What are the origins of Welsh Language words? Roots.

[@jmich7]

What an amazing insight into languages, deeply interesting!!!!!

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you.

[@nicolebriggs1114]

I absolutely enjoy ( mwynhau) the passion and driving love of Welsh you pour out on each video you post. I came across your videos because I have recently become enamored either learning Welsh and wanted to hear how the double letters and other uses of the vowels that I'm not accustomed to in English as my primary language. I have studied Spanish for many years off and on for immediate use, but haven't become fluent.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Diolch / Thank you. If you have studied off and on Spanish for years, spend a month in a Spanish speaking country and you will be astounded at what you pick up.

[@nicolebriggs1114]

@@BenLlywelyn Now that would be quite an experience!

[@brianroberts5048]

I discovered a book called The Welsh Vocabulary of the Bangor District written by O H Fynes-Clinton in 1913. It's an amazing snapshot of the Welsh my grandfather would have grown up knowing in Bangor. There are some really colourful descriptions of the Welsh words that bring the language to life and put the words into the context of daily life at the time

[@BenLlywelyn]

That is a good find indeed.

[@harmonicresonanceproject]

I find this incredibly helpful and interesting. Thanks!

[@BenLlywelyn]

Glad I helped you.

[@rogergriffith286]

Very useful. I had already noted classes of words that seemed not to belong to welsh and words like 'cnwc' fit in with history. I have relatives at Pencwnc Farm in an area influenced by Scandinavian incursions.

[@jandunn169]

Diolch yn fawr!!!! This video explains soon much. As a very new learner, I started noticing words with "CY" in the beginning, like cyfarchaf, or cyfarwydd and it was amazing to hear you explain what parts make up these words....!!!!! I am in Hawaii but after hearing a recording in Welsh of the Mabinogi, I felt inspired to learn the language of my ancestors....

[@BenLlywelyn]

Cy- / Cyf- / Cym- / Cyd- All a slightly different slants on togetherness of things. Coming together. Fusion. Co-

[@jandunn169]

@@BenLlywelyn So interesting!!! Is there any connection with the English word come? Your videos are very helpful!!! Just watched the one on Mae sentence structure. Diolch!!

[@tommiegirl2598]

My name is Gwenhwyer Hughes... it's about as Welsh as you can get! 😄 I've always thought the Welsh language was just so very beautiful. Thank you for your video! 💝

[@BenLlywelyn]

A wonderful name, Gwenhwyer.

[@tommiegirl2598]

@@BenLlywelyn Thank you😊

[@IosuamacaMhadaidh]

These videos are golden! 💯

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you

[@pkwyman]

Love your videos Ben. This was an amazing lesson in influences on the Welsh language. Would love to meet you wyneb i wyneb once I make my move across the pond. Coming to live in Caernarfon sometime in April. Diolch am dy gwaith.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Diolch yn fawr Phil.

[@alanthomas2064]

Thanks for reducing my ancient language to a creole!

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thanks for watching!

[@expat1250090]

Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into your channel and the learning you impart. I'm a native Welsh speaker, yet I have learned far more from you about my mother-tongue than I ever did at school! I was wondering if there is a dictionary or a reference of sorts in Welsh or English, or both, that has a compilation of pre-Roman Brythonic vocabulary and grammar. I would be curious to know what the Brythonic word would have been for, for example, 'saethu' or 'crogi' prior to the Roman invasion, as surely these actions wouldn't have been exclusively Roman? Are there any online resources you would recommend that I could delve into for a better grasp of the Brythonic language pre-Roman conquest?

[@BenLlywelyn]

Pre-Roman Brythonic vocabulary is a very hazy, unknown. Best chance is Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru. GPC has a website geiriadur.ac.uk/gpc/gpc.html

[@melysmelys2622]

Probably my favourite video so far. Regarding those Brythoneg words replaced over time by other languages, is it possible to find the original Brythoneg words? If so, would it be a 'good' idea to reintroduce them or would that affect the natural development of the current Welsh language?

