Many people with Welsh roots have attended a Gymanfa Ganu (a Welsh hymn singing festival). In this article, Alun Hughes, one of Cymdeithas Madog’s longest serving teachers and frequent contributer on grammatical matters, has a look at gymanfas, cymanfaoedd and all sorts of other strange animals.

The Origin Of The Species “Gymanfa Ganu” And Its Variants

"You say tomayto, and I say tomahto, you say potayto and I say potahto." You know the problem. We Welsh have our own version, which goes, "You say gymanfa and I say cymanfa, you say gymanfas and I say cymanfaoedd." It doesn’t scan too well, and it’s more than just a matter of pronunciation, but it’s the same sort of thing.

So which is it, gymanfa or cymanfa? Well the basic word, meaning assembly, congregation, meeting, convocation, etc., is cymanfa — you find it under c, not g, in the dictionary. Often, of course, it’s seen with ganu following, i.e., cymanfa ganu, meaning a singing meeting or songfest. And ganu is really canu, which is also found under c in the dictionary. Okay so far? Good, for the form we see most often of all of course is gymanfa ganu, which you won’t find anywhere in the dictionary. You never see cymanfa canu (well you do, but only when people don’t know better), though you do see cymanfaoedd (the plural) canu. You also sometimes see Cymanfaoedd ganu and even gymanfaoedd ganu, even though you really shouldn’t see either. Still with me? You are? I’m impressed, because I’m lost. Perhaps we should call the whole thing off.

No let’s not, let’s go back to square one, and approach this conundrum (see under c, not g, in the dictionary) the only sensible way — grammatically (see under g — oh never mind…).

The basic word is cymanfa. Nouns in Welsh are either masculine or feminine, and cymanfa is feminine, and that is the root of the problem. If it were masculine there would be no complications — this may sound sexist, but that’s how it is (don’t blame me, I didn’t invent the language). And the complications are all related to those darn mutations, the changes that the initial letters of Welsh words undergo when… well, many learners seem to think it’s when they feel like it. Rules do exist, however, and at the risk of sounding sexist again I have to say that the rules decree that the feminine gender is predisposed to much greater changeability than the masculine (I repeat, I didn’t invent the language — if I had, I would have shared out the mutations 50-50, as any progressive, right-thinking person would have done).

Anyway, the word cymanfa by itself means an assembly (there is no indefinate article in Welsh, so the "an" is understood). To say the assembly we have to use the definite article y. Since cymanfa is feminine, it undergoes soft mutation: the c becomes g, giving y gymanfa.

The same sort of thing happens when we add canu. Adjectives describing feminine nouns also undergo soft mutation, and so we have cymanfa ganu (a songfest) and y gymanfa ganu (the songfest). The songs of course are always hymns (for songfest read hymnfest), but being Welsh that’s taken for granted.

What could be simpler? Well actually the plural is simpler, because though the plural form cymanfaoedd is longer and harder to pronounce, the mutations are absent. So when we add y and canu, that’s all we do, add y and canu, giving y cymanfaoedd, cymanfaoedd canu and y cymanfaoedd canu.

When speaking Welsh, these words are always used according to the rules, i.e., cymanfa to mean an assembly, y gymanfa to mean the assembly, and so on. It’s only when they are transferred to English that inconsistencies arise, but ironically enough these inconsistencies are perfectly logical.

Of the various possible forms (cymanfa, y gymanfa, cymanfaoedd, y cymanfaoedd — with or without the adjective canu), the commonest by far are y gymanfa and y gymanfa ganu. This is because we usually refer to just one of these events at a time (hence the singular), and we usually have a specific one in mind (hence the definite article).

English has no proper equivalent for y gymanfa (at least not in the sense of hymnfest, which is what we usually mean by the word). When we want to say this in English therefore, what could be more natural than to keep the Welsh and simply substitute the for y, giving the gymanfa and the gymanfa ganu. Since we use the g-word so often, gymanfa then becomes the English norm, and it makes perfect sense to go one step further and say a gymanfa ganu. It also makes sense, though it sounds really jarring to Welsh ears, to make the plurals gymanfas and gymanfa ganus. In effect, gymanfa becomes and English word, just like thousands of other loan words before it, and it must therefore obey the rules of English grammar.

