If there’s one piece of clothing most of us seem to have in abundance, it’s probably the simple shirt – or crys as it’s called in Welsh. In fact, I recently gave away nearly twenty to our local charity shop!
crys
shirt
According to Geiriadur Pryfysgol Cymru, it is possible that belt (gwegrys) was the original meaning of the word crys. Cognates exist in other Celtic language too, such as kres or krez in Breton, kreis in Old Cornish and cris in Old Irish. Crys is a masculine noun. The plural form is crysau and the diminutive form is crysan.
Before we move on, let’s take a quick look at the mutations for crys:
Soft mutation
grys
Nasal mutation
nghrys
Aspirate mutation
chrys
In Welsh, the word crys covers all kinds of shirts, from the casual crys Ti (T-shirt), crys isaf (vest) and crys chwys (sweatshirt) to more occasion-specific garments like the crys nos (nightshirt) and crys ffurfiol (dress shirt). A woman’s undergarments can be referred to as either crys merch or crys benyw (literally “woman’s shirt” in both cases).
In medieval times, knights would wear a crys ma(e)l (hauberk or chainmail shirt), a type of armour made from small metal rings intricately linked together to form a protective mesh. This type of shirt was also referred to as a crys dur, meaning steel shirt.
If you’re preparing for an event and stumble upon a crys crumlin (wrinkled shirt) in your closet, your best option is to opt for a crys wedi’i smwddio (ironed shirt) or to smwddio (iron) the wrinkled one before heading out.
Shirts consist of various parts, including a coler (collar), botymau (buttons), pocedi (pockets), and cỳffs (cuffs). My son always complains about being too cold when he has llewys byrion / llewys cwta (short sleeves), so we make an effort to dress him in llewys hirion (long sleeves) whenever possible.
Mae gan y crys lewys hir, botymau, a phoced.
The shirt has long sleeves, buttons and a pocket.
Below are a few verbs you will commonly see paired with crys:
- rhoi crys glân = to put on a clean shirt
- newid eich crys = to change one’s shirt
- gwisgo crys = to wear a shirt
- golchi crys = to wash a shirt
- smwddio crys = to iron a shirt
- prynu crys = to buy a shirt
Fun Fact:
According to the Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru, there was once a tradition in Wales where an unmarried woman would place a shirt at one end of the room, while a ritual was carried out at the other. Her future husband would then troi’r crys (turn the shirt over) so that she could catch a fleeting glimpse of him. Unfortunately, no specific time period is given for when this custom was practised.
