Some nice Welsh words for March.

March is a very Welsh month in my eyes. We kick off on the first with St David’s Day. The day we celebrate our Patron Saint and remind anyone who will listen he’s the only Patron Saint in the UK born in the country he represents, truly a hallowed day.  We then have St Patrick’s Day on the 17th and have another day of claiming that a Patron Saint is Welsh - apparently the Catholic encyclopaedia says he’s Scottish but I don’t tend to live my life by that so I’ll gallop on with claiming he’s one of ours to all who will listen.

I think claiming people to be Welsh based on a tenuous link is a pastime the Welsh should be more broadly known for. We have a natural predisposition to it, like singing and the desire to talk about death. I’ve heard Welsh people claim famous folk for the most tenuous of reasons, a Mother is from Wales but you were born and raised in Melbourne? You’re Welsh, Kylie. Born in Wales but raised in England and repeatedly said you don’t identify as being Welsh? Unlucky Dawn French AND Christian Bale, you’re on the rugby team. If Fred West’s Mum had enough caravan holidays in Pembroke I swear we’d claim him too, anything for clout.

I think March feels especially Welsh to me because the Daffodils are showing up in all their camp* glory. I always smile when I see daffodils, in that respect they’re the dogs of flowers. Never seen one I haven’t grinned at.

I also think there’s something very Cymraeg (Welsh) about lambing season which we find ourselves in the thick of in March, it was a staple of my childhood. If Wales is going to take the slings and arrows of having an affinity with sheep and the sly stereotypes that are wedded to that, then they should also get to bask in the bucolic glory of being associated with frolicking, bucking lambs playing in a field. Now I’ve typed this I’m not sure this is a fair trade off for being heckled with “BAAAA” for the first five or so years of doing comedy when I’d mention I was Welsh.

Anyway, here are some words I’ve learned, that feel a bit March-like that you might like.

Mis Mawrth

Mis is pronounced like meece, to rhyme with peace, Mawrth is sort of the “mou” from mouth with what I like to call a “Welsh R” after it, ie you roll it a bit. This used to be tricky for me but persistence is key, it sort of ends up sounding like “errr”. You know the err you might exaggerate if someone picks up your coffee and drinks it. Or the first bit of “early”. When you crack it the the “r” in Mawrth is a nice bridge to the final “th” sound which is as in English.

Is it a cheat to include the Welsh name for “March” in the March edition of this? Nah, I’ll allow because I write this and I can.

I think this is a nice easy one to learn as a dysgwr (learner) as it looks enough like English to stick in your head. Mawrth can change a wee bit depending on the word you pair with it. Mis, the Welsh for month, gives you the month of March. Dydd Mawrth gives you Tuesday, Dydd meaning Day and pronounce Dee (like the river) with a “th” on th end to rhyme with breathe.

I love that Dydd Mawrth and Mis Mawrth are sort of linked because I think March does have such a Tuesday vibe, we’re getting going, we’re still knackered but it’s not a Monday so chin up.

Marwth on its own is the planet Mars too which I’m less on board with. For entirely unscientific reasons and pure vibes I feel like Mars is more of a May guy but I can’t really explain why but, the planet is cold when people assume it’s going to be warm so March does track with Mars in that respect.

Other than that I think it’s likely Latin influencing the Welsh but that’s as far as my explanation (knowledge) goes.

Cennin Pedr

Cennin is pronounced as it’s written with the first bit sounding like “Ken”,  the name that has been weirdly decommissioned. The “in” is just like the English . Pedr is again how it’s written - God Bless this phonetic language. Ped like “ped egg”, I always regret not getting one of those but I reckon periodically emptying it of the foot parmesan would send me under. The “r” on the end is another rolled r but I think in this instance if you were struggling you could quickly say “ear” and people would understand you which I think is the aim.

This is the Welsh for Daffodil! It mean’s Peter’s (Pedr) Leek (Cennin).  I can’t really find a clear reason why, there’s something to do with identifying soldiers in battle - the Welsh wore Leeks on their helmets to identity one another at a glance. In a futuristic head nod to food scarcity the Welsh were meant to have run out of their traditional leeks and ended up using the daffodils as a replacement as their leaves looks similar. I can’t find the origin of the name but I have found the origin of substitutes in online supermarket shopping.

Sometimes you will see the spelling or hear it said Cenhinen (Bedr) that’s the singular. You pronounce that Ken and the “hin” is as you’d expect, like “hinge”. The “en” is the like the start of “end”.

Sglyfach.

This looks scarier to say than it is. the first bit is said “s-glove” (their ain’t no party like an s-glove party). You’re going to just pop on an s sound on the front of the word glove and the last is the “a” for apple sound with the “ch” sound you find in Welsh or at the end of loch.

This is a very fun insult where I’m from and its severity depends on delivery and context. It sort of means a really disgusting person. So, if someone does that thing where they hold one nostril shut and fire their snot out the other side, they’re a sglyfach. The dog’s farted? Sglyfach. It can have a heavier meaning where you mean someone disgusts your very being. That’s the context I heard it in most recently on a documentary describing the abuse my headteacher committed on a documentary (a story for another day). I mention this because it shows you the breadth this word covers, from farting dogs to the very worst prededators. A word for all seasons but I’m giving you it now, in Spring.

Ton/Tonnau

This is as it reads with the “on” being like the English, so it should rhyme with Don. Tonnau is the plural using “au” which is pronounced “eye”. Au is used to pluralise loads of stuff in Welsh so a useful one to crack.

Ton means a wave and tonnau means waves. I think it’s especially evocative because of the hardness of the sound of the words and how it changes slightly with the pluralisation. Wave in English I think has a softness to it, you sort of ride up the “a” sound and drift down the “ve” at the end. Ton is dense sounding, like a big wall of water slapping the streets of Aberystwyth when the wind whips in. Tonnau feels softer again, like a collection of waves on a spring day just doing their thing.

I don’t know why I feel like this about the words and their sounds but I just do and it’s probably going to lead to someone diagnosing me to something so I look forward to that.

If there’s any Welsh words you want to share with me, please do!

*Don’t think Daffodils are camp? Please refer to one of my favourite Freddie Mercury quotes. When asked about his sexuality he said “I’m as gay as a daffodil, my dear”.