Introduction
These are short etymological notes on some Welsh vocabulary I meet in the various lessons, resources and platforms that I (will) use for learning or at least playing with this language. For now I mainly focus on Teach Yourself Welsh (Rhys Johnes, 1992), Duolingo and BBC:The Big Welsh Challenge.
About the etymologies themselves I rely mostly on wiktionary (where one can check the additional references, e.g. the Leiden dictionaries), Bulgarian Etymological dictionary et al.
Some basic verbs
Prynu (to buy)
IE *kwreyh2– : *kwrinéh2ti~ kwrinh2énti
PrSlav krьnǫnti – CS крити
Old Lith krienas (money, pay, pretium pro sponsis)
Latv kriens (groom’s presents fro bride, parents and friends)
Skr krīṇáti
Pers xaridan(خریدن)
TochB karyor (buying)
Old Ir crenais
AGr πρίαμαι, ἐπριάμην
Yfed (to drink)
< PrBrit *ibid< PIE *pibo< *po(i)< *pe(H)i
Lat bibo
Skr píbati
OCS пити
Gwneud (to make)
< *wrag-ani< *wreǵ-
Gr ἔργον
ΕΝ work , D Werk
Slav: possible vь̀rša (fishing basket) though for me the sound change is a bit obscure
Dysgu (to learn, to teach) < Lat disco.
Eisiau (to want) <Lat. exiguus (required)
Mwynhau (to enjoy, prefer)
< mwyn (mild) + hau (causative/denominative suffix)
Mwyn < PrCelt *mēnis ‘ore, mineral, sake’
< PIE *mēy(h)nis <* (s)mēy(H) ‘to cut, to hew’
PrGerm: *smiþaz ‘smith’
Gwybod (to know) < *wid- + bod (to be)
PIE *weyd – ‘to know’:
Sanskr: ávidat, Vindáti, Vétti (to know, to understand, to observe), Vedas
AGr: εἶδον, εἶδος, ἰδέα, εἴδωλον, ἴδρις, ἴδμων, νῆις
Lat: video (to see, to percieve)
Slav: видъ, видѣти, вѣдѣти, вѣсть
Lith véidas (face, appearance)
PGerm: witją ‘knowledge, reaseon’ – E wit,
Wīsaz: E wise
wissą: ON vita, Germ wissen
Gweithio (to work) < PrCelt wexta ‘time, course of time’
Fem. PPP < IE *weǵh– ‘to carry’
Slav: везти, возити, весло, возъ
Lith: vežti
Sanskt: váhati, ūḍhá, vóḍhṛ
Lat: veho, vehiculum, vector, vectis
AGR: ὄχλος‘multitude, crowd, mob’
Germ: E wagon, way
Darllen (to read) < PrCelt *to + *фare + *leg-
– [to read in fron of to somebody – note mine, I.P.]
*to – to
*фare (in front of) : E. for-, fore-< PIE *pr̥h₂i,< *preh2 (before, in fron of)
Lat: prae
AGr παρά
Slav при, прѣ
Bwyta (to eat) < bwyd(food) + -ha (denominative suf.)
< PrCelt bētom ‘food’
< PIE **gʷeyh₃tom
< *gʷeyh₃- ‘to live’
AGr βέομαι,ὑγιής
Slav гоити, жити, живъ, животъ, житие
Pers zistan (زیستن) to live
Lat: vivus, vivo
Byw (alive, to live)
same as above;
Ir. beo ‘alive, active’