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you, I will it in mind. As for using older words - I think in some cases Welsh should - we have loads of old poetry to glean for words to replace modern loanwords with. But many loanwords are here to stay.

[@Knappa22]

I don't think language goes backwards like that. For whatever reason the original word was abandoned for a new one and that is part of language evolution. It would also require a speaker to 'forget' a word they know and replace it with a word they've never heard of. That doesn't happen in normal language transmission.

[@MisterJimLee]

​@@Knappa22Well don't forget that language can be changed on purpose, such as the spelling reforms to make word look closer to their latin counterparts

[@Knappa22]

I think one has to be careful when trying to differentiate between Latin cognates and Latin loanwords. 'Gwir' (truth) which you categorised as a loanword from Latin 'vero' is probably a cognate going back to a common indo-european root. GPC has its etymology as from proto Celtic 'uiros'. This is supported by the Irish word 'fhír(inne)' showing the clear 'f' / 'gw' equivalence between Irish and Welsh respectively (cf feamainn = gwymon (seaweed) or gwylan = faoileann (seagull). You are mostly spot-on about these btw, I just noticed a few disputable ones.

[@BenLlywelyn]

They are disputable, yes. I do tend to size with heavier Latin influence as you can see.

[@rogergriffith286]

So many words to learn and understand. Being in Yr Alban I read more than I speak Cymraeg. I come across a wide range of texts through the Mabinogion, Dan y Wenallt to Lingo Newydd. To translate and remember words it helps if I recognise a prefix and/or a suffix - as in 'Wenallt.' This has many pitfalls, such as mutations of the suffix first letter, etc. I see that some prefixes such as 'can - with or after', 'cam - wrong or mis-', etc. You mentioned 'cyn - first or before'. Can you expand and clarify this approach and its pitfalls. I note 'Arfordir - is that 'On Sea land' for instance.

[@delwinaherd8621]

Diddorol iawn! Diolch eto, Ben.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Croeso!

[@jtinalexandria]

Could you do a video about why ancient Gaulish seems to be closer to Latin than to modern Celtic languages?

[@BenLlywelyn]

It does not seem so if you speak a Celtic Language.

[@philandrews2860]

Enjoyed this very much.. very interesting and informative. I wonder if some of the French loan words came originally from Gaulish. Most French loan words were probably of Latin origin, or possibly even Frankish.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Frankish is more Germanic today than it is Celtic. See my Gaulish video from when I began this channel, it has some of your answers.

[@tepodmabkerlevenez1923]

Kalz gerioù heñvel a gaver e brezhoneg, pa ziver ar brezhoneg eus ar predeneg, dres evel ar c'hembraeg !

[@larrydykes7643]

Hi Ben, is there a list of words like gêm for which there are "more Welsh" words? Might be useful for learners like me to try to develop the habit of using.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Hi Larry, I don't think there is a list persay - you just have to learn those each as it comes.

[@jwadaow]

How much of common Brythonic can reliably be reconstructed? I wonder if you have planned to investigate those ancient roots.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Probably quite a bit since we have 3 languages (Breton, Cornish, Welsh) to compare and a lot of old poetry, which tended to use conservative language even for its time. The issue is not the words, but rhe grammar - we don't know how Brythonic worked, and it would have had at least some vague aggulutinating forms (see my video on agglutinative languages).

[@taffyducks544]

@@BenLlywelyn "Cymroglyphics" by Ross Broadstock

[@Schockmetamorphose]

I love how the first example for a word with an Irish root is b*tch

[@jameshazelwood9433]

Very lucky Welsh stayed Celtic

[@BenLlywelyn]

Wales and the Welsh Language survived because of the almost fluke level of luck it had in that when it was weakest England did not go through a revolution.

[@DarrenThyer-q3e]

Our true hidden history reveals otherwise!

