One of the first and most important things we get taught in life is the value of rhannu (sharing). So, today’s Welsh word of the day is particularly important if you want to bring your kids up in Welsh, or you’re learning the language to work in schools or nurseries in Wales.
rhannu
to share / to divide
Rhannu’s etymology is really simple. It’s just the verbal form of the noun rhan (a part). The suffix –u is used quite often in Welsh to turn nouns or adjectives into verbs. Rhan comes all the way from a proto-Celtic root, so similar words show up in all the surviving modern Celtic languages. Breton rannañ, Irish and Scots Gaelic roinn, Manx ayrn and Cornish kevrenna are all translations of rhannu.
There is one kind of mutation that applies to rhannu, which is the soft mutation.
Soft mutation
rannu
Nasal mutation
N/A
Aspirate mutation
N/A
Technically, because rhannu starts with the letter rh, it’s only subject to the limited soft mutation. Limited soft mutation just means that some of the situations which normally cause soft mutation don’t apply to words starting with rh or ll.
But in practice, the soft mutation cases which don’t affect ll and rh don’t apply to verbs anyway. So you don’t have to overthink this with rhannu – just treat it as a normal recipient of the soft mutation.
The rule does apply to rhan, though. As a feminine noun, you might expect it to undergo a soft mutation after y (the). However, because of the special rules for rh, it doesn’t — so y rhan (the part) is correct. The same goes for yn, the linking word used in statements. Although it typically causes a soft mutation, words beginning with rh are an exception. So you’d say mae’n rhan ohono (it’s part of it), with no mutation.
An important context in which rhannu mutates is when it’s part of a compound form. Examples of this are isrannu (to subdivide), cyfrannu (to contribute), dosrannu (to share out), cyfranogi (to have a share in something) cydrannu (a less common synonym of rhannu), and ymrannu (like rhannu, but done by the subject to itself). In all of these cases, rhannu has become rannu.
Maen nhw’n mynd i rannu popeth ar ôl y briodas.
They’re going to share everything after the wedding.
A share of something is translated as cyfran, or simply rhan. I’ve found that people often simply say siâr as a corruption of the English word, especially when they’re talking about stocs a siârs (stocks and shares). The more formal way to say this would be stocio a chyfrannau.
Aside from sharing generally, rhannu is also used to talk about division in maths, like rhannu hir (long division) and rhannu lleihaol (division by reduction).
It can also sometimes be referred to as cyfraniaeth, though in my experience, this term is much less common. Overall, I always found that in school, Welsh vocabulary for maths and science tended to be simpler and more intuitive than the English equivalents – often aligning more closely with everyday words that reflect their core meaning.
The opposite operation, multiplication, is lluosi. Unlike rhannu, the word lluosi is mostly just used in the mathematical context. The other operations are adio (addition / adding) and tynnu (subtraction / taking).
Dw i’n (ei) c(h)ael hi’n hawdd lluosi, ond mae rhannu’n eitha caled.
I find multiplication easy, but division is quite difficult.
Let’s finish off with some things that are commonly shared. To share something with someone is rhannu rhywbeth â rhywun.
- rhannu pryd o fwyd = to share a meal
- rhannu teganau = to share toys
- rhannu cofion = to share memories
- rhannu arian = to share money
- rhannu gwarchodaeth = to share custody
- rhannu cyfrinachau = to share secrets
- rhannu barn = to share an opinion
Can you use rhannu in a sentence? Why not give it a go!
