I’ve been dysgu Twrceg (learning Turkish) for a few years now, and I’ve noticed some surprising similarities between Welsh words and their Turkish counterparts. You might have already guessed, but this is because Turkish and Welsh have both inherited a significant amount of their vocabulary from Lladin (Latin). I’ve put together a list of my favourite examples here, using etymological information from Wiktionary and Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru. Let’s dive in!
1. Sebon / Sabun / Soap
Sebon looks strikingly similar to the Turkish sabun – in fact, this is one of the first similarities I spotted! It’s not really certain how the word sebon entered the Welsh language. It resembles the Latin sapo, but it’s also possible that it was borrowed from the Old English sāpe. Somewhat unnervingly, sebon used to mean semen in archaic Welsh, so it’s also possible that it derives from the Latin sēmen.
The story is a little simpler (thankfully) for sabun. This is a loan word from Arabeg (Arabic), but it came to Arabic from our old friend, the Latin word sapo.
Golchwch eich dwylo â sebon.
Wash your hands with soap.
2. Ffwrn / Fırın / Oven
The Turkish word for oven, fırın, reminds me a lot of the Welsh ffwrn. It turns out there’s a good reason for this! Both words derive from the Latin furnus. Much like the unrelated Welsh word popty, fırın can be used to mean bakery as well as oven.
Mae’r bara sinsir dal yn y ffwrn.
The gingerbread is still in the oven.
3. Côr / Koro / Choir
Like the English word choir, côr comes originally from the Latin word chorus. Rather than referring to a cytgan (the chorus of a song), chorus in Latin describes a group of actors who would act as narrators during a play, reciting or singing the story to the audience.
The Turkish word koro looks and sounds pretty similar, but it’s a more recent loan from Italian, rather than being taken directly from Latin.
Bydd y côr yn canu am ddeg o’r gloch.
The choir will sing at ten o’clock.
4. Yr Almaen / Almanya / Germany
If you speak a bit of French, you’ve probably already worked out where this similarity comes from! Almanya is a loan from Allemagne, the French word for Germany. Similarly, yr Almaen comes from the Old French Alemaigne.
Mae fy ffrind yn dod o’r Almaen yn wreiddiol.
My friend comes from Germany originally.
5. Calon / Kalp / Heart
This is a great example of a linguistic cyd-ddigwyddiad (coincidence)! Both the Welsh and Turkish words for heart start with a “kal” sound, so they must be related, right? Wrong! Calon comes from *kalwond-, the Proto-Celtic word for heart, but kalp comes from the unrelated Arabic word for heart, قلب (qalb).
Generally, the shorter a sound is, the more likely it is to show up coincidentally in the same word across different languages.
Mae fy nghalon yn curo.
My heart is beating.
6. Ceirios / Kiraz / Cherry or Cherries
The Welsh collective noun ceirios (cherries) sounds similar to kiraz, the Turkish word for a single cherry. While Turkish speakers simply borrowed kiraz from their Greek neighbours, ceirios underwent a slightly more complicated journey, travelling from Hen Roeg (Ancient Greek) into Lladin (Latin) and finally into Welsh.
Wyt ti’n hoffi ceirios?
Do you like cherries?
7. Awst / Ağustos / August
Similarly to kiraz and ceirios, Ağustos is taken straight from the Greek Αύγουστος (Ávgoustos), whereas Awst passed through Ancient Greek and was loaned into Welsh from Latin. The similarity in pronunciation here is really quite striking – the Turkish letter ğ is actually silent, so the a and u come together to make the same “ow” sound as the “aw” in Awst.
Daeth e adref ym Mis Awst.
He came home in August.
8. Ffa / Fasulye / Bean or Beans
Lastly, fans of ffa pob (baked beans) will be happy to know that they can make themselves understood pretty easily in Turkish using the word fasulye (bean)! Ffa is borrowed from the Latin word faba, which you might recognise from the term aquafaba (bean water). On the other hand, fasulye entered Turkish through Ancient Greek, similarly to Ağustos and kiraz.
Mae’n well gen i ffa dringo.
I prefer runner beans.
I take a lot of joy in finding little connections between these two very different languages, so I hope I’ve managed to share some of that with you today. Do you know any other examples of unexpected similarities between Welsh and other languages? Feel free to drop us an email and let us know!
