malwod

Welsh

Etymology

From Old Welsh meluet, from Proto-Brythonic *melw- (“soft”), from Proto-Celtic *meldo- (“pleasant, mild”), *mlido (“soft”), from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥dus (“soft, weak”).

Compare Breton melc'hwed, Cornish melhwes, (compare Breton melw (“snot”)). Also see Gaulish *multon- (“sheep”), which could be related.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmalwɔd/

Noun

malwod f (collective, singulative malwoden or malwen)

  1. snails
  2. slugs
    Synonym: gwlithenni
  3. (obsolete) turtles
    Synonym: crwbannod
  4. (weaponry) slugs (pieces of metal fired from a gun)
    1. (transferred sense) segments (of orange etc.)
      Synonyms: rhannau, sugennau, moch, llygod, petalau

Hyponyms

  • malwod cregyn (“snails”)
  • (Northeast Wales) malwod noethlymun (“slugs”)

Derived terms

  • malwod môr (“sea snails”)
  • malwod pendoll (“leeches”)
  • malwod troellog (“whorl snails”)
  • cysgu yn llety’r falwoden (“to sleep by an outside wall”, literally “to sleep in the snail's lodgings”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of malwod
radical soft nasal aspirate
malwod falwod unchanged unchanged

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

Further reading

  • Matasović, Ranko (2009) “meldo-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 262
  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “malwod”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
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