Shw mae. I know this topic hasn’t been used in a while, but I’m a slow reader …
Anyway, I’m wondering about a sentence towards the beginning of Babel, maybe someone here has an idea (Google hasn’t helped me yet):
“Dringodd y ffermwr i flaen y gert ac ysgwyd y cyfrwy …” - what is “ysgwyd y cyfrwy”? “he shook the saddle” doesn’t make any sense to me. If I had to guess, I’d say something like “he cracked his whip” …?
Diolch yn fawr!
I think its more likely that he shook the reins, so maybe just a mix up of terms for horse tack? 
If you could pop the page number in btw, that would help!
Ah, sorry! Page 22, towards the bottom
I don’t really know, but I wonder if Cetra may be on the right track with ‘reins’. The point is that ‘cyfrwy’, meaning saddle, derives from Middle Welsh 'kyfreieu’, meaning ‘leashes’, so one wonders if there has at some point been some confusion over words for horse gear resulting in a transfer of meaning from ‘reins’ to ‘saddle’, and if in some areas or dialects the old meaning survives. I’m groping though – we need a Welsh scholar!
Oh wow, this already sounds like something a scholar might say. Thank you!
Hey, no need to apologise! 
Saddle can refer to what you sit on when you’re riding a horse, but also to the wide, padded strap that goes round the horse’s middle when its in harness. It was doubtful whether he would climb into the cart to shake that anyway - unless they were in a real pickle! - so I’m sticking with reins as the intended meaning, especially as the horse then sets off
Haven’t read this book yet - really looking forward to it now!