Y Cynllun Cymorth Incwm i’r Hunangyflogedig drwy gyfnod Coronafeirws

July 23, 2020 8:22 AM

...is Welsh for "The Coronavirus job retention scheme". Shielding is gwarchod, which means protection, while continuous cough is the romantic-sounding peswch parhaus. These are in a mini-dictionary of the most commonly used coronavirus terms in Welsh. Meanwhile in Cardiff, PhD student Bedwyr Ab Ion Thomas, carrying out research into fatal diseases, formed Welsh words to explain his studies. Note: Everyone needs a cwtch.
posted by Wordshore (13 comments total)

For those unfamiliar with Welsh spelling, coronafeirws is pretty much just pronounced "coronavirus".
posted by potrzebie at 9:03 AM on July 23, 2020

This is excellent. Learning a bit of Welsh is one thing I didn't get around to doing during lockdown (I go hillwalking there a few times a year, with my friends who are close enough to deserve a cwtch). I ought to get on with it!
posted by dowcrag at 11:33 AM on July 23, 2020

This is wonderful, thank you so much! My Welsh is...not good, but really looking forward to diving into this!
posted by kalimac at 11:46 AM on July 23, 2020

By the way it sounds like Putsch.
posted by fullerine at 11:50 AM on July 23, 2020

Dylem drafod hyn yn Gymraeg
posted by sammyo at 12:10 PM on July 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

Despite what the Guardian says, according to the glossary, “ Y Cynllun Cymorth Incwm i’r Hunangyflogedig drwy gyfnod Coronafeirws" is the “Coronavirus Self-employment Income Support Scheme”. The "Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme” is “ Y Cynllun Cadw Swyddi drwy gyfnod y Coronafeirws”.

(I don’t really understand much Welsh, but I like reading dictionaries.)
posted by scorbet at 12:37 PM on July 23, 2020 [2 favorites]

Across the water, Ireland has a central committee for neologisms to bring the language of saints and scholars into the 20th and 21st centuries. 25 years ago we needed to set up the National Centre for Bioinformatics and, for bilingual letterhead, I applied to them for a translation. The timing was good because they were having a blitz on computer terms. There were often two options: transliteration informatici or go back to cattle-raid times and shoehorn an ancient word into new boots. Their decision was: Ionad [centre] Náisiúnta [national] Bithfhaisnéisíochta [bith = bio; faisnéis = [military] intelligence; -íochta = -ology]. Faisnéis is what the scouts bring back to head-quarters after they've counted the bullocks in the next valley.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:06 PM on July 23, 2020 [10 favorites]

sammyo - Hoffwn i! Ond dw'i ysgryfenni Cymraeg yn araf ;)
posted by kalimac at 1:23 PM on July 23, 2020

There were often two options: transliteration informatici or go back to cattle-raid times and shoehorn an ancient word into new boots.

I’m glad the shoehorners won faisnéisíocht sounds much better than infeoirmeatacaí (or whatever frankensteinish term they’d come up with to follow the spelling rules!)
posted by scorbet at 1:23 PM on July 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

scorbet is right, the Guardian has messed up the translation. (Hi, Welsh tutor from Ceredigion here.)
posted by ceiriog at 2:58 PM on July 23, 2020 [2 favorites]

We've been teaching online since mid-March, and will be on Zoom for at least the first term of the 2020-21 session, so if anyone fancies a deep dive, dewch gyda ni.

And sorry about this, but it's cwtsh.
posted by ceiriog at 3:06 PM on July 23, 2020 [5 favorites]

My username hearts this post (and all of me is happy for a new Wordshore post).
posted by eirias at 5:53 PM on July 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

>sorry about this, it's cwtsh.

'Cwtch' is fairly widely-used, in fairness: it's how I've spelled it in the past (as an Anglophone Welshman). Now I know better, though...

Following links from the article led me to TermCymru 'A searchable database of terms used by Welsh Government translators in their everyday work.'

A passage touching on the Welsh language I read recently that struck me:

Twenty-five years of working with European minority language-groups, including my own, the Welsh, have made me over-sensitive to the terms used. There are no absolutely neutral ones. The French state prefers langues régionales since to speak of a minority in France suggests conflict. Basques and Catalans, when speaking French, prefer minorisée to minoritaire so as to emphasis they are not minorities by virtue of some natural law but have been minoritised by the structures of state power. Numbers count but are not what define the minorities. Catalan-speakers are more numerous than Danish-speakers, Welsh-speakers outnumber Icelandic-speakers by nearly two to one. (—Ned Thomas 'From Minorities to Mosaic').

posted by misteraitch at 4:00 AM on July 24, 2020 [5 favorites]