Welsh - Tumblr Posts
Footprints of our industrial past.
August looking wistful
Bunting, sent from my Mam on holiday in Tenby.
Story Time
Once upon a time, in the ancient Welsh Kingdom of Gwynedd, Prince Llywelyn returned home from a fruitless winter hunt. He had had no luck on his expedition as his best and beloved hound, Gelert, was missing from the pack this day.
Llywelyn was struck by horror upon entering the room of his infant son, for the room was in disarray, the cot was overturned and Gelert, drenched in blood and gore, stood sentinel, his eyes brightening at his master's return.
Enraged by grief for his baby boy, Llywelyn drew his sword and struck Gelert down in a single stroke, only hearing the sound of his son, very much alive, begin to cry. Llywelyn pulled aside the cot and mess of blankets to find his boy, unharmed and laying next to the bloody body of a great wolf.
Upon realising his mistake, Llywelyn's heart was filled with so much sorrow and guilt that he never smiled again as the dying yelp of his brave and loyal dog haunted him. He buried Gelert in a fine cemetery in a town now called Beddgelert, in English, "Gelert's Grave" where a monument to the dog stands today.
As a Welsh man this is a story I've known from childhood, but today I learned of another brave dog of legend which is uncannily similar. In France, a Knight returned home to find his blood stained dog in his infant's nursery. The Knight struck the dog down only to discover his child lived and the body of a snake in his crib. The dog, Guinfort, became Saint Guinfort, the only dog to achieve sainthood, though not recognised by the Catholic Church.
The similarity of these two tales is unsurprising as they are both a variation of the Faithful Hound motif, that actually originated in India in the form of The Brahmin and the Mongoose. Though undoubtedly myths, there is the very true story of Jock of the Bushveld, which is both a book and a film so I won't spoil it.
I wrote a haiku about Dare Valley, where I grew up.
“The Welsh language has a unique character which reminds me of the country’s landscapes and history. For example, the Welsh version of describing something as “music to my ears” is “mêl ar fy mysedd,” or “honey on my fingers”. To me that’s so much more poetic and sensual than the English idiom, and it reminds me of Wales’ history of poetry and song, and the fact that living in Wales – with its huge mountains, long beaches and 365-day rain cycle – is often a very sensory experience. There is something ancient about that phrase: when I say it I can almost feel how old the Welsh language is. Perhaps the fact that languages are embodied with so much culture and history is why it feels so poignant to forget them, and so painful.”
— Ellie Mae O'Hagan, Losing my Welsh: what it feels like to forget a language
As used by Mrs Harris on the year 5 (16yr olds) school trip to Austria “there’s too much cwtching going on on this bus”.
It was only when I went to university in London that I realised it wasn’t an English word.
I was thinking of brushing up on Welsh so this is really helpful, thanks!
Celtic Languages Resource List
Soooo since I’ve been learning Welsh for a while I thought about making a list to share a few resources to learn Celtic languages! (I’ll keep updating this post!)
Welsh
General information and links: Wikipedia, Omniglot
Online courses: BBC + Big Welsh Challenge, Say Something in Welsh, Learn Welsh Now, Learn Welsh, Surface Languages
Online dictionaries: here, here and here
Learning vocabulary: Memrise is a good start, I highly recommend this course.
Course books and dictionaries to buy: Teach Yourself Welsh (also look for the older versions ‘cause some of them are better), Colloquial Welsh, Welsh in Three Months, Basic Welsh, Intermediate Welsh, Cwrs Mynediad (A1), Cwrs Sylfaen (A2), Welsh for Beginners, Modern Welsh Grammar, Modern Welsh Dictionary,
Books for the Welsh learner (beginner to intermediate level): E-Ffrindiau, Bywyd Blodwen Jones, Cant Y Cant
Books in Welsh (translation): Harry Potter, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Welsh books: here’s a website
Other cool stuff: Welsh songs, Welsh mythology in Welsh, BBC Cymru, S4C (Welsh TV), Welsh radio
Irish
General information and links: Wikipedia, Omniglot
Online courses: Duolingo, Bitesize Irish Gaelic (not free), Erin’s Web, some basics on YouTube, Talk Irish (not free)
Online dictionaries: here, here and here
Learning vocabulary: Duolingo vocabulary + other
Course books and dictionaries to buy: Gaeilge Gan Stró, Basic Irish, Intermediate Irish, Teach Yourself Irish, Spoken World: Irish, Progress in Irish, Colloquial Irish, Irish for Beginners, Irish Grammar, Irish Dictionary
Books in Irish (translation): The Hobbit, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Harry Potter, Around the World in Eighty Days
Irish books: here is a website
Other cool stuff: Irish covers of English songs, Irish TV channel and radio
Scottish Gaelic
General information and links: Wikipedia, Omniglot
Online courses: Gàidhlig air YouTube, BBC, Speaking Our Language, and this list of useful links
Online dictionaries: here, here and here
Learning vocabulary: Memrise offers lots of courses
Course books and dictionaries to buy: Teach Yourself Scottish Gaelic, Colloquial Scottish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic in Three Months, Everyday Gaelic, Gaelic Verbs, Scottish Gaelic Dictionary
Books in Scottish Gaelic: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Scottish Gaelic Books: here is a website
Breton
General information and links: Wikipedia, Omniglot
Online courses: Loecsen (only basics!), Langoland, Kervaker
Online dictionaries: here and here (this one’s French <-> Breton)
Learning vocabulary: Memrise again
Course books and dictionaries to buy: Colloquial Breton, Breton Grammar, Breton Dictionary and Phrase Book – if you know French, there is more: Le breton pour les nuls, Assimil Breton, Parler breton comme un Breton
Breton books: here is a website
Other cool stuff: Breton radio
Cornish
General information and links: Wikipedia, Omniglot
Online courses: Say Something in Cornish, BBC, A Handbook of the Cornish Language, First Grade Course, Second/Third Grade Course, Learn Cornish Now
Online dictionaries: here and here (this one’s Welsh <-> Cornish)
Learning vocabulary: Memrise again
Course books and dictionaries to buy: My First Words in Cornish, The Lexicon of Revived Cornish
Other cool stuff: Cornish radio/podcasts
Manx
General Information and links: Wikipedia, Omniglot
Online courses: Learn Manx, A Practical Grammar
Online dictionaries: here
Learning vocabulary: Memrise
Course books and dictionaries to buy: Talk Now! Manx, Manx Dictionary
Other cool stuff: read in Manx, Manx radio, Manx YouTube channel
Cumbric
General information and links: Wikipedia, Omniglot
Online courses: Cumbraek
Gaulish and Modern Gaulish (revived Old Gaulish)
General information and links: Wikipedia, Omniglot
Online courses: The Modern Gaulish Language
Learning vocabulary: Memrise
Galatian
General information and links: Wikipedia
Other cool stuff: Galatian words in Turkish
Lepontic
General information and links: Wikipedia, Omniglot
Online courses: basic information
Other cool stuff: a collection of Lepontic inscriptions, more information
Celtiberian
General information and links: Wikipedia, Omniglot
Online courses: some basics
If you’re learning one of the more “popular” Celtic languages, you can also use lang-8 to practice your writing skills!