Another quick/random question - if you want to say “I’m in the xyz”, is that just “Dw i yn y xyz”? That feels a bit awkward to say for whatever reason.
Absolutely! But the history of how Welsh developed, the etymology of words, like any other field tends to improve in accuracy as time goes on. Sometimes as simply as old manuscripts being discovered, more often as the field of knowledge about the matter increases. Off on a tangent, whether words in Welsh are derived from Latin or Indo European can sometimes be determined by manuscripts found in Eastern European languages, or more often when that knowledge filters through to the rest of the world, as it were.
Welsh has had throughout history a particularly good field of people researching its history- (the first person to put etymology on a scientific basis in any language was Edward Lhuyd, but there were people even before that who were comparatively good) especially considering it is a “non-state”, comparatively small language, but even in that field there is a “pre Morris-Jones” and “post Morris-Jones” aspect to it. He knew a hell of a lot about Welsh as she is spoken and written, worked with the original manuscripts and put a hell of a lot of hours into it. Most of the present works on the historical development of Welsh are ultimately based on what he did. But there has been a lot of development since his time. But he is good enough to use as a source even now, as it were.
As the intitial question was “where does the word ‘gyda’ come from” rather than"what is used in the bible", he is a good source to go to intitially. 
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Welsh certainly isn’t unique- all the Celtic languages have their own version of mutations. It’s present to some extent in all languages though, just based on the way that it is easier in English to to say “im Birmingham” rather than “in Birmingham” in rapid speech. In Celtic languages these things are 1. Embraced, more obvious and taken as part of the grammar, and 2. Exist and continue even when the language has changed, the ends of words change, endings are dropped and the reason for them is not obvious. “Sandhi” is Apparently something similar which exists in some Indian languages, but I really can’t say anything about that apart from mentioning the name.
So the 1. part of the above is something which occurs in all languages, but is more pronounced in Welsh (and other Celtic languages), and thus taken more into the ‘psyche’, and thus the spelling and accepted grammar, but part 2., the ‘fossilisation’ of the mutations, where endings are dropped but the mutation remains are more peculiar to the Welsh (and other Celtic languages).
Hope that helps- I’m not sure I follow it myself!
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Gyda from gyd â is also the reason that gyda goes with an aspirate mutation, btw.
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When I was staying with some Sikh friends (in South London, not Amritsar!) I looked for and found some similar words in Punjabi and Cymraeg. It was 44 years ago and I’ve lost touch with the friends and forgotten the words!
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Well, in “Punjab” itself, which means “five rivers”, you can see the relative of “pump/pum” there!
As “Punj” mind. And apparently ultimately from the old Persian.
But a quick check, for what that is worth, gives “Punj” as five in Punjabi as well.
http://www.omniglot.com/language/numbers/punjabi.htm
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Ah yes I did know that Welsh and Breton are related (and other Celtic languages) so that makes sense. And yes of course English does have loads of those little quirks of speech, though I can’t really think of any (I like the ‘im Birmingham’ example). As you say they are not formalised into spelling and grammar, and sometimes are just different dialects etc.
Can you give an example of point 2? Where a mutation has occurred but the reason for the mutation had been dropped? Very interesting response, thank you 
Hi Louis - can you give an example of this (an aspirate mutation with gyda) - I am a beginner still and just getting to grips with the mutations and how they work…
Currently really enjoying relaxing with the German family in the South German sunshine - and after all the excitement of the Steddfod ac ati, i’m suddenly feeling, for the first time in a couple of years, like having a break from Cymraeg! The annoying thing is that there doesn’t seem to be any way to pause the Memrise course which is so much part of my routine now… If I ignore it for 2 weeks, it will come back and taunt me with about 1000 words to revise, so I can’t quite decide!
In the meantime I’m being further irritated by not being completely sure of the translation of things like this:
I would have been ready for a break.
Byddwn i wedi bod yn barod am seibiant.
I would have liked to have had a break.
Hoffwn i bod wedi cael seibiant.
(Ai ‘seibiant’ yw’r gair iawn am ‘break’?)
Please could somebody confirm/ improve!
If I can nail those and file them away, I think Memrise will get filed away for a bit too - deal with that later!
It would be pretty formal usage these days to put an aspirate mutation after gyda. Technically correct, but unlikely in speech. I think I’ve seen ‘gyda thi’ in writing recently (in a silly book about magical time travel).
