List of English words of Welsh origin

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This is a list of English language words of Welsh language origin. As with the Goidelic languages, the Brythonic tongues are close enough for possible derivations from Cumbric, Cornish or Breton in some cases.

Beyond the loan of common nouns, there are numerous English toponyms, surnames, personal names or nicknames derived from Welsh (see Celtic toponymy, Celtic onomastics).[1]

Contents

[edit] Words that derive from Welsh

Welsh Corgi


crag 
from an Insular Celtic source, perhaps from Welsh craig.[2][3]
coracle 
from corwgl
cwm
from cwm "coomb."
corgi 
from cor, "dwarf" + gi (soft mutation of ci), "dog".
cromlech 
from crom llech literally "crooked flat stone"
flannel 
the Oxford English Dictionary says the etymology is "uncertain", but Welsh gwlanen = "flannel wool" is likely. (alternative source is Old French flaine = "blanket"). The word has been adopted in most European languages. An earlier English form was flannen, which supports the Welsh etymology. Shakspeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor contains the term "the Welsh flannel".[2][3]
flummery 
from llymru[2][3]
kistvaen 
from cist (chest) and maen (stone).
lech 
from llech.[4]
tref 
meaning “hamlet, home, town.”[5]
wrasse 
a kind of sea fish (derived via Cornish wrach from Welsh gurach).[6]

[edit] Words that derive from Cornish

brill 
from Cornish brilli, "mackerel".[2]
dolmen 
from Cornish and/or Breton taolvaen, taol, "table" and maen, "stone".
fogou 
from Cornish underground structure which is found in many Iron Age settlements in Cornwall. The purpose of a fogou is no longer known, and there is little evidence to suggest what it might have been.
menhir 
from Cornish men stone and hir "long" / "tall", i.e. a "long stone"
penguin 
Possibly from pen gwyn, "white head". "The fact that the penguin has a black head is no serious objection."[2][3] It may also be derived from the Breton language, which is closely related. Some dictionaries suggest a derivation from Welsh pen "head" and gwyn "white", including the Oxford English Dictionary,[7] the American Heritage Dictionary,[8] the Century Dictionary[9] and Merriam-Webster,[10] on the basis that the name was originally applied to the great auk, which had white spots in front of its eyes (although its head was black).
vug, vugg, vugh 
from Cornish vooga, "cave".

Many dialect words in the West-Cornish dialect of English are from the Cornish language itself, however these words are localised to West Cornwall and therefore it would not be accurate to describe them as having passed into English "proper".

[edit] Words with indirect or possible links

  • Coombe, meaning "valley", is usually linked with the Welsh cwm, also meaning "valley". However, the OED traces both words back to an earlier Celtic word, *kumbos. It suggests a direct Old English derivation for "coombe".
  • Iron, or at least the modern form of the word "iron" (c/f Old English ísern, proto-Germanic *isarno, itself borrowed from proto-Celtic), appears to have been influenced by pre-existing Celtic forms in the British Isles: Old Welsh hearn, Cornish hoern, Old Gaelic íarn (Irish iaran, iarun, Scottish iarunn)[11]
  • Old Welsh origins for the topographical terms Tor (OW tŵr) and crag (OW carreg or craig) are among a number of available Celtic derivations for the Old English antecedents to the modern terms. However, the existence of similar cognates in both the Goidelic and the remainder of the Brythonic families makes isolation of a precise origin difficult.
  • It has been suggested that crockery might derive from the Welsh crochan, as well as the Manx crocan and Gaelic crogan, meaning "pot". The OED states that this view is "undetermined". It suggests that the word derives from Old English croc, via the Icelandic krukka, meaning "an earthenware pot or pitcher".
  • Lawn, enclosed area of land about a Christian site of worship from Cornish Lan (e.g. Lanteglos, occasionally Laun as in Launceston) or Welsh Llan (e.g. Llandewi)[12]
  • Gull from either Welsh or Cornish[13]
  • Penguin White-head from either Welsh, Cornish or Breton[14]
  • Tor meaning hill or mountain, possibly via Latin turris (tower) such as Glastonbury Tor, is particularly prevalent in Devon.[15]

[edit] Welsh words used in English

Eisteddfod

English words lifted direct from Welsh, and used with original spelling (largely used either in Wales or with reference to Wales):

  • awdl
  • bach (literally "small", a term of affection)
  • cromlech
  • cwm (geology, a corrie)
  • crwth, originally meaning "swelling" or "pregnant"
  • cynghanedd (a poetic form)
  • Eisteddfod
  • Urdd Eisteddfod (in Welsh "Eisteddfod Yr Urdd"), the youth equivalent
  • englyn
  • gorsedd
  • hiraeth (distant longing, homesick)
  • hwyl
  • iechyd da (cheers, or literally "good health")
  • cwtch (hug, cuddle) (also small cupboard or dog's kennel/bed)
  • sglod, sglods (Welsh plural - sglodion) - chips ("French fries"), in fish-and-chip takeaways (Flintshire)
  • twp/dwp - an idiot
  • ych a fi - expression of distaste
  • Mochyn - pig

[edit] See also

Look up Appendix:Glossary of Welsh Words of English Origin in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Max Förster Keltisches Wortgut im Englischen, 1921, cited by J.R.R. Tolkien, English and Welsh, 1955. "many 'English' surnames, ranging from the rarest to the most familiar, are linguistically derived from Welsh (or British), from place-names, patronymics, personal names, or nick-names; or are in part so derived, even when that origin is no longer obvious. Names such as Gough, Dewey, Yarnal, Merrick, Onions, or Vowles, to mention only a few."
  2. ^ a b c d e "An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, by Ernest Weekley (1921)
  3. ^ a b c d An Etymological Dictionary the English Language, by Walter W. Skeat (1888).
  4. ^ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=lech
  5. ^ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=tref
  6. ^ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=wrasse
  7. ^ Oxford English Dictionary. Accessed 2007-03-21
  8. ^ American Heritage Dictionary at wordnik.com Accessed 2010-01-25
  9. ^ Century Dictionary at wordnik.com Accessed 2010-01-25
  10. ^ Merriam-Webster Accessed 2010-01-25
  11. ^ See OED, s.v. "Iron"
  12. ^ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=lawn&allowed_in_frame=0
  13. ^ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=gull&allowed_in_frame=0
  14. ^ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=penguin&searchmode=none
  15. ^ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=Tor&searchmode=none
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