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Contact us!
info@welshleagueofarizona.org
Welsh League of AZ
4802 E. Ray Road
Suite 23-510
Phoenix, AZ 85044
(602) 532-7837 phone/fax
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Notes on Linguistics
Welsh is a Celtic language. This means it is not closely related to either Germanic languages (English, German, Dutch, etc.) or Italic languages (Spanish, French, Latin, Italian, etc.). All these languages can be traced back toa common mother tongue called Indo-European, which is thought to have once spanned the entire European and Asia Minor areas, as many as 10,000 years ago. It's very much like a family, with Indo-European being the great grandmother, and the languages in each branch being siblings to one another, and cousins to the languages in other branches.
The Celtic branch consists of Welsh, Irish, Scottish, Manx, Breton, and Cornish. The Germanic branch consists of English, German, Dutch, Danish, Flemish, etc. The Italic branch consists of all the Latin-based languages (Italian, Latin, French, etc). There are a lot more branches than these, though. While similarities can be found in all the languages (the building blocks to reconstructing Indo-European), it is difficult to find a lot of similarities in the languages not in the same branches. It is relatively easy for English and German speakers to learn each other's languages. Similarly, it is relatively easy for French and Spanish speakers to learn other Italic languages. It is more challenging to go from English to French or Welsh and vice versa because of fundamental differences that are unique to each branch.
One thing that makes studying languages so interesting is that as you learn a language, you get to see how a different culture views the world. Things are organized completely differently for the speakers of Welsh than they are for speakers of English. A stark example of this is that Welsh sentences, as a rule of thumb, begin with a verb, and the verb is conjugated (changed) to form a question, whereas in English, the verb is simply moved around to form a question.
Another interesting thing about it is that language is history. As you trace events of people invading and conquering one another, you can see how languages get mixed, and even can become extinct. English and Welsh have 2 different periods of a mixing with Italic languages, first from Latin, during the Roman occupation of the British Isles, and the second from French following the conquest of William the Conqueror. It was from this period of about 1100AD - 1300 that English changes from Old English to Middle English.
Click here to see a chart of Indo-European languages and how they relate to each other. http://iranianlanguages.com/indo-european.htm.
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Notes on pronunciation:
- ll - English does not have an equivalent. Basically make an L sound, and blow,
but do not actually make the LLLLL sound. It's more like a soft hiss.
- The accent is always on the second-to-the-last syllable
- ch - like the German or Scottish ch, as in "loch" or "ich."
- dd - ethe, voiced TH as in "THat"
- th - eth, voiceless TH as in "THing"
- g - hard g, like "Gain", never soft like "Gin"
- ng - one sound, like "nga" of the South Pacific, or like in "siNG"
- oe - oi, as in "oil"
- R, or RR - r is always rolled, like the Spanish "erre", like "aRRoz"
- rh - Hhhhrrrrrr, blow out before rolling the R.
- ph - F as in "PHilip"
- f - V as in "seiVe"
- ff - F as in "Fluff"
- u - EEEE
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English | Welsh | Pronuciation |
Wales | Cymru | KUM ree |
Welsh (people) | Cymry | KUM ree |
Welshman | Cymro | KUM ro |
Welshwoman | Cymraes | KUM rise |
Welsh (language) | Cymraeg | KUM rahg |
Welsh (adjective) | Cymreig | KUM raeg |
England | Lloegr | CHLOI gr |
English (people) | Sais | Sise |
English (adjective) | Saeson (literally, "Saxon") | SISE on |
English (language) | Saesneg | SISE neg |
Englishman | Sais | SISE |
Englishwoman | Saesnes | SISE nise |
| Colors | ||
English | Welsh | Pronuciation |
Red | Coch | Koch |
Purple | Porffor | POR vor |
Blue | Glas | Glas |
Yellow | Melyn | MEL in |
Green | Gwyrdd | GOO irth |
OrangeOren | O ren | |
White | Gwyn | gwin |
Black | Du | DEE |
Brown | Brown | Broan |
Grey | Llwyd | CHLOO id |
| Adjectives | ||
English | Welsh | Pronuciation |
Big | Mawr | rhymes with "hour". |
Small | Bach | Bachh (see Note above) |
Old | Hen | Hen |
New | Newydd | NEW ithe |
| The Home | ||
English | Welsh | Pronuciation |
House (houses) | Ty (tai) | TEE (tye) |
bathroom (bathrooms) | Ty bach (tai bach) | TEE bahch (TYE bahch) |
Door (doors) | Drws (drysau) | droose (DRUH sigh) |
Window (windows) | Ffenestr (ffenestri) | FEN est (fen ES tree) |
Curtain (curtains) | Llen (llenni) | chlen (CHLE nee) |
Table (tables) | bwrdd (byrddau) | boorthe (BOORTHE eye) |
| Animals | ||
English | Welsh | Pronuciation |
Dog (dogs) | Ci (cwn) | kee (coon) |
Cat (cats) | Cath (cathod) | Kath (CATH od) |
Mouse (Mice) | Llygoden (llygod) | chlee GO din (CHLEE god) |
Cow (cows) | Buwch (gwartheg) | BEE ewch (GWAR thaeg)) |
Fox (foxes) | Cadno (cadnoau) | KAD no (kad NO eye) |
Horse (horses) | Ceffyl (ceffylau) | KEFF l (keff EL eye) |
Dragon (dragons) | Draig (Dreigiau) | Dreig - ryhmes with "bike"
(dreg EE eye) |
Wolf (wolves) | Blaidd (bleiddiaid) | blythe (blathe EE eyed) |
Elephant (elephants) | Eliffant (eliffantod); or "Oliphant" | Elephant (elePHANTod), nye "O LEE fant" |
A special note to those of you who are fans of J. R. R. Tolkien: Yes! This is the word he uses in Elvish for the Elephant-like creatures.
