The Welsh verb meaning to save or saving is achub. Achub is a loan word from Latin, but it was borrowed into Brittonic rather than into Welsh. Normally this would mean that we would also see versions of it in Cornish and Breton, but in this case these languages’ words for to save are actually etymologically distinct. That means that achub is unique in the Celtic languages.
achub
to save
Achub is possibly a little bit broader than its English translation, covering to save and to rescue but also to protect. It even expands to a crefyddol (religious) usage, especially in Welsh Cristnogiaeth (Christianity). Here it is sometimes used in gweddïau (prayers) or in translations of y Beibl (the Bible) to mean to redeem, referring to the achubiaeth (redemption / salvation) of the enaid (soul) that Christians believe is granted by Jesus Christ the achubwr (redeemer).
Outside religion, a good example of achub’s expansive meaning is the term achubwr bywyd (lifeguard). This is literally life savers, so it’s like we’re using achub to mean to guard rather than exclusively to save.
Some more useful pieces of vocabulary in this semantic field are siaced achub (life jacket) and bad achub / cwch achub (lifeboat).
It’s pretty simple to use this word in a sentence though – you just follow the verb with the noun that is being saved:
- achub rhywun = to save someone
- achub ei bywyd (hi) = to save her life
- achub ei groen ei hun = to save his own skin
- achub y ci = to save the dog
- achub dy enw da = to save your good name
Particularly useful is the phrase achub rhag, meaning to save from. Like in English, the thing that you are saving goes between achub and rhag, and the thing that they are being saved from goes after rhag.
So, to save the cat from the fire is achub y gath rhag y tân. Here, gath is a soft mutation of cath (cath), since it’s a feminine noun following the definite article y (the), and tân means fire.
Achubwyd hi rhag bywyd o anffawd.
She was saved from a life of misfortune.
You can also use reflexive pronouns to indicate who you are saving. In some cases, this will cause h-prosthesis, where a h is added to the beginning of the verb.
- fy achub (i) = to save me
- dy achub (di) = to save you (informal and singular)
- eich achub (chi) = to save you (formal or plural)
- ei achub (o / e) = to save him
- ei hachub (hi) = to save her
- eu hachub (nhw) = to save them
- ein hachub (ni) = to save us
There’s no separate word for it in Welsh, so you would usually apply ei achub o or ei achub e to this context too.
Another similar word you may have come across is arbed. This also means save, and there is some crossover in their usage. For example, you can refer to arbed bywyd rhywun (saving someone’s life) in the same way that you use achub. And it too can be paired with rhag – our earlier expression becomes arbed y gath rhag y tân with the exact same meaning.
There are two main differences in their usage. Firstly, arbed is not generally applied to religious contexts. And secondly, we can use arbed to refer to not using something, like saving it up, but we can’t use achub for this. So saving money is arbed arian – although you can just as easily say cadw arian, keeping money, and this is very idiomatic – and saving time is arbed amser. The noun a save, particularly in pêl-droed (football), is arbediad.
Rhaid iddo arbed ei nerth ar ôl iddo achub cymaint o bobl.
He‘s got to save his strength after he saved so many people.
There are a lot of great idiomatic phrases in Welsh that use achub in interesting or unexpected ways. Take achub cyfle (save an opportunity), which is used to mean to seize the day, or the similar achub mantais (to save an advantage), which just means to take an advantage, especially when it is done so unfairly. And one cyfle that’s always useful to seize is a byrfa (shortcut); in Welsh you can say achub y ffordd (saving the road) to mean taking one of these.
One proverb recorded in Ceredigion is paid achub y blewyn a cholli’r bwrn (don’t save the hair and lose the bundle), which is a warning against being penny-wise and pound foolish.
You probably won’t be surprised by achub pen rhywun (saving someone’s head) meaning to save someone’s bacon, but you may be more so by the quite unique usage achub am. You’d think this means to save for, but it actually is an evocative way of saying to reach for or to very much want, often used to convey a sense of grasping and striving. Similar is achub at, which means to make for eagerly.
Many of these phrases are reserved to particular regions or are becoming less common, so let’s all be part of the effort to revive them!
However, they are made up for by the considerable quantity of English phrases using save which can’t be, or aren’t usually, replicated using achub in Welsh. Most of them use alternatives we’ve already discussed, like cadw and arbed.
- cadw wyneb = to save face
- cadw dogfen / cadw ffeil = to save a document / to save a file
- Duw gadwo’r Brenin = God save the King
- cadw dawns i rywun = to save a dance for someone
- arbed ar rywbeth = to save on something
- arbed y drafferth = to save the trouble
- dal dy wynt = save your breath (literally hold your wind)
- atal y bêl = in sport, to save a goal (literally to stop the ball)
It’s well worth familiarising yourself with these, as it’s easy to slip up otherwise.