Officially, t, c and p change to th, ch and ph after a /â, but is one of those things that can be safely left on the back burner in the early stages.
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Sure Samantha, but to be fair, mutations are best learnt, as I did, from the SSiW lessons…
Anyway, an example is “gyda chariad” - with love
Cariad is love, the “c” sounds changes to “ch” with the preceding “â”. It also happens with “p” to “ph” as in “gyda pharch” - with respect from parch - respect
But as Netmouse said, don’t worry about this detail right now.
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“Don’t worry about these details right now” is a good idea. Never worry!
And where the aspirate mutation is applied in speech varies from person to person and word to word and letter to letter, so certainly don’t worry about it now!
I found knowing the rules given in books and lessons helped me keep an ear out for what was used when I was talking to people, helping me with whether and when I should use it, but the SSiW lessons will certainly give marvellous helpful relevant examples of one natural way of using them!
As always, there is an interesting discussion on the aspirate mutation on
Forum Wales on this thread, giving opinions on what is natural in speech- but if discussions of such things out you off, it’s better not to look at it! It’s certainly not necessary!
http://www.forumwales.com/fwforum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=8262&hilit=Aspirate+mutation
In it, couple of people have a go at second hand reports of what Gareth King said in his dictionary, but I don’t mind linking to it as he pops up at the end to defend what he says very effectively, being something useful to read in itself!
Anyway, very useful stuff from everybody, as always on that site.
But again, don’t have a look at it if such discussions put you off!
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Thanks @netmouse and @louis - I am not especially worried about learning things early, and am def happy to leave it to the lessons, but I did find what you said an interesting idea, so wanted to clarify 
I may have confused things by asking for an aspirate mutation example, when I really meant to ask about the lost endings/retained mutations…
Were you saying that ā would normally cause the mutation, but a would not, so that where gydā would cause cariad to become chariad, gydā wouldn’t - BUT that although the ā has been lost (become a), the c is still ch after gyda…?
(My phone won’t do the ‘little roof’, just this flat accent, so not sure how this is showing up!!)
Anyway, I really appreciate your answer as being able to ask questions about things I see on here is important to me 
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I am certainly not worried But I will leave the more in depth discussions until I know a bit more, and hopefully pick things up as I go until then - asking questions about specific things I see always helps me (can’t stop my brain being curious about how these things work!), and it’s always nice when people take the time to help out, so thanks
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Hello - this is a quick question! I’ve just started the course and I find it impossible to touch the pause button. I have tried hard not to! I had an email to say that not touching the pause button would promote learning quicker. What is your experience of the pause button?
Many thanks
You will find a lot on the forum on this subject. Basically, most of us use it sometimes. @aran advises us to try not to, but prefers that we use it rather than scream with frustration and give up! Oh, Croeso to the Forum, by the way! I think the best advice is not to be too much of a perfectionist. If you get things mostly right, carry on!!
Now for why I logged on this morning:-
Can anyone help?
I watched the ceremony on Friday at which people are honoured by being welcomed into the Gorsedd.
I was particularly interested in Liz Saville Roberts MP because she has been so helpful on Broadcasting, S4C and the Petition. I recorded the coverage.
On iPlayer it is number 19 of the Eisteddfod coverage on the Friday and about 140 mins from the start.
I cannot work out what the Archdruid says Liz’s Enw Gorsedd is. I think it ends with ‘llyn’ but I keep hearing the first part as different things, none of which mean anything to me!
I would love to find out what name she chose, but my ears are not what they were! Can you help?
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Having been lost for an hour or two in this really useful and interesting thread, I have a quick technical question: is there a way to quickly skip to the bottom of a thread, rather than having to scroll down bit by bit? I know (think) you can press ‘end’ on a computer keyboard, but I can’t find a way to do it on an iPad.
I can’t help with that, as I use a lap top and clicking on the number of the message works. @tatjana will know, but she has not long been back in Slovenia after the Bootcamp, St. Fagans and the Eisteddfod, so she may not be quite in her usual routine!
I would quite understand if @tatjana didn’t respond for about a year - she must be exhausted!
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Actually, by mentioning message numbers, you’ve inadvertently answered my question! I’ve found out how to make a little ‘top/bottom’ thing appear and Bob’s your uncle! Thanks @henddraig!
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