Where does all this leave us? Well for one thing perhaps, better able to sleep nights, now that a major mystery has been explained (??). As to which forms should be used when, that’s not so easy. In Welsh it’s straightforward, but in English we have a choice. We can try to be purists and use the proper Welsh forms (awkward though this sometimes is), we can take the easy way out and fall back exclusivelyon the g-words, or we can mix ‘n’ match. There’s no simple answer, but my advice is this: whatever you do be consistent, and never ever use any of the following — gymanfa canu, cymanfa canu, cymanfaoedd ganu, and gymanfaoedd ganu — because they don’t exist in any language.

Besides being a frequent teacher on Cymdeithas Madog Welsh language weeks, Alun Hughes is also our resident grammarian. In this article, Alun explains how to perform the seemingly impossible: how to look up a word in a Welsh – English dictionary. It’s a little like playing with fire. But if you follow Alun’s tricks, you’ll locate that word in next to no time.

How To Find Words In A Welsh Dictionary

How to find words in a Welsh dictionary? Why, what could be easier? You just look them up – they are in alphabetical order after all. If you want the Welsh word for arm you look under ‘A’ and you find braich, if it’s dog you want, you look under ‘D’ and you find ci, and so on. And it’s the same if you have the Welsh word and want the English equivalent. You find the English for braich under ‘B’ and English for ci under ‘C’. What’s the big deal? As long as you know your alphabet, what could possibly go wrong?

Well, as everyone who has ever studied Welsh knows, the answer is ‘a lot.’ There’s no problem with the English-Welsh section, but the Welsh-English section is a different matter. Take the English for chwith, for example, or the English for ffenest — you certainly won’t find them under ‘C’ and ‘F.’ And neither will you find the meaning of stafell under ‘S’ – you find it under ‘Y.’ And as for the English equivalent of nhgeffyl, the last place you should look for it is under ‘N’ — try ‘C’ instead. But then nant you’ll find in two places, under ‘N’ and ‘D’! Yet all of these are perfectly normal Welsh words, so what’s going on?

What’s going on is four things — alphabetical ordering, syllable loss, inflection, and mutation. Let us examine each one in turn.

1. Alphabetical Ordering

The alphabet — the Welsh alphabet that is — is as follows:

a b c ch d dd e f ff g ng h i j l ll m n o p ph r rh s t th u w y

Certain letters in the English alphabet (like ‘k,’ ‘q’ and ‘x’) don’t occur in Welsh, and these clearly are no problem to the dictionary user. But the famous double letters (like ‘ch,’ ‘ng’ and ‘rh’) that do occur in Welsh are a problem.

There are seven of these, though only five of them (‘ch,’ ‘ff,’ ‘ll,’ ‘rh’ and ‘th’) can occur at the beginning of words, at least words in their basic unmutated form. So if you want the meaning of chwith, say, you must look it up in the ‘CH’ section of the dictionary, not ‘C.’ Not too much difficulty there. It’s when these letters occur inside words that things can get confusing.

Thus you find the word cythlwng, not as you might expect after cytgroes, but after cytunus. The point is that all the words starting with cyt- are listed before those starting cyth-. Similarly, mach comes after macyn, goddaith after godwrdd, hoff after hofran, allafon after alsoddeg, and so on. If you want to know what these words mean, then look them up — you now know how to find them!

One double letter cause particular problems; this is ‘ng,’ which occurs not after ‘n,’ but after ‘g,’ when placed in alphabetical order. Consider the word cangen. To look this up in the dictionary you go to ‘C’ obviously, but where do you look under ‘C’? You do not look after can-; instead, you must look after cag-, which let’s face it takes a little getting used to. It would be nice if, having got used to this, you could rely on it as a general rule. Unfortunately you cannot. Thus the word dangos, for example, is found, yes under ‘D,’ but after dan-, not dag-. This is because the ‘n / g’ combination in dangos is actually a combination of the two letters ‘n’ and ‘g’ — it is not the double letter ‘ng.’

How can you tell which is which? You can’t really, and the only solution when confronted by ‘ng’ is to gry after g- first (this is the more likely possibility), and if that doesn’t work then try after n-. You’ll find your word eventually — guaranteed.

