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nOnnthis date in 1400, Owain Glyndwr was proclaimed Prince of Wales. He’dnled the Welsh rebellion against Henry IV and English rule—and annindependent Wales thanked him with the throne. Just nine years laternHenry IV and the English reconquered Wales, though. n
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nYounprobably know that Wales is still joined with England, Scotland andnNorthern Ireland in the United Kingdom (and Wales, England, andnScotland make up Great Britain). You may not realize that thenheir-apparent of the U.K. (usually the first-born son of the rulingnking or queen), although not Welsh-born, is dubbed “Prince ofnWales.” The current Prince of Wales is Queen Elizabeth’s son PrincenCharles. n
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nInnthe year 2000 (the 600th anniversary of Glyndwr’s rule),nthere were festivals and events in honor of the long-ago Glyndwrnthroughout Wales. A special sculpture was unveiled in Machynlleth,nand there was a candlelight procession and a medieval banquet. Peoplenflew the Welsh flag from their homes, two groups of Welsh-languagenpoets met after taking tours of north and south Wales and had anpoetry reading. The site of Glyndwr’s home at Glyndyfrydwy was openednto the public.
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nLoventhose Welsh names!
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nWelshnis a minority language, even within Wales. Still, more than 600,000npeople speak Welsh, and hundreds of thousands converse in thenlanguage daily. (None of them speak only Welsh, however. English isnthe dominant language.) The Welsh Language Board has been working tonpreserve the language, and since the Welsh Language Act of 1993,nWelsh has accompanied English on signs and in the public sector.
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Welshnhas 28 letters. Some letters are “digraphs,” which means twonletters written together and treated as a single letter (with a soundndifferent from the letters that make it up). Both “w” and “y”nare vowels. Here are the letters:
Welshnhas 28 letters. Some letters are “digraphs,” which means twonletters written together and treated as a single letter (with a soundndifferent from the letters that make it up). Both “w” and “y”nare vowels. Here are the letters:n
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na,nb, c, ch, d, dd, e, f, ff, g, ng, h, i, l, ll, m, n, o, p, ph, r, rh,ns, t, th, u, w, and y
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nEvennthough there are many letters from the English language that are notnpart of the Welsh language, they are sometimes used in words borrowednfrom English or in technical terms. Here are some examples:
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- j jam
- k kilogram (alsonspelled “cilogram”)
- v volt (alsonspelled “folt”)
- x xeroser (alsonspelled “seroser”)
- z zero (alsonspelled “sero”)
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nBecausen“W” can be a vowel in Welsh, there are some words that looknunpronounceable to me. For example, the word for a gap between twonhills (in other words, a pass) is “bwlch,” and valley is “cwm.”nEven the words that include “Y” as a vowel look pretty strange tonme: for example, “dyffryn” is another word for valley, andn“eglwys” means church.
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nEnjoynWelsh tales!
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Therenare five great books, written by Lloyd Alexander, that are verynloosely based on Welsh mythology. The names and places in the booksndefinitely have a Welsh flavor. For example, the characters often gonfrom one fortified castle to another – and each has a place nameninvolving the word “Caer,” which is the Welsh word for “fort.”nHere are names of the Chronicles of Prydain:
Therenare five great books, written by Lloyd Alexander, that are verynloosely based on Welsh mythology. The names and places in the booksndefinitely have a Welsh flavor. For example, the characters often gonfrom one fortified castle to another – and each has a place nameninvolving the word “Caer,” which is the Welsh word for “fort.”nHere are names of the Chronicles of Prydain:n
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- ThenBook of Three
- ThenBlack Cauldron
- ThenCastle of Llyr
- TarannWanderer
- ThenHigh King (a Newberry Award winner)
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