan Chwefror, Calan Mawrth, Calan Ebrill, Calan Mai / Clamai, etc.

Fair enough but Calan wasn’t the word I’d heard before

How irritating - it sounds like you’ve heard a different word that covers a significant set of the same meanings, but the dictionary doesn’t have any synonyms, or any definition other than ‘diwrnod cyntaf etc.’ Sorry to have been quite so persistently unhelpful… :slight_smile:

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No no, don’t be sorry! I really like the word Calan. I find it quite evocative. Calan Gaeaf conjures up more imagery than Halloween for me. (Possibly because of the continuation of language use in comparison to the antiquated English).

There’s also the possibility that I have completely made up the hazy memory I have of this other word :smile:

I’d expect to hear Calan for things like Calan Gaeaf, Calan Mai… otherwise, cynta’r mis… don’t think I’ve heard anything else… certainly nothing I’ve remembered… :slight_smile:

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My hazy, possibly made up, memory seems to suggest that whoever said it, accompanied it with “you won’t hear this said but…” Which is probably (almost certainly) why I don’t remember it :slight_smile:

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I’m hoping to clear up a little confusion… Back in level 1, I learned “How long (have you been learning welsh?)“ = “Pa mor hir (wyt ti 'di bod yn ddysgu cymraeg?)“
Similarly, in level 2 there was “How old are they?“ = “Pa mor hen 'yn nhw?“
Now, recently in level 3 I stumbled over “How high do you want to climb?“, and it was translated as “Faint mor uchel wyt ti’n moyn dringo?“
Are “faint“ and “pa“ in these questions interchangeable? If not, is there an easy way to say which is used when?

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Interestingly, the Poles turn the tables on the Romans and call Italy Włochy ! :slight_smile:

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would they not pronounce that ‘Vlochi’? I know a little girl called Wiktoria, pronounced Victoria! Somehow, Velsh sounds better than Welsh! :wink:

Vwochi. Or indeed (in Welsh spelling!) Fwochy. :slight_smile:

Yes - I rather like the Polish use of W for V. The Lower Sorbs do it as well, bless 'em!

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‘Pa mor uchel wyt ti’n moyn dringo?’ would be fine - I’d say ‘faint mor uchel’ is a fair bit more colloquial here - but the key point is not to worry, you’ll be understood either way, and you’ll develop your own preferences depending on what you hear most often… :slight_smile:

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Sound a bit like Sam Veller (Weller!) in Pickwick Papers. :slight_smile:

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Wery probably! :slight_smile:

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Not worrying as is the SSIW way but curious, my neighbor uses angen for need not Isie i. Is there any rules for using such alternatives like gorvod or rhaid or is it just personal choice? Do certain forms work better in different situations and lend themselves to being used to express ideas more simply?