MRS HARDING ON WELSH

Welsh is one of the oldest languages in Europe. It evolved from Brythonic, the main language spoken in Wales, England and Southern Scotland when the Romans invaded in 43AD. Welsh began to emerge as a distinctive language sometime between 400 and 700 AD and early Welsh poetry survives from this period.

Ten surprising facts about Welsh

1. An earlier form of Welsh used to be spoken in Scotland. In the epic Welsh poem ‘Y Gododdin’ there is a reference to Din Eidyn, “the stronghold of Eidyn”. Edinburgh is called ‘Caeredin’ in Welsh and this fortress has been generally assumed to refer to the rock where Edinburgh Castle stands today. So if you’re Welsh you can stand at the top of Edinburgh Castle and feel quite at home!

2. There are almost as many Welsh speakers alive today as there have ever been at any point. According to the 2020 annual population survey there are 883,600 Welsh speakers today.

3. The ‘unique’ sounds in Welsh aren’t that unusual. The ‘Ll’ sound that appears in so many Welsh place names might be considered by many to be unique to Welsh but it actually appears in a few other languages. It is used in a number of Native American languages including Navajo, Creek and Chipawaya, and also in Zulu, Mongolian, Hmong, Faroese and two dialects of Chinese. It’s also used in Biblical Hebrew. ‘Ch’ is another sound that appears all over the world. Again in Hebrew, but also in Yiddish, German, Afrikaans, Arabic, and many other languages.

4. The word ‘penguin’ very likely comes from Welsh. ‘Penguin’ is thought to come from ‘pen gwyn’ or white head. It was originally applied to the great auk, which does have a white brow. Other words that travelled to English from Welsh include ‘bard’ from ‘bardd’ (poet) and ‘corgi’ from ‘cor gi’ – ‘dwarf dog’!

5. Welsh is the fastest growing language on Duolingo in the UK – according to the Company. They said the number of new Welsh learners using its services rose by 44% in 2020, outflanking Hindi, Japanese, Turkish and French.

6. Welsh speakers are young on the whole, thanks mainly to the growth of Welsh language education. 12-15 year olds are the age group most likely to be able to speak Welsh, with 68% having some ability to speak the language.

7. An earlier form of Welsh was used all over England to count sheep until the early 20th century. The counting numbers used by shepherds remained very similar to modern Welsh – for instance, ‘peddera’ for ‘four’, ‘pip’ for ‘five’ and ‘dix’ for ‘ten’.

8. Welsh has preserved some English words no longer used. For instance, one Welsh word for ‘sweets’ is ‘fferins’ which comes from the English ‘fairing’ – a present bought at a fair. Another example is ‘cnaf’, from the English ‘knave’, which is a common insult in Welsh but little used in English outside of an archaic historical context.

9. Welsh didn’t always have separate words for ‘blue’ and ‘green’.

10. Some Welsh words are similar to French and Spanish. Can you guess the English for the following? Welsh is more like French and Spanish than English. Does that surprise you?

Welsh French Spanish English?

Eglwys eglise iglesia

Plwm plomb plomo

Llyfr livre libro

Trist triste triste

Dolur douleur dolor

From: https://nation.cymru/culture/top-10-unexpected-facts-about-the-welsh-language-that-maysurprise-you/