malwod

Welsh

Etymology

From Old Welsh meluet, from Proto-Brythonic *melw- (“soft”), from Proto-Celtic *meldo- (“pleasant, mild”), *mlido (“soft”), from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥dus (“soft, weak”).

Compare Breton melc'hwed, Cornish melhwes, (compare Breton melw (“snot”)). Also see Gaulish *multon- (“sheep”), which could be related.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈmalwɔd/

Noun

malwod f (collective, singulative malwoden or malwen)

  1. snails
  2. slugs

Synonyms

Hyponyms
  • malwod cregyn (“snail”)
  • malwen noethlymun (“slug”) (northeast Wales)

Derived terms
  • malwod môr (“sea snails”)
  • malwod troellog (“whorl snails”)
  • cysgu yn llety’r falwoden (“to sleep by an outside wall”, literally “to sleep in the snail's lodgings”)

Mutation
Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
malwod falwod unchanged unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading
  • Matasović, Ranko (2009) “meldo-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 262
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