[@CarlsLingoKingdom]

Diolch! Is it possible to recover any of the pre-Latin words and make Welsh less Latin-influenced, or is that impossible since there were A) no records of Welsh at that period and B) no words to explain some of the concepts?

[@BenLlywelyn]

It is possible in a few small cases, but I think Latin's influence makes Welsh quite unique myself

[@yannschonfeld5847]

The Indo-European tracing of Welsh is of course quite obvious but well worth underlining for most people. Surprisingly however, you neglected to mention where Brythonic languages (i.e. Cymraeg, Cumbric, Kernewek and Brezhoneg) find their direct ancestor. Namely, Gaulish. Before the Roman invasion of Britain, what language was widely spoken in Britain?. Until some decades after the Roman departure, Gaulish and early Brythonic were mutually inelligible as the insular version came from the continent. Just two towns in modern France: " Caen" - Catu-Magos or /Man = Cadfan/ Cadfaes . "Niort" - Nio-Ritu = Rhyd Newydd. The modern French town name shows that in Gaulish there were two possible syllable stresses, last syllable or the penultimate.Also, the adjective could appear before the noun. Gaulish lingered on long after the fall of the Roman empire in several places. In any case, the Brythonic languages did not appear on the island of Britain by themselves.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you. I view Brythonic - Gaulish as a continuum like French - Occitan and Catalan are.

[@yannschonfeld5847]

@@BenLlywelyn So do you mean French is a continuum of Latin like all the other neo latin languages and that modern Brythonic languages are neo- Gaulish or the continuum of Gaulish?

[@celtspeaksgoth7251]

These origins fascinate me. Latinate like Pont (bridge), Mel (honey), Castell/a, Ffenstr (window). I think pump is Indo-European, like Punjab (five rivers). A fair few derive from Saxon, resemble today's German, e.g. Croeso (Groeso when mutated) vs. Grüsse, and as you say cwningen vs Käninchen (rabbit). Oddy, Russian for ship 'korabl' brings to mind 'coracle'. (G)wynt - wind. Bad word : putain, see Spanish puta. Also days of the week vs French/Spanish equivalents

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you. / Diolch. There is also the fact Celtic Languages were much closer to Latin than other branches of the Indo-European family. So it was easier for them to absorb Latin.

[@taffyducks544]

Nonsense alot of this. If it mutates that's down to the language itself and just a clear coincidence. Croeso does not come from Germanic...especially if you can only say its similar when it Mutates.

[@ftumschk]

@@taffyducks544 Interestingly, there are mediæval (14th century and earlier) words for "welcome" which start with "g" in their basic, un-mutated forms, namely: "greso", "gresso" and "groesaw".

[@tedi1932]

Very interesting to learn that words like parti and parc are French and not English. My personal pet hate is the use of the word 'enjoio' instead of the nice Welsh word 'mwynhau' which we as a family always use. It really annoys me when I hear Welsh speakers putting English phrases or sometimes whole sentences into a Welsh conversation. These are the people who are damaging the Welsh language.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Mwynhau (to enjoy) is such a good word, coming from mwyn (tender/gentle and kind) it conveys meaning that silly patois like enjoio cannot.

[@tedi1932]

@@BenLlywelyn Yes I totally agree

[@OnASeasideMission]

Fully agree. Learning Welsh having been born and raised in Glamorgan, where we did Welsh at school. Now living... somewhere east of Bristol. ☹ Making some progress but leaving out words like 'plîs' and 'sori'. Enjoying the videos.

[@taffyducks544]

Coelbren!

[@SionTJobbins]

so right to say that Welsh is a Roman-Brythonic language. Another three generations, a century, and I'm sure Welsh would have been a Latin language with a strong Celtic/Brythonic substratum.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Definitely, Siôn. The Latin element and under influence is part of what makes Welsh so special. Far more Latin in Welsh than Irish.

[@SlaviSokol]

Hi there. Could LLyn mean wedge and Brychein mean belly ?

