A ‘little roof’, ^, makes all the difference!

Cherry

By Rhiannonw

Fri, 20 Mar 2026
  • 229 reads
7 comments
 

When I was young, just beginning to read, I remember my fisrt visit to Sunday School, quite a little journey by bus, as we were to go to the Welsh-speaking meeting.

Afterwards my mother (probably) questioned me as to what I had liked best – “The song about the sea”. I said.
I think my sibling was quite taken aback and insisted there had been no song about the sea.

Eventually the solution was realised. One of my favourite words was ‘môr’  (=sea)  [long’o’].  A word I was very familiar with in its written form, I thnk. We had sung a bouncy-tuned song where the first line was ‘Mor hapus yw …’.   Note no circumflex!

‘Mor’ [short ‘o] with no circumflex means ‘so’ so the line said ‘It is so happy to be a child of God’’
I had just enjoyed being able to read my favourite word I think, and enjoyed the tune, with little thought of the other words!

[the word for ‘circumflex’ in Welsh is ‘tô bach’ which means ‘little roof’!]

[IP:misunderstandings]

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Comments

Submitted by insertponceyfre... on

How interesting Rhiannon. Were you brought up bilingual, or is one of them your mother tongue? It must have been confusing at times!

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

I was brought up bilingual, but my father's Welsh was school-learned so not as strong. My mother had been brought up bilingual, but her parents had felt that 'English was the language of the future' and so it weakened a bit. My parents joined with others locally wanting, in Barry, a quite English town, to start a bilingual primary school, by first starting a nursery, and so they persuaded the local authority. Now there are two or three 'Welsh' primary schools in that town.

i don't think it was very ccnfusing, though there was some story I think of her aunt saying to my sister 'blodyn' pointing at a flower when she was very little, and my sister replying, '"Flower'" in Welsh'! or so it was said! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thank you for the cherries! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thank you for the cherries! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Welsh also has that guttural "g" ? Rhiannon, like afrikaans, phonetic in "groot"  or "krag" as in your "bach"? Also german and dutch but then only lightly, in Afrikaans it is more forced.

The one English general in the Boer Wars said the language is a "throat disease". Funny hey?

All the best, have a great weekend!

Tom

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

I'm not sure I understand what  a ''guttural 'g" is? 'ch' is certainly pronouonced as in 'loch' in Scotland, though some pronounce that as ''lock!

Welsh is famous for its 'll' and 'rh' (as in my name!), though both mutate/change in places in speech to 'l' and 'r' simply. Something to do with speech flow I suppose.  'll' is through the side of the mouth, 'rh' is a bit more breathy than 'r'. I can't roll my 'r's anyway. My husband can say my name better than I can. But it is generally pronounced as if starting with 'r'.

As you said in a previous piece, some languages have unusual sounds to us. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Thanks Rhiannon, yes, that was what I meant with a guttural "g", pronounced as in "loch" but with a bit more force.

Guttural means "formed in the throat".

Keep well!