When i was a little girl, my Mamgu (‘grandmother’ in Welsh) looked after me while my mum went to work.
Her first language was Welsh so she taught me the odd phrase (including ‘shut the door’ because children are chiefly known for being born in barns). Most importantly she furnished me with Welsh colour names to please my colour-obsessed mind.
One birthday not so long ago, my brother sent me a package of gifts from Wales, including a children’s book of colours, Lliwiau Byd Natur (nature colours) by Luned Aaron (these are some of the pretty pages).
It takes me right back to those days when I loved to let ‘glas’ (blue) and ‘melyn’ (yellow, from ‘mel’ meaning honey) trip over my tongue, firmly fixing them in my brain forever.
Names of colours in Welsh
- Coch – red.
- Gwyrdd – green.
- Porffor – purple.
- Du – black.
- Oren – orange
- Melyn – yellow.
- Glas – bue.
- Llwyd – grey
Martha, The Colour File x
