2
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 62:
Line 62: − It is often said that the vowels in English are "A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y;" however, in Welsh the letter W can be a vowel (pronounced roughly like a double-length U). Most English dictionaries contain some Welsh-derived English words such as ''cwm'' (a circular valley or ''cirque'') and ''crwth'' (an traditional Celtic fiddle-like musical instrument). These can be very effective stumpers when playing word games, provided of course that they are actually included in whatever dictionary is the authority agreed on by the players. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
no edit summary
Welsh-derived surnames are common in the United States. The Welsh name ''Jones'' is in fact the fourth commonest surname in the U. S.<ref>Smith, Johnson and Williams ranking first, second and third</ref>; within the hundred commonest surnames, the Welsh names Evans, Edward, Morgan, and Jenkins rank 48th, 49th, 57th, and 83rd respectively.<ref>[http://names.mongabay.com/most_common_surnames.htm Most Common Surnames in the U. S.], website which claims its source is the U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division, Population Analysis & Evaluation Staff</ref> Names beginning with a double L, such as ''Lloyd'' and ''Llewellyn'' are almost certain to be Welsh, as is ''Floyd'' (the "Fl" being an attempt to imitate the sound of the Welsh double-L.
Welsh-derived surnames are common in the United States. The Welsh name ''Jones'' is in fact the fourth commonest surname in the U. S.<ref>Smith, Johnson and Williams ranking first, second and third</ref>; within the hundred commonest surnames, the Welsh names Evans, Edward, Morgan, and Jenkins rank 48th, 49th, 57th, and 83rd respectively.<ref>[http://names.mongabay.com/most_common_surnames.htm Most Common Surnames in the U. S.], website which claims its source is the U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division, Population Analysis & Evaluation Staff</ref> Names beginning with a double L, such as ''Lloyd'' and ''Llewellyn'' are almost certain to be Welsh, as is ''Floyd'' (the "Fl" being an attempt to imitate the sound of the Welsh double-L.
== Alphabet ==
Although it should be noted that the Welsh Alphabet uses the same characters as English (indeed both are examples of the Latin Alphabet) direct comparisons cannot always be made between the two. Welsh developed as an oral language with no corresponding written language and so, when it did develop a written language, it was developed in the written alphabet of the time, the Latin Alphabet. Of principle differences it should be noted that unlike English, Welsh has seven vowels, comprising of A, E, I, O, U, W and Y. In addition, certain sounds in Welsh are represented in the Latin Alphabet by two characters but are considered to be only one letter. In truth this makes little practical difference in everday use but is of use in such things as crosswords (where, for instance, the letter ''ff'' would occupy one space). In addition the Welsh alphabet has sounds (phones {speech sounds}) that do not occur in either English or American English. Listed below is the Welsh alphabet, along with the name of the letter as prounced in Welsh (which varies compared to how it is pronounced in English) and a (rough) guide to pronounciation.
A, a : {Name = â) '''Short''' = a, as in Mam (Welsh version of Mum or Mom) or Slam. '''Long''' = ah, as in Lard, Bard, Card, etc.
B, b : (Name = bî) b, as in Boy, Butter, etc.
C, c : (Name = èc) k, as in Cat, Coin, '''but never''' s, as in ceiling.
CH, ch : (Name = èch) a sound that has no corresponding sound in English, similar to the 'ch' in loch or Bach when these words are pronounced correctly in their original phones.
D, d : (Name = dî) d, as in Dog, Drag, Dip, etc.
DD, dd : (Name = èdd) a soft 'th' sound, as in The or Them as opposed to the harder 'th' sound of Thought or Thus.
E, e : (Name = ê) '''Short''' = eh, as in Hen, Pen, etc. '''Long''' = air, as in the 'ea' sound in Pear.
F,f : (Name = èf) v, as in Van, Vote, Value.
FF, ff : (Name = èff) f, as in Fair, Fast, Feisty.
G, g : (Name = èg) g, as in Gasp, Grip, '''but never''' j, as in Judge.
NG, ng : (Name = èng) ng, as in Sing, Ding, Fling, Flung, Long, etc. ''but'' is only considered a single letter in Welsh.
H, h : (Name = âets,hâ) h, as in Hat, Hope, Hero.
I, i : (Name = î (North Wales), î dot (South Wales)) '''Short''' = i, as in Pit, Fit, Sit. '''Long''' = ee, as in Seen, Dean, Mean.
Strictly speaking there is no 'J' in the Welsh Alphabet, where a 'J' would appear in English the Latin form of replacing it with an 'I' occurs, so James becomes Iago in Welsh (as it does in Spanish) and Santiago or (Sant Iago) means Saint James in both Spanish and English.
There is no 'K' in Welsh. That sound is formed using the letter 'C'.
L, l : (Name = èl) l, as in Long, Last, Lambeth, Lament.
LL, Ll, ll : (Name = ell) No corresponding sound in English. Prounced as an aspirated 'l' which is in practice formed by prouncing l, a hard th and a hissing sound from one side of the mouth, all at the same time. Used in the words Llewellyn, Llanberis, Llanelli, etc.
M, m : (Name = èm) m, as in Mam, Merry, Mercury.
N, n : (Name = en) n, as in Name, Number, Never.
O, o : (Name = ô) '''Short''' = o, as in Hockey, Gone, Bomb. '''Long''' = oo, as Too, Flu, etc.
P, p : (Name = pî) p, as in Pet, Pogo, Ping.
