Our Welsh word of the day today is sâl. It usually means ill, and is the standard word for this in the North as well as being heard in the South too, but it can sometimes also mean poor or bad. For example, in parts of the North-West, to say that an event or circumstance was sâl ar rywun (sick on someone) means that it was difficult for them.
The to bach (circumflex accent, literally little roof) on this word means that it is pronounced with a long vowel, like this:
sâl
ill
The etymology of sâl isn’t known for sure. It is possible that it could be related to the proto-Indo-European root *sgwhel-, which means to fail or to stumble.
Since it begins with an s, it doesn’t respond to any of the three mutations.
Just like in English, there are countless ways in Welsh to say you’re not feeling your best. The simplest would be dw i’n teimlo’n sâl (I feel ill), using the verb-noun teimlo (to feel), or even just dw i’n sâl (I’m ill), but there’s also…
- dw i’n teimlo’n wael = I feel bad / I feel poorly
- dw i’n teimlo’n afiach = I feel unwell
- dw i’n teimlo’n anhwylus = I feel unwell
- dw i’n teimlo’n dost = I feel ill, common in the South
- dw i’n teimlo’n gwla = I feel ill, common in the North-West
- dw i eisiau chwydu / dw i angen chwydu = I feel sick / I feel nauseated
- mae pen tost ‘da fi / mae gen i boen pen = I have a headache
- mae bola tost ‘da fi / mae gen i boen bol = I have a stomach-ache
- mae peswch arna i = I have a cough
- mae annwyd arna i = I have a cold
- dw i mewn twymyn = I have a fever
- dw i dan y don = I’m under the weather
And many, many more! On the flip-side, if you’re feeling very well, you can simply say that you are iach (healthy) or iawn (alright). One fun response to sut wyt ti (how are you) that conveys that you’re feeling tip-top is fel y gog (like the cuckoo).
Ro‘n nhw’n teimlo’n sâl iawn ar ôl iddyn nhw yfed gormod o win.
They felt very sick after drinking too much wine.
To keep yourself fel y gog and prevent yourself from getting sâl, you can do your best to eat bwyd iachus (healthy food), do ymarfer corff (exercise), drink lots of dŵr (water), look after your iechyd meddwl (mental health), and practise good hylendid (hygiene) to keep from catching things like feirysau (viruses).
If you do develop a salwch (illness), also called a clefyd or anhwylder, there are multiple things you might need to do to become iach again, like taking meddyginiaeth (medicine), visiting your meddyg teulu (GP) or an ysbyty (hospital), or engaging in ymarfer corff and ffisiotherapi (physiotherapy).
For a particularly bad or chronic salwch or some kinds of anafau (wounds / injuries), you might need to undergo llawdriniaeth (surgery).
Mae Lleucu wedi mynd adref achos bod hi ychydig yn sâl.
Lleucu’s gone home because she’s a bit poorly.
Of course, treatment for salwch has evolved over the centuries, as has salwch itself. One example of the changing face of iechyd cyhoeddus (public health) in the twentieth century took place in Cymru (Wales) itself.
Cymru’s reliance on the industry of mwyngloddio (mining) contributed a lot to the picture of iechyd and salwch in the country in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
In 1948, the year the GIG (NHS) was founded, 22,000 British men were suffering with clefyd llwch (black lung, literally ash disease), called y dwst in South Wales where it was most common – 85% of these men lived and worked there.
This epidemic was of course horribly tragic, but it also allowed one of the most wide-scale studies of clefydau ysgyfaint (lung diseases) in history to be carried out in the cymoedd (valleys) of Aberdare and Rhondda Fach. 95% of the area’s cymuned (community) took part and the researchers were able to take part in the ground-breaking study, considered a milestone in the development of public health research. You can read more about it here.
