The healthy wyrdness of the anglo-saxons

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Speaking of M. Python, I think the writer is doing what most writers on all things English who appeal to certain Americans do. I.e. the past is all oxford, tea and the shire. Somehow it’s never the peasants digging in the dirt and perpetual war.
 
PickyPicky said:
A beautiful language, too. And just about holding its head above water, happily. It would be good to see proficiency in y Gymraeg growing again. When I first visited North Wales some 50 years ago there were still people who didn’t speak English there, or at least had difficulty getting by in English. I doubt if that applies today. But there’s been a deal of investment in the language, and it would be good if one day we are able to see the bulk of the Welsh population bilingual.
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It was forbidden to speak Welsh in school in my grandparents’ day, and a child would be punished for doing so. Welsh was the first language of both my paternal and maternal grandparents when they were children. However, Wenglish was the dominant language of my parents – and their siblings – and, of course, of my own generation. Wenglish is the name given to the dialect of the South Wales Valleys; possessing a grammar and vocabulary of its own. There are said to be twice as many Wenglish speakers as Welsh speakers, although folk outside of the Valleys consider it to be something of a joke – bad English, spoken with a strong Welsh accent!

Some examples:

‘You don’t have no onions, do yew?’ – ‘Have you any onions?

‘E’ve made a big cawlach of it.’ – ‘He’s made a complete mess of it.’

‘Cera o ‘ma!’ – ‘Come off it!’ (Stop messing about).

‘It’s over there by yer’ – ‘That (thing) you wanted is close by.’

‘I’ll be back in a minute now’ – ‘I won’t be long.’

‘’ware teg, mun’ – ‘Play fair!’

‘IfewdodowatIdodoan’ewdodoitrightew’lbealrightright?’ – ‘Do exactly as I’ve shown you, and everything will be fine. Do you understand?’

By the way: The word Niblo is not a proper noun. It is applied to the youngest (or only) male member of the family. As in: 'Keep an eye on Niblo while I do nip out to the bakers, will ‘ew? I’ll be back in a minute now.’
 
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Come see the violence inherent in the system. And the upper class twit of the year.
 
Niblo said:
It was forbidden to speak Welsh in school in my grandparents’ day, and a child would be punished for doing so.
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I remember a teacher telling me this in school when I was very young. I don’t remember what the class was or what were studying though 😂. Your post just made me remember that specific thing. I wonder, what is the status of Welsh at the moment? Does it have many native speakers? Did any dialect become extinct?
 
If I were to meet some strange woman lyin’ in a pond distributin’
AR-15s, I’d give it a look-in.

My middle name is Dennis.
 
Salibi said:
I remember a teacher telling me this in school when I was very young. I don’t remember what the class was or what were studying though 😂. Your post just made me remember that specific thing. I wonder, what is the status of Welsh at the moment? Does it have many native speakers? Did any dialect become extinct?
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Hello Salibi.

In 2011, The National Assembly of Wales passed the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure, in order to reform existing laws regarding the use of Welsh in the delivery of public services; in effect, the measure insists that the Welsh language should not be treated less favourably than the English language in Wales. In short, Welsh enjoys equal status with English, as far as is reasonably practicable.

Unfortunately, Welsh has no meaningful application outside of Wales. It is not, for example, the language of business and commerce anywhere. Some argue that for this reason, Welsh is not worth learning. On a practical level I tend to agree with this sentiment; but not on the emotional – nationalistic – level. Why should we turn our backs on the language of our forefathers simply because the majority of people find no use for it?

It’s a matter of national pride – for good or ill. In other words….we should rejoice in our ability to speak Welsh, if only for the fact that the Saxons (English) tried to kill it off!

About 29% of the population of Wales are Welsh speakers. I don’t know of any Welsh dialect that became extinct.
 
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Niblo said:
Unfortunately, Welsh has no meaningful application outside of Wales.
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You can thank Rob Brydon in part for giving the world the opportunity to enjoy Welsh in that he uses many opportunities to have a conversation with other Welsh in the course of his comedy. 😄
 
“Wyrd” (“Ƿyrd” if you’re picky about medieval spelling) is the Old English spelling of the word which is believed to have turned into the word “weird.” There’s no direct translation into modern English, but it generally carries the approximate meaning of fate, the inexorable progress of events, the march of time, etc. My copy of “A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary” gives me “fate, chance, fortune, destiny, Providence, event, phenomenon, transaction, fact, deed, condition, pleasure.”

As one example, the line “Ƿyrd bið full aræd” from “The Wanderer” has been variously translated as “events always go as they must,” “fate never wavers,” etc., “gæ a ƿyrd sƿa hio scel” from Beowulf as “fate always goes as she shall,” and so on. You can see the connection in Macbeth “the weird sisters” as they foretell Macbeth’s fate.

Pearce writes an interesting essay, but I don’t think he’s using ƿyrd in the same way as it was in the literature of the period.
 
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