2. Syllable Loss

The second problem that dictionary users face is the loss of syllables. An example is writing ffenest for ffenestr, reflecting the way the word is usually spoken. In this case the loss occurs at the end of the word and has no effect on dictionary use. But it can also occur at the beginning, which can really confuse the unwary. Thus you won’t find stafell under ‘S’; you find it under ‘Y,’ since the word is really ystafell. In some dictionaries also (they do vary somewhat in this respect), you have to check ymenyn to learn the meaning of menyn.

Not many words are affected in this way, and most begin with ‘y,’ which often gets dropped in speech when it occurs at the start of the word. Thus you often hear sbyty for ysbyty, ma for yma, swiriant for yswiriant, and so on. Other examples in words that do not begin with ‘y’ are da for gyda and goriad for agoriad. Often these abbreviated forms are written with an initial apostrophe (e.g., ‘goriad) to indicate that something is missing.

3. Inflection

By inflection, I mean those changes that words undergo to denote variations in grammatical function. Some languages (like Latin) are highly inflected, while others (like English) are not. Welsh falls somewhere in between. The following sequence from English is a simple example: I see, you see, he sees, she sees. In this case, the inflection applies to a verb, and consists simply of the addition of ‘s’ to denote the third person. Another example would be the changing of I see to I saw to denote the past tense. Relatively few inflections remain in modern English, and those that do are fairly simple.

Inflections are much more common in Welsh, however, and occur in situations where they don’t in English. Thus, not only do we have the verbal inflection cysgais, cysgaist, cysgodd meaning I slept, you slept, he/she slept, we also have the prepositional inflection arnaf, arnat, arno, arni meaning on me, on you, on him, on her. The problem for the dictionary user is the fact that only the root form of the word (in this case cysgu and ar) is listed, and while this is sufficient to get a sense of what is meant, grasping the full meaning requires a knowledge of the endings.

A complication sometimes encountered is that not only the ending changes, but also some other part of the word. An example is the verb canu, to sing, which in the past tense becomes canais or sometimes cenais, a small change perhaps, but one that could really throw off a dictionary search. More extreme examples are the irregular verbs like mynd, where the inflected forms (e.g., aeth, ewch) bear little or no resemblance to the root. The same problem occurs with many regular verbs in literary Welsh, specifically in the third person singular of the future tense — who would think, for example, that egyr is related to agor, or geilw to galw? There is no simple solution — these things just have to be known.

4. Mutation

The final cause of difficulties in looking up Welsh words in a dictionary, probably the most troublesome of all, is mutation. Mutations are those changes that the initial letter of a word can undergo, depending on its function in the sentence, on the word that precedes it, on any number of reasons (though not, contrary to popular belief, including a deliberate plot to confuse the learner).

The Welsh word for horse is ceffyl. My horse is fy ngheffyl, your horse is dy geffyl, and her horse is ei cheffyl, but you will search in vain for ngheffyl, geffyl and cheffyl in the dictionary — ceffyl is the only form listed. Mutations are very common in Welsh, and despite the increasing tendency for Welsh speakers to forget them, they cannot be ignored, especially when translating written Welsh.

The clue to finding mutated words in the dictionary is knowing one’s mutations in the first place and being able to recognize them when they occur. Only nine letters, all consonants, mutate, and the changes fall into three groups, soft mutation, nasal mutation and aspirate mutation:

From the top row of the chart we see that geffyl is an instance of soft mutation, ngheffyl is nasal mutation, and cheffyl is aspirate mutation, and they all ‘unmutate’ to ceffyl.

The forms in bold type never occur at the beginning of words except as mutations. Thus if you see mhriodas you know that the word has to be priodas and you’ll find it in the dictionary under ‘P.’ The forms in regular type can either be mutated or non-mutated. Thus nant (an example mentioned in the second paragraph of this article) could be the Welsh word for stream, or it could be a mutation of dant, meaing tooth. And dant in turn could mean tooth or it could be a mutation of tant, meaning string. The context will make clear which meaning it is. The forms in italic type can also be mutated or non-mutated, but are almost invariably the former, since relatively few words in Welsh begin with these letters.

Note that all the mutated forms are unique except ‘f’, which results from the soft mutation of both ‘b’ and ‘m.’ Note also that when ‘g’ is subject to soft mutation it is simply dropped, and no evidence of the mutation exists. So if you’ve tried everything else and you still can’t figure out what a word is, stick a ‘g’ at the beginning and see if that does the trick!

