Welsh in Russia

Thank you, fantastic news! I have the ebook in Russian, but I didn’t know it was being published in Welsh.

I have found another site that has a large number of public domain books, available online in parallel form, with several language combinations:

http://www.weblitera.com/authors/?l=en#.VtYilX2LTct

(I chose author layout there, but you can choose language or all books.

So for example, they have Agatha Christie’s “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” in English and Russian. And a lot of more “classic” authors.

I don’t think the layout is as easy to read as with “Aglona Reader”, but there are a lot more already-aligned books available.

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Owain,

A lot of people trying to reconstruct PIE and I suppose it is natural to want to guess what it might have sounded like: This link has some sound recordings and texts made by a couple of prominent linguists in the area.

http://www.archaeology.org/exclusives/articles/1302-proto-indo-european-schleichers-fable#art_page2

PS Gurnos is listed as an IndoEuropean Word for back - do you know the meaning/etymology in Welsh - apart from the infamous Gurnos in Merthyr, which I know is not old, there is a Gurnos near CwmTwrch (also very similar to indoeuropean Twrkos for Boar as is Twrch of course in Welsh) and no doubt a few other Gurnos’s dotted around the place

Oh, absolutely, but if you are trying to reconstruct a language from PIE, rather than just see the common roots, where the common roots occur, you will need to make more than a fair few leaps of faith. Which is why I would like to know where these words come from, as it were.
As for the Gurnos estate, it may well be (indeed is :blush:) infamous, but etymological it is probably connected to the vast number of place names in Wales connected to forms of “carn” or “cyrn” meaning a heap or mound or hillock. Or not. Or something else :blush:.

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Yes I know – I would never bet my house on anything in this area - you can go around in circles with these things and build up all sorts of false connections and patterns in things. It would be a different story if someone in 3000BC had made the effort to stash away Fred Flintstone’s iPhone IVXX with a few recordings of Say Something in PIE on it, together with some of Wilma’s cookery books, but then again that would take away all the mystery and we’d miss out on all the fun of making things up.

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Wouldn’t that be iStone? :wink:

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Just look what I got today from the lovely @Karla. I had no idea how well I had chosen the name for this topic!

I had the same uniform, by the way:) Nobody has uniforms here now (only jeans and bright colours are forbidden), but I’m old enough to remember those collars and cuffs, very white, that had to be ripped off, washed and sewn back to the dress every one or two days. And those aprons: a black one for ordinary days and a white one for festive days. We were also allowed to wear ribbons in our hair (it had to be tied) - just not the bright ones. The ribbons and the collars/cuffs were the only “embellishment” we were allowed to wear to make us pretty, so we always tried to find some pretty ones.

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It is rude to ask how old you are, so I’ll try, “How long is it since those collars and cuffs stopped being uniform?”
You see, I do think of myself as about the oldest here and I didn’t have that sort of uniform, even at Primary!!
I suspect it dated to about my Nain’s day!!

I don’t mind these questions at all. I’m turning 29 this Wednesday:)
But Belarus was, I suspect, the country who held on to the traditions the longest.

Oh wow, then we were rather vintage in our childhood!

Well, I’m 74!! I know Victorian children wore white aprons. That would be about when my Nain went to school!! I did have a dark blue dress with a white collar, but I don’t remember my Mam needing to take it off for washing!!

I think it has something to do with the cost of the tender fabric used for the collars and the cuffs - it was all happening in the 90s, most families didn’t really know if they would have anything to eat, so the uniforms were looked after with much care, especially the precious collars, cuffs and the stockings. I still have the collars somewhere, I think.

By the 90s, I’m afraid most kids here were either totally out of uniform or simply a sweater and trousers or skirt of approved colour!

There has always been a fascination with the Victorian culture in the USSR and there still is:)

For linguistics fans:) On linguistic and historical connections of the Celts and the Slavs.

http://www.deszsign.com/celto-slavica-2015/Abstracts/pdf/SCS1/Kalygin_SCS1.pdf

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Ok, it’s not Welsh. But it’s Sindarin, the Elven language that Tolkien created based on Welsh and very-very similar to Welsh.
Proof: the song and the text below. (“Glanwen” - doesn’t it sound just like a Welsh girl name?)
When I find these curious cultural connections between Wales and Russia, it makes me happy:)

Probably the most famous Russian song, “Katyusha” in Sindarin - “Laer Glanwen”. Will be dreaming of translating it into Welsh one day now:)

http://muz-info.org/Maewen%20-%20Laer%20Glanwen

The first song on top. Worth listening to:)

P.S.
Laer Glanwen

Edlothiasser yrn ar echuir herias,
hîth hilivren lodas erin duin.
Glanwen vain nan falas padas,
bant na falas varadh, na nen luin.

Ephadas, aphadol heriant 'lired
o thôr vithren, thoron erin nain,
pen velannen, i se anirn hired,
ar os son e hemb i siniath bain.

Lasto lind, a lasto i 'wend linnol,
glîr revia nan galad Anor 'ael,
ar am maethor i nôr balan minnol
túgiel o Glanwen i suil fael.

No e renitha i 'wend i ammain,
no e lastatha i linnad dîn,
no e beriatha i mar in-edain,
a hêb Glanwen veleth dîn anin.

Edlothiasser yrn ar echuir herias,
hîth hilivren lodas erin duin.
Glanwen vain uin falas padas,
bant of falas varadh, o nen luin.

(Sindarin by Maewen & Aran, Russian original (Katyusha) by Michael Issakowsky, melody by Matwej J. Blanter)

Translation:
Trees blossomed and spring began
silverwhite mist flew over the river
Glanwen the fair went to the coast,
went to the steep coast, to the blue water.

She went out and then began to sing
about the grey eagle, the eagle over the plains,
the beloved person whom she wanted to find,
and from him she kept all the letters [tidings].

Hear the song, oh hear the maiden singing,
the rhymes fly towards the shining sunlight.
To the warrior which is in a country far away [enters a country far away]
having brought greetings from Glanwen.

He shall remember the beautiful maiden,
he shall listen to her song,
he shall protect the home of the men,
while Glanwen keeps his love. [and keeps Glanwen his love for herself]

Trees blossomed and spring began,
silverwhite mist flew over the river,
Glanwen the fair left the coast,
Left the steep coast, the blue water.
(found here http://www.lotrplaza.com/archives/index.php?Archive=First%20Age&TID=146676)

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