Ph, ph : (Name = ffî) an aspirated 'p' as it is in English, and the same prounciation as the Welsh letter 'ff'. However, in Welsh the 'ph' letter is considered to be a mutated form, and the letter 'ff' is more likely to be used.
R, r : (Name = èr) r, as in Rat, Ran, Rubbish. However, the pronounciation of the letter 'r' in Welsh is slightly more trilled and rolled in pronounciation than it is in English.
Rh, rh : (Name = rhî, rhô) Again, no corresponding sound in English. 'Rh' is pronounced as an aspirated 'r'. The best way to view the letter 'rh' is to view the letters 'r' and 'rh' in Welsh as having the same phonic habits of 'w' and 'wh' in English (as in Went compared to When).
S, s : (Name = ès) s, as in Sat, Sorry, Song and, if you insist (even if you don't), Sox.
T, t : (Name = tî) t, as in Tea, Test, Time.
Th, th : (Name = èth) a hard th sound, as in Thought, Thespian, Theocracy.
U, u : (Name = û (North Wales), û bedol (South Wales)) '''Short''' = i, as in Sit, Bit, Kitten. '''Long''' = ee, as in Been, Seen, Dean.
W, w : (Name = ŵ) w, as in Wind, West, Wink. '''Short''' = a cross between ur and er, almost identical to the 'u' sound in Butch Cassidy. Used in words such as cwm (a valley) and cwtch (pronounced exactly as you would say Butch, but with a hard 'c' at the beginning as opposed to a 'b' {please note that the 'ch' at the end has a 't' at the beginning, this changes the sound of the 'ch' from the gutteral sound when pronounced in Welsh to the 'tch' sound in Match. There is no direct English translation for cwtch, but the term 'safe place' is the closest description, in use it tends to be used as the description for an affectionate hug or cuddle, i.e. literally giving someone a safe place emotionally and physically, but it can also be used to describe a place where things are stowed away safely, such as a cupboard under the stairs or under the sink. Personally it's my favourite word in Welsh). '''Long''' = oo, as in Fool, Pool, Kool-Aid.
Y, y : (Name = ŷ) '''Short (1)''' = i, as in Sit, Bit, Flit. '''Short (2''') = uh, as in Gun, Fun, but pronounced slighltly heavier than the u in these words normally are. '''Long''' = ee, Seen, Been, Lean.
As can be seen, there appears to be three letters in Welsh that all have the same sound (ee when pronounced). There are slight differences in the ways that these three letters are pronounced in such regards, but the English language doesn't have words in it that can serve as examples of the slight differences.
It should be noted that in addition to single letters (as listed above) the Welsh language also combines letters to form other sounds (as English does). Some examples include Si (the 'sh' sound, as in Sian (SH-ahn), Oe (oy, as in the oy in oy vey), Wy (oy, very, very similar to 'oe' in Welsh but with a subtle difference in pronounciation that cannot be written down accurately in English), Tch (which can produce the 'tch' sound in match as opposed to the sound of t followed by the gutteral 'ch' in Welsh), di{vowel} (which produces a j sound, i.e. diyg is the Welsh phonetic for jug, although because of the spread of English into Welsh, mutations occur that, in this case, results in the Welsh for jug being, well, jug. Although officially known as mutations, these words sometimes go by the more commen name of Wenglish (English words with a Welsh, partially Welsh, or pure English spelling, even when the Welsh alphabet itslef wouldn't support that spelling, or English words that have a Welsh (or specifically Valleys' Welsh pronounciation), such as vidjeo for video), ti{vowel} (which is the more correct way of spelling the 'tch' sound, 'tch' in Welsh is also a mutation).
Some fun words in Welsh and a (even rougher) guide to their pronounciation:
Ynysybwl = A place name, that in English contains no vowels, but in Welsh is pronounced Uh-Nis-Uh-Bull
Eglwys = A church. Pronounced Egg-l-oy-s. The official church of Wales (by virtue of the fact that Wales is a Principality of England and the Established Church of England is the Anglican Church of England) is Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru, or The Church in Wales.
Cymru = Wales. Pronounced K-um-ri, although when Cymru is used in a sentence the beginning of the word is altered to fit the syntax of the sentence (i.e. The Church in Wales is Yr(The) Eglwys(Church) yng(in) Nghymru(Wales) as opposed to Yr Eglwys yng Cymru).
Capel = Chapel. Pronounced K-ap-el.
Ysgol = School. Pronounced Us-gol (not Us-goal).
Siarad = To speak or talk. Pronounced Sh-ah-rad.
Siariad = Talking. Pronounced Sh-ah-ri-ad.
Dim siarad = No Talking. Pronounced Dim Sh-ah-rad.
Cwtch = Closest meaning is 'safe place', often used to indicate an affectionate hug or cuddle (a safe place emotionally and physically) or a place of storage. Pronounced as Butch but with a hard 'C' at the beginning instead of a 'B'.
Hiraedd = No comparable English word. It's a deep seated longing, almost a depressing and obsessive (but not actually either of those things) need for something, often a return to Wales. It can also be used to indicate a deep longing for something unobtainable. Pronounced Hi(as in sit)-r-eye-th(soft 'th' as in the).
Most English dictionaries contain some Welsh-derived English words such as ''cwm'' (a circular valley or ''cirque'') and ''crwth'' (an traditional Celtic fiddle-like musical instrument). These can be very effective stumpers when playing word games, provided of course that they are actually included in whatever dictionary is the authority agreed on by the players.
==References==
==References==