One final complication worth mentioning is the phenomenon known as aspiration, whereby an ‘h’ is added at the start of words beginning with a vowel. This occurs, for example, after the possessive pronouns her, our and their. Thus her name is ei henw, but enw is the word you will find in the dictionary.

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In order to help you pronounce Welsh words correctly, here is a guide to the Welsh alphabet. Note that there are a couple cases where a Welsh “letter” is actually made up of two characters (e.g., “ch“, “dd“, etc). So when you’re next doing a Welsh crossword puzzle, remember that these double character letters fit into one box.

Yr Wyddor Gymraeg / The Welsh Alphabet

Notes:

1. There are no ‘k’ and ‘q’ in Welsh and ‘y’ is a vowel
2. Some language specialists do not consider “j” to be part of the Welsh alphabet. This being said, there are a number of words used in Welsh (such as “jam” and “garej“) that use the letter “j” while most dictionaries contain a section for Welsh words beginning with the letter “j.”
3. There is no ‘z’ in Welsh, but the sound occurs in some borrowed words, in which case it is represented by ‘s’, e.g., "sw"
4. Two consonants, ‘n’ and ‘r’, are sometimes doubled in written Welsh, e.g., "tynnu," "torri." Note that ‘dd,’ ‘ff’ and ‘ll’ are not doubled, but are consonants in their own right.
5. When ‘f’ occurs at the end of words it is frequently silent, e.g., "ara" for "araf", but it is not incorrect to sound it.
6. A vowel is sometimes interposed between pairs of consonants at the end of words, e.g., "llyfyr" for "llyfr" and "cefen" for "cefn."
7. All vowels except ‘y’ have two sound only.
8. Sometimes the long vowel is marked by a circumflex, e.g., "cân" or "pêl"
9. Apart from the obscure sound of ‘y’, ‘i’, ‘u’ and ‘y’ are pronounced in essentially the same way in South Wales. There are, however, differences between the three in North Wales.
10. The rules for the pronunciation of ‘y’ are as follows"
    
    
    
    • Words of one syllable: The obscure sound occurs in a small group of words, e.g., "dy," "fy," "y," "yr," but otherwise the sound is clear. It may be short as in "mynd" or long as in "byd." Unless a circumflex is used (e.g., "ty^") there is no way of distinguishing the two cases
    • Words of more than one syllable: In all syllables except the last, the sound is obscure, e.g., "byddaf." In the last syllable the sound is clear. It is short if the syllable ends in a consonant, e.g., "gelyn,", and long when no consonant follows, e.g., "gwely." Note that the obscure and open sounds can occur in the same word, e.g., "mynydd," "Cymry"

11. The diaresis is sometimes used to indicate that a vowel must be sounded separately, e.g., "gweddïo"

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Dolenni / Links

We try to maintain a large list of links to Welsh related web sites that may be of interest to students of Welsh. Cymdeithas Madog provides this information as a public service, and is not responsible for the content of the associated websites.

For ease of use, we have divided our links into similar grous. These groups are:

• Cymdeithasau Cymreig Gogledd America / North American Welsh Societies: Many North American Welsh societies and organizations have web pages detailing their activities and how you might become more active with a Welsh community group near you.
• Papurau Newydd Cymreig Gogledd America / North American Welsh Newspapers: There are monthly newspapers published in North America which provide information on what is happening in Wales and in Welsh societies around North America.
• Yr Iaith Gymraeg / The Welsh Language: There are a number of web sites which provide Welsh language students with Welsh lessons, grammar, vocabulary or practice. There are also a number of sites which have information on the Welsh language today.
• Cymru A’r Diwylliant Cymreig / Wales And Welsh Culture: Are you looking for general links to Wales? Want to know a little more about Welsh culture? How about travel information? Like to listen to a live Welsh language radio broadcast? Then this is the page for you.
• Addysg Cymreig Yng Nghymru a Gogledd America / Welsh Education In Wales And North America: Many Welsh schools and universities have web sites. Further, Wales-related programs are offered in North America by a number of universities. Here are some links to Welsh education on both sides of the Atlantic.
• Sbort, Gweithgareddau a Gemau / Sports. Activities and Games: Sports such as rugby, cricket and football (i.e., soccer) are very popular in Wales. Here are some links to Welsh athletic websites.
• Nwyddau A Gwasanaethau Cymreig / Welsh Goods & Services: Are you looking for companies that sell Welsh goods? Here is a list of websites of firms in both North America and in Wales which sell Welsh products.
• Safleoedd Celtaidd A Phrydeinig / Celtic And British Sites: The following links to Celtic and British sites may be of interest to students of Welsh. Cymdeithas Madog provides this information as a public service, and is not responsible for the content of the associated pages.
• Ieithoedd Ac Ieithyddiaeth / Languages And Linguistics: Here are some links to sites providing more information on languages and the study of linguistics.