[@BenLlywelyn]

No. Llyn used to be another word for drink or water in general. Then it became our word for lake. Brych is freckled.

[@SlaviSokol]

@@BenLlywelyn Thank you.

[@philoaviaticus]

I heard Welsh had a rennaisance via some panceltic organisations in last couple centuries - true? Irish it was more forced after 1920 and less enthusiasm, regrettably...

[@BenLlywelyn]

We've certainly had increased awareness of our near language in Brittany, if that counts.

[@yasagarwal859]

kr̥n̥ati is kinate in bengali

[@astonishing157]

I wonder how we got pysgod wibli wobli

[@Thebattler86]

Aeneas of Troy.

[@fredericosampaio6457]

Fideo gwych iawn, Ben! I wonder if there woulb be a conection between "H" consonants in Cymraeg and Greek versus Latim. For exemple: Saith (CYM)/Septem(Lat)/Hepta(Gre) Chwech(CYM)/Sex(Lat)/Hexa(Gre) Hen(CYM)/SEN(LAT) Super(Lat)/Hyper(Gre) Halis(Gre)/Salis(Lat)/Halen(CYM) helios(Gre)/Haul(GYM)/Solis(Lat)

[@BenLlywelyn]

Interesting. There was definitely a S/H sound shift in Welsh - but apart from Irish which did not have it, I do not know how Welsh relates to say Latin or Greek with H. Needs research!

[@Forsthman64]

Comment for the algo

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thanks.

[@Forsthman64]

You're most welcome. I'm yet to start leaning Welsh, but I love the language and the people (I'm English). Did you know JRR Tolkien liked Welsh? Please keep up the good work! @@BenLlywelyn

[@bernardmolloy4463]

Very interesting video. You might find this video interesting, which is about the Waterford dialect of the Irish language:- kzbin.info/www/bejne/eXXXkmN9ftqnlas (Waterford is in the South Eastern region of Ireland) In the Waterford dialect of Irish, “Double L” at the end of a word is pronounced with a “kh” sound. This to me spells of a possible ancient connection to the “Double L” of Welsh which has a similar pronunciation.

[@BenLlywelyn]

That was a fascinating video. Thank you. I don't know how that came to be.

[@entwistlefromthewho]

You are grossly overstating the Latin influence on Welsh. Yes, a lot of words were borrowed, but it left little impact on the grammar. I don't think it's fair to say that contact with Latin is the sole reason for the loss of cases in Brythonic languages - this could have happened, regardless. Also, not all Welsh words beginning in 'gw-' are of Latin origin. It originates in PIE 'w-' initial words. Latin didn't even have the [v] sound, Latin 'v' sounded like [w], [u], or [ʊ]. The Latin 'viridium' began with a [w], not a [v], which became 'gwyrdd' in Welsh. Another Welsh 'gw-' word, "gwaith" (work) comes via Proto-Celtic *wextā, from PIE *weǵʰ- and nothing to do with Latin whatsoever.

[@BenLlywelyn]

To be fair I understated Latin's influence on Welsh.

[@lionelgrenelle]

Wow ! "Putain" exists in Welsh ? Putain !!! ("whore", but for "f*ck !" as well: surprise, anger, etc.)

[@MihailȘerban-g9y]

În romana e,, fute".

[@lugo_9969]

Irish ....croch = to hang , fior = true , cupan = cup , coinin = rabbit , .pound = punt , ...all very similar to welsh

[@BenLlywelyn]

Indeed so.

[@TimAucamp]

Mabey the latin word came from the welsh word.other way round

[@BenLlywelyn]

There may be a few, but Latin was the prestige language of empire and getting on in the world.

[@JonnhyOliver]

Welsh probably comes from Bangor and highly or partly influenced by Norsemen people it has the single word for gwddfõrddwglychhdatgwennsylddferttnaychh.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Bangor was founded after the Welsh Language formed.