But could you Fel sut oedd e? instead?
1 Like
I haven’t heard that one, and I suspect it may be a pea jar construction. 
(The other is bona fide Ceredigion Wenglish, however cringeworthy!)
2 Likes
As you can tell, it was a bit of a guess, along the lines of am beth and o ble - swap it around until it sounds more Welsh type thing - is that a pea jar construction? If so, I need my own jar. 
1 Like
For those of us not at bootcamp with @Iestyn please explain what causes a pea to enter the jar and why this is evidence of a good bootcamp!
2 Likes
I’d like to know too! I’m guessing it’s to do with making mistakes. Glamorous ones obviously…
Actually I haven’t been on bootcamp with Iestyn either, but the idea just stuck in my mind for some reason. My impression was that it was used to reward creative and expressive use of language, somewhat regardless of correctness. But I may be right off the mark, so really I should stop pontificating…
4 Likes
Llygad dy le! Exactly this. Trying to use your Welsh to create sentences that weren’t quite right but were evidence of you pushing yourself
2 Likes
Mmmmnnnmmmnnnn…
Not so glamorous ones then? 
1 Like
I wanted to praise and encourage your creativity at the same time as asking you not to do that one… it left me tongue-tied…
3 Likes
OK, confession! I asked my friend about ‘Sut oedd e fel?’, for ‘What was it like?’, and she said I was mis-remembering and that she would say ‘Beth mae e fel?’ - so sorry for confusing the issue.
However she denies that there is anything dodgy about ‘Beth mae e fel?’ at all! Now I’m interested as to whether everyone would agree?!
1 Like
Oh, I think I can guarantee you that no, not everyone would…
[Something that makes even me wince faintly is likely to cause serious blood pressure issues with the real purists… ]
2 Likes
Haven’t been here for a while, but had a nagging query. “Sut Beth”. Two words that don’t work together in English, but quite common in Welsh and I cannot get the feel for it.
Just dug out an example via google:
“Sut beth ydi o” and I also seem to remember reading something like “Mae 'na sut beth fel bwyta potsh a rhaw” - recently as well.
My brain doesn’t really compute this usage at all - help please.
1 Like
Think of it as ‘what sort of thing’ or ‘such a thing’…
3 Likes
diolch/thanks - that works
1 Like
Here is our overflowing pea jar at the end of September bootcamp - this is the one to beat! And it’s missing a few which are probably still under the sofa from when I knocked it over one evening. Yes we added peas for every use of ‘inventive’ Welsh, and there was a lot of it.
8 Likes
I have pea envy!
4 Likes
Does anyone know what the prefix “cor” conveys? As in corgwynt for hurricane. I’m also thinking of Corwen, although suspect it might just be the name of a stream.
Also, I have noticed “tan” in place names, possibly instead of “o dan” for under(?) eg. Tanllan, Tanlan, Tanybanc, Tan-y-groes etc. OK, I guess it might be the unmutated version of dan, but is it ever used in modern speech?
1 Like
Corwen is thought to possibly derive from côr maen - sanctuary stone, and has been recorded as having various spellings since the 13th century, so I don’t think cor is used as a prefix here.
The cor in corwynt may come from an old Welsh word cordd which means churn (so hurricane = churning wind!) - but this is my guess, I can’t find any ‘official’ evidence!
The tan is indeed under or below in place names. I imagine there is a grammatical term/reason why it becomes o dan, but I don’t know it!
3 Likes
My ‘Auntie’ lived in a cottage called Tan y buarth’ and another house, by then a farm, was ‘Pen y buarth’. The farmyard was no longer between them! I always presumed that it was Bottom’ and Top’ of the farmyard, and that o dan is under, at the bottom…?
1 Like