Tolkien was greatly inspired by Welsh. |
| Nature | ||
English | Welsh | Pronuciation |
Tree (trees) | Coeden (coed) | KOI den (Koid) |
Plant (plants)s | Planhigyn (planhygion) | plan HEE ghin (plan hee GHEE on) |
Flower (flowers) | Blodyn (blodau) | BLOD in (BLOD eye) |
Sea | Môr | More |
Cloud (clouds) | Cwmwl (Cymylau) | KOOM ool (kum UHL eye) |
Mountain (mountains) | Mynydd (mynyddoedd) | MIN ithe (min ITHE oethe) |
to rain | bwrw glaw | BOOroo GLAW |
Sun; sunshine | Haul; heulwen | hile; HILE wen |
Moon | Lleuad | CHLEYE ad |
Star (stars) | Seren (sêr) | SER en (Sehr) |
| Time and Days of the Week | ||
English | Welsh | Pronuciation |
Time | amser | am SER |
Always; all the time | pob amser | pobe AM ser |
Hour | awr | ah Wer |
Day | dydd | DEETHE |
Week | wythnos | WITH noas |
Month | Mis | MEES |
Year
| Blwyddyn | blew EE then |
Sunday | dydd Sul | DEETHE seel |
Monday | dydd Llun | DEETHE chleen |
Tuesday | dydd Mawrth | DEETHE mawrth |
Wednesday
| dydd Mercher,
| DEETHE mercher
nye "Nos Merhcherr Bachh" |
Thursday | dydd Iau | DEETHE ee-eye |
Friday | dydd Gwener | DEETHE gwenner |
Saturday | dydd Sadwrn | DEETHE saddern |
| Numbers | ||
English | Welsh | Pronuciation |
1 | Un | een |
2 | Dau | dye(see Note above) |
3 | Tri | tree |
4 | Pedwar | PED war |
5 | Pump | Pimp |
6 | Chwech | CHW ech |
7 | Saith | SYEth |
8 | Wyth | with |
9 | Naw | now |
10 | Deg | daeg |
13 | Un deg tri | een DAEG tree |
20 | Dau deg | DYE daeg |
23 | Dau Deg tri | dye DAEG tree |
50 | Pum deg; hanner cant | DYE daeg; HANNER kant |
53 | Pum Deg tri | pim DAEG tree |
100 | Cant | Kant |
Thousand | Mil | Meel |
Million | Miliwn | mil EE oon |
| Phrases (using the formal case) | ||
English | Welsh | Pronuciation |
How are you? | Sut dach chi? | Sit dach chhee? |
Fine, thanks. And you? | Iawn, diolch. A chi? | Yawn, DEE olch. A chee? |
How's the weather? | Sut mae'r tywydd? | sit meyer TUH weth |
It's hot. | Mae'n poeth. | Mine poith. |
It's raining. | Mae'n bwrw glaw. | Mine BOOroo glaw. |
It's cold - very cold! | Mae'n oer - oer iawn! | Mine oir - oir yawn! |
I'd like coffee. | Dwi'n eisiau coffi. | dw een AYshah coffee. |
I'd like beer. | Dwi'n eisiau cwrw. | dw een AYshah KOOroo. |
Please, or "if it you see it's good". | "Plis", neu "os gwelwch yn dda" | "Pleese", nye "os goo-EL-ooch un thah." |
Thank you. | Diolch. | DEE olch. |
No thanks. | Dim diolch. | dim DEE olch. |
Good morning! | Bore da! | BORay da! |
Good afternoon! | Pnawn da! | Pin anwn Da |
Good evening. | Noswaith dda! | Nos withe tha. |
Nice to see you. | Neis wela chi. | Nise Wela chi. |
Bye! Bye now! | Hwyl! Hwyl nawr! | Hoil! Hoil nawr! |
Nice to meet you. | Neis cwrdd a chi. | Nise COORth a chi. |
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