gwaun

Welsh

Etymology

From Middle Welsh gwawn, from Old Welsh guoun, from Proto-Celtic *wāgnā (“slope, depression, hollow”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wāg- (“to be bent”), which could be related to Latin vagus (“wandering, strolling”).^[1]

Pronunciation

(North Wales) IPA^(key): /ɡwaɨ̞n/
(South Wales, standard, colloquial) IPA^(key): /ɡwai̯n/
- (South Wales, colloquial also) IPA^(key): /ɡwei̯n/
Homophone: gwain (“vagina”) (South Wales)

Noun

gwaun f (plural gweunydd)

moor, heath
Synonyms: grugos, rhos

Derived terms

clustlys y waun (“heath earwort”)
gweunwellt (“meadowgrass”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of *gwaun*
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
gwaun	waun	ngwaun	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

^ Matasović, Ranko (2009) “wagno”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 401-02