If you have any suggestions for our link list, please use our link submission form.

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Registered Student Curriculum Forms

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Registered Student Scholarship Forms

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Cwrs Cymraeg (which simply means ‘Welsh Course’) emphasizes the spoken language, and provides instruction at various levels ranging from absolute a beginner to quite advanced. The teaching staff of Welsh-speaking instructors is brought from Wales and North America. All of them are experienced, trained teachers, and class sizes are small. There are approximately 5 hours of classroom language instruction per day, supplemented by further language-related activities in the afternoon. Evening events such as singing, Welsh folk dances, Welsh-language films, and a Noson Lawen, or talent night, provide additional opportunities to relax while still enjoying a Welsh-language atmosphere.The Cymdeithas Madog Cwrs Cymraeg is held once every summer, each time in a different location. In the summer of 2003, for example, Cymdeithas Madog held Cwrs Cymraeg Y Llynnoedd Mawr on the campus of Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In recent years, the course has gone to such varied places as Baltimore, Ottawa, Milwaukee, Buffalo, Atlanta, and Berkeley. The next course, Cwrs Cymraeg 2009, will be held on the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta in Camrose, Alberta.

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How can anyone learn an entire language in just a week?

You can’t, of course — but you can make great progress from whatever level you start at. Cwrs Cymraeg teaches beginners the basics of the language, builds up their skills and confidence, and gets them off to a strong start. It gives intermediate and advanced learners a vigorous “shot in the arm” through a full week’s immersion in the language, stretching their knowledge and raising them up to a higher level of language ability. Cwrs Cymraeg gives people the tools to learn on their own until the next course. =============== Then what will I learn in a week at Cwrs Cymraeg? Cwrs Cymraeg offers seven different levels of classes to suit the needs of Welsh language students from those with no knowledge of the language up to those with a near-fluent grasp. What level is right for you? =============== Why does Cwrs Cymraeg move around? Why doesn’t it stay put? Cymdeithas Madog wants to give as many people as possible, in as many regions as possible, the chance to learn Welsh. Our course may last only a week, but its impact is long-lasting. Often, after Cymdeithas Madog moves on, the Welsh-learners in the area where the course was held start up a local class and continue studying. In this way, Cwrs Cymraeg blossoms into many Cyrsiau Cymraeg — a multitude of Welsh courses. =============== Will Cwrs Cymraeg ever come to our neck of the woods? That depends on people like you. Cymdeithas Madog comes to an area at the invitation of people from that area, usually from the local Welsh society. If you would like a Cwrs Cymraeg to be held in your area, talk to your local Welsh society or college about co-sponsoring a Welsh course with us. And, of course, talk to us about it. Cymdeithas Madog will be happy to hear your ideas and tell you what co-sponsoring a course would involve. Contact the Cymdeithas Madog, Venue Coordinator for more information about hosting Cwrs Cymraeg. =============== How can I get more information about Cwrs Cymraeg? Contact one of the following people for more information about Cwrs Cymraeg: Sarah Stevenson, Secretary, Cymdeithas Madog 324 Shannon Drive, Modesto, CA 95354, USA =============== Are scholarships available to help defray the cost of attending Cwrs Cymraeg? Yes! Due to the generosity of organizations such as the Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu Association and the National Welsh American Foundation, there are several scholarships available on a competitive basis. For information on how you might be eligible for a scholarship to Cwrs Cymraeg, visit our scholarships page or contact the Cymdeithas Madog Scholarship Coordinator. =============== I have another question. Who can I contact to get an answer? Cymdeithas Madog is always ready to try and help Welsh learners. If you have any questions about Cymdeithas Madog and how it might help you learn more about Cymraeg (“the Welsh language”), contact: Sarah Stevenson, Secretary, Cymdeithas Madog 324 Shannon Drive, Modesto, CA 95354, USA