I have seen evo, avo and other spellings in old French dialects for avec, there is also Norman Aveu and Wallon Avou for avec and I can’t help wonder if there could be a Norman influence, but most likely just one of those coincidences.
I don’t know you well enough to joke around with you, so I’ll just say, “Only a Hwntw would be so bold!”
The Welsh word for ‘touché’ is ‘touché’ btw
Is it my ears or sometimes also “e” is pronounced a bit like “i” (and u, and some y)?
I hope you’re not suggesting I’m a hwntw…
(Although obviously I have a deep and sincere affection for all of the hwntw persuasion…)
In all sincerity, I’m glad you’re on SSiW. I’ve learned a lot from your explanations. I had the dictionary before I knew who you were. Seeing you here only adds credence that learning Welsh, or any other language, from SSiW is the place to learn.
You’re very gracious.
I enjoy being here on SWiW as much as you - it’s a lovely place with lovely people!
challenge 2 starts tomorrow…
Hey, Siaron, you need to stop with the absolute statements!
Two quick questions on mutations, which both boil down to: is it (a) wrong (typo or language mistake); (b) dialect (perfectly natural Welsh but not what we’ve learnt); or © standard Welsh (but there’s some rule I haven’t learnt/understood/assimilated)?
-
In Chwalfa, which I’ve just started to read (slowly): “Ia, dyna ydw i’n ddeud, beth bynnag…” Why ddeud and not deud?
-
In the song Cyfarfod O’r Blaen by Y Cledrau I hear the chorus as “Sut dw i’n mod i gofio fo, dw i erioed wedi cyfarfod o’r blaen” – I’m puzzled by mod, which looks like it’s going with a fy that isn’t there (and would sound out of place if it were there). Am I mishearing it? Or is it just a thing, that it sort of sounds more 1st person to say mod than bod? (And ‘should’ – for certain values of ‘should’ – it be wedi’w gyfarfod or something, or is it just fine as it is?)
Thanks!
Because the object of the verb deud precedes it - THAT is what I am saying = I am saying THAT. This causes mutation because there’s really a missing ei there - just like Beth wyt ti’n feddwl - What do you think?, Beth maen nhw’n wneud - What are they doing?
You must be hearing fod, I think - this would then mean How am I supposed to remember him, with i fod i + VN being the standard way of saying supposed to.
OK – I sort of get that. I think it’ll take some adjusting to before it’s any part of my active usage, but I can see the pattern.
That’s kind of what I was expecting to hear – I’ve actually been known to use that construction myself, sometimes (possibly) even in the right context. But it’s not what I actually think I’m hearing… Never mind: I like the song, so no doubt I’ll keep listening! At least my expectations are in line with yours on this one.
Emma and I heard it as “sut dwi fod i gogio bod ni erioed wedi cyfarfod o’r blaen” (how I pretend we’ve never met before).
Ooh, thanks!
So:
(a) my ‘mod’ was just mis-heard;
(b) I’ve always heard cofio, which I’m familiar with, instead of cogio which I wasn’t, although when I went to post this last night I did play it through better speakers and wasn’t sure;
(c) the band retweeted the lyric right after retweeting something from my Twitter ffugenw about my daughter saying they weren’t bad, so maybe I should just follow them on Twitter;
(d) coming back to mutations, I’d have expected cogio (ein) bod ni, but I guess people do say fod not just with fo…
(e) What’s the Welsh for Mondegreen?
ETA: I listened again and heard ‘bod’, so hoped I wasn’t coming across as nit-picky – and then looked back here and saw that you’d said that was how you and Emma heard it, rather than fod – so it looks like I’ve finally caught up with you
Does camglywed sound plausible?
Thanks @AnthonyCusack, @siaronjames and @delawarejones! Those three answers combined were exactly what I was after
and this summed it up perfectly:
Thanks all
Yeah, new on me also. So it can mean practice or play a trick or fake/cheat? Borrowed from English Cog. Meaning the same or to throw dice etc. TBH, the English is a new one (or old one?) On me also.
I’m sure there’s not a really clear line…but what is generally considered South and North for accent?
We have a board at work that I’ve annexed to write Welsh words and phrases on. Something will come up in regular conversation and if I know the words, I write it in Welsh on the board. It’s just a bit of fun practice (I’m the only Welsh speaker in the office). The latest one was when a colleague said “My brain has been fried” and I wrote “Mae ymennydd Karen wedi’i ffrio” which, now I look at it, should probably be “Mae ymennydd Karen wedi bod yn ffrio”.
Is either correct in meaning?