Re: Untranslatable words

On Thursday 24 June 2004 12:44 pm, Philip Newton wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 14:32:13 -0400, Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...>
wrote:
> > On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 06:03:52 +0100, Ray Brown <ray.brown@...>
wrote:
> > > Welsh:
> > > _hiraeth_ both an expectant longing for what is to come & a
> > > nostalgia for what is past and gone.
> > >
> > > _hwyl_ /hujl/ - mood, atmosphere, emotion etc. What one may
> > > experience listening to a great orator, being in the Millennium
> > > Stadium at Cardiff when Wales are playing, hearing great music etc,
> > > etc.
> >
> > And, of course, _glas_, which I suspect we're all familiar with
> > anyway, but bears mentioning.
>
> No? Please explain?
>
I gave glosses for 'glas' (say that 5 times fast) on Feb 9th:

----start old post----
So, over the weekend we celebrated my 37 1/2 birthday. I got a wonderful
present:

Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru in 4 volumes (Welsh Dictionary)

Very nice. All in Welsh, with etymologies and everything. As a sop to us
saesneg speakers, there are English glosses at the end of every
definition.

What was really fun was realizing that mutations happen in abbreviations,
too.

As for 'glas', the definitions run for a full page. The English glosses
are:
1. blue, azure, sky-blue, greenish blue, sea green
2. green, grass-coloured, bluish green, verdant; unripe (of fruit); covered
with green grass, clothed with verdure or foliage.
3a. light blue, pale blue or pale green, greyish-blue, slate coloured,
livid, pallid, pale; ?transparent (of water, glass, rain), crystal grey
(of frost and ice), grey.
3b. silver or silver-coloured.
3c. greyish white, steel coloured, iron grey.
3d. grey, holy (of clergymen or clerical garb).
4a. wan, pallid, causing pallor and loss of life (of death, etc.); mortal,
deadly.
4b. slight, partly, half, cool; faint, feeble; jeering, scornful,
sarcastic.
4c. early, dawning, grey (of dawn or morning); young, raw, immature; new,
fresh; untamed, not broken in.
5a. thorough, complete, utter.
5b. tough, fit.
5c. extraordinary, fine (ironically).
6. bright, refulgent.
6a. break or dawn (of day); verdant growth, greenery, grass-land; a green;
blue colour, blue dye; blue material; the blue or azure (of the sky);
pallor; fig. death.
6b. vein of light-coloured slate.
6c. woad (the plant), Isatis tinctoria.

-S

(Okay, it wasn't really a 37 1/2 birthday present, it was a 6 month late
birthday present. Still, we had dinner and champagne and everything.)
----end old post----

As to hiraeth & hwyl:
hiraeth (1/6 of a page)
(to) long; grief or sadness after the lost or departed, longing, yearning,
nostalgia, wistfulness, homesickness, earnest desire.
hwyl (full page)
1. sail (of ship, windmill, etc); sheet, covering, pall.
2. journey, progress, revolution, orbit, course, route, career; rush,
assault, attack.
3a. healthy physical or mental condition, good form, one's right senses,
wits; tune (of musical instrument); temper, mood, frame of mind; nature,
disposition; degree of success achieved in the execution of a particular
task, etc.; fervour (esp. religious), ecstasy, unction, gusto, zest;
characteristic musical intonation or sing-song cadence formerly much in
vogue in the perorations of the Welsh pulpit.
3b. merry-making, hilarity, jollity, mirth, gaiety, amusement, fun, wit,
humour; fun (in unfavourable sense), derision, mockery.
(under pob h.!, it says: form of valediction, equivalent of "All the
best!", "Have a good time!";)

-inserting facts into a discussion,
Sylvia
--
Sylvia Sotomayor
sylvia1@ix.netcom.com
kelen@ix.netcom.com

Kélen language info can be found at:
http://home.netcom.com/~sylvia1/Kelen/kelen.html

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