Today’s Welsh word of the day is ffidil. If you hadn’t already guessed, it means a violin or a fiddle. It’s generally pluralised as ffidlau but you may also see ffidils, mimicking the English plural.
Which is of course because it’s originally an English borrowing – one which has been used in Welsh since the 1500s, but a borrowing nonetheless. Though unlike many loan words, it is treated as a feminine noun. The main consequence of this is that you should soft mutate any adjectives used to describe it, as in ffidil frown (a brown violin / a brown fiddle).
ffidil
a violin / a fiddle
ffidils
fiddles / violins
ffidlau
fiddles / violins
Fiddle in English has its own disputed etymological history. It is unknown whether it comes from proto-Germanic or whether it was influenced by the late Latin word vitula (viola).
Remember though that just because a Welsh word is a loan from English doesn’t mean it’s used in the exact same way! While a fiddle and a violin are separate things in English, ffidil, or the alternative spelling ffidl, refers to both in Welsh. Geiriadur yr Academi (the Welsh Academy Dictionary) does list feiolin as an option, but I’ve never heard this used.
The non-musical among us may be wondering what the difference is between a fiddle and a violin anyway!
The answer is “not much”: fiddle is sometimes used as a non-specific term for many kinds of offeryn llinynnol / offeryn tant (string instrument), but usually just means a violin that is being used to play styles of cerddoriaeth (music) such as gwerin (folk) and gwerin Americanaidd / gwlad a gwerin (country).
Conversely, a violin is usually associated with cerddoriaeth glasurol (classical music) – but it’s really the same offeryn (instrument), though sometimes ffidlwyr (players of the violin / fiddle) will prefer to ‘set it up’ differently depending on the math o gerddoriaeth (musical genre) they’re playing in.
Mae o’n dysgu canu’r ffidil yn yr ysgol.
He’s learning to play the violin at school.
The ffidil is the smallest commonly-used offeryn of the offerynnau llinynnol (string instruments), joined in the family by the fiola (viola), sielo / soddgrwth (cello), telyn (harp),and bas dwbl (double bass). The telyn is one of the few offerynnau primarily known in Welsh by an indigenous word rather than an English borrowing, which makes sense; this offeryn is crucial to Welsh cerddoriaeth and thus to Welsh diwylliant (culture).
We do know of another offeryn llinynnol that was once widespread in Europe, though it’s now historical. The crwth was kind of telyn fach (lyre) associated particularly with Wales. You can also see its influence in the word soddgrwth for cello!
In fact, it’s quite similar to the modern ffidil except that it had chwe tant (six strings), whereas a ffidil has only pedwar (four). Also, it could be played by plycio (plucking) as well as with a bwa (bow) – this can be done with a ffidil too but it’s much less common.
Since it ‘took over’ from the crwth, the ffidil has continued to fill an essential role in Welsh canu gwerin (folk music); you’ll hear its lively alaw (melody / tune) leading the cân (song) at any twmpath (a dance-based gathering, similar to a Scottish and Irish ceilidh) or cyngerdd gwerin (folk concert).
Other kinds of offerynnau (instruments) include offerynnau taro (percussion), offerynnau chwythbren (woodwind), offerynnau allweddog (keyed instruments),and offerynnau pres (brass instruments).
An interesting factoid about Welsh is the way we talk about playing an instrument. Traditionally, we use the word canu (sing) rather than chwarae (play). These days chwarae has become a lot more common, and it is in fact preferred for some kinds of offerynnau taro. But playing the violin is, idiomatically, canu’r ffidil (literally singing the fiddle).
Unfortunately, there isn’t a widely used single word as there is in English for this action – to fiddle. One option would be ffidlera but it’s not very common. The word ffidlo does exist, but it means to fiddle as in to fiddle with something, not as in to play the fiddle.
Even if you don’t play the ffidil and you’re not a huge fan of canu gwerin, there’s still one good reason to learn this word. That’s the idiom rhoi’r ffidil yn y to, which means to give up. The literal translation would be to put the fiddle in the roof. Unlike many Welsh idioms, this is used all over the country and will be understood by anyone you speak to, so make sure you’ve got in in your arsenal!
Well i mi roi’r ffidil yn y to cyn i bethau fynd yn waeth byth.
I’d better give up before things get even worse.
