Oddi/oddi wrth

Welsh General / Questions
#1

An article on Parallel has the sentence " Yn haf 2017, ces i e-bost oddi wrth Lynda o wasg Rily". ‘oddi’ = ‘from’ as does ‘oddi wrth’. I’m wondering what the difference/nuance would be if just ‘oddi’ were used or indeed if that would be acceptable.

3 Likes
#2

oddi wrth is the correct way of saying ‘from’ when referring to someting you’ve received from a person. ‘oddi’ is often followed by various other things which subtely change the meaning (this is a quick list copied from www.geiriadur.net :

oddi 61. from prep. out of prep.
oddi allan 62. outside adj. exogenous adj. outside adv.
oddi ar 63. off meddal of meddal
oddi mewn 64. out from
oddi tanodd 65. below adv.
oddi wrth 66. from (a person) meddal
6 Likes
#3

Thanks @siaronjames. Simple enough eh. Also at the beginning of the same sentence I noticed that there isn’t a definite article before ‘Haf’. Could you possibly say when and where it’s correct to omit it?

#4

I’d say its fine without the definitive article, its just the difference between “In Summer” and “In the Summer”

You will hear “oddi wrth” a lot when someone in English would say “off…” I,E “I got a message off Jeff”.

Also on Sgorio, you’ll hear a lot of “oddi wrth y bel” or just “oddi’r bel” as in “off the ball”

5 Likes
#5

Thanks for the reply @Nicky. You and Sharon have cleared that up nicely. Within context of the sentence it seems wrong to omit the article in the English translation but ‘feels’ ok in the Welsh original.

2 Likes
#6

and on the subject of pel droed - another common one is “oddi cartref” - away from home

3 Likes
#7

It’s because it’s ‘Haf 2017’ - you’d never hear ‘yn haf, ces i’. :slight_smile:

#8

You hear this a lot on the ‘serious’ (evening) music shows on the radio - oddi ar yr albwm newydd (off the new album) for example.

1 Like
#9

You’ll also hear bant o gatre in the south. That’s what a Swansea-supporting friend of mine would say, anyway.

4 Likes
#10

I just noticed in Gareth King’s ‘Modern Welsh’ that ‘oddi wrth’ and the other ‘oddi’ variations are written as compound words e.g. ‘oddiwrth’. Also that ‘wrth’ is commonly pronounced ‘wth’. So presumably ‘oddiwrth’ would commonly be pronounced missing the ‘r’?

1 Like
#11

It would vary between dialects, but yes, that wouldn’t be unusual. And as someone who’s not very good at a Welsh r, I can say that’s the way I pronounce it anyway! :wink:

3 Likes
#12

:+1:

#13

Thanks Rob
Yes, Ive definitely heard bant for away (game)

#14

So would, Cadwch draw oddi wrth y c***u ci! Be correct when I’m shouting at (warning) the kids? :thinking:

Genuine question on usage, though. I would not necessarily use such language towards them.

#15

If you look back in the thread, you’ll see that oddi wrth is ‘from’ when you’re receiving something from someone, so it wouldn’t fit here.

You could just say cadwch draw o’r ci or gad lonydd i’r ci (leave the dog alone)