A geir

Welsh General / Questions
#1

Hi
I have a saying on my wall and I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the ‘a geir’ means exactly.

Benthyg dros amser byr yw popeth a geir yn y byd hwn.

I know it means ‘that we have’ somehow but just interested to know exactly as I can’t find the word in the dictionary.

Thanks

Andrew

#2

You won’t find it in most dictionaries because geir is a conjugated form of cael. I’m not sure I remember the proper grammatical term, but it’s something like the present/future impersonal. “a geir” means “that is to be had”
The ‘a’ is the ‘that’ which causes ceir to mutate to geir.

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#3

Hi Siaron,

That’s a good enough answer for me! I’m guessing it wouldn’t be writte quite like that in modern Welsh though?

Thanks for your help

Andrew

#4

yeah, it’s quite a formal way of saying it, probably the only time you hear that form in speech is in things like news reports.

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#5

You may also hear very formal Welsh if people are quoting bits of poems, snippets from the Bible or an old proverb. This sort of phrase is like a living fossil.

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