Today, we’re investigating the most common Welsh term for someone who eats excessively: bolgi. This word is widely used across the country, making it a safe choice no matter where you are. However, as you’ll soon discover, there’s an astonishing array of dialectal variations to explore! Let’s dive in!
bolgi
glutton / big eater
Bolgi is a masculine noun and it is susceptible to the following two mutations.
Soft mutation
folgi
Nasal mutation
molgi
Aspirate mutation
N/A
Bolgi is a combination of two Welsh words—bol, meaning stomach, and ci, meaning dog—so its literal translation is “dog’s belly”! While dogs are often celebrated as man’s best friend here in Wales and around the world, the humble canine frequently appears in less flattering terms in the Welsh language, such as:
- salgi = slob, a lazy dirty fellow
- gwenci = weasel or stoat, insultingly to suggest someone is sneaky and unpleasant
- cachgi = coward
- cilgi = coward
- celwyddgi = liar
- chwiwgi = sneak, rogue, or cheat
- ysgrythurgi = scripturist, someone who is versed in the Bible, facetious or derogative
- ieithgi = one who is very interested in the study of languages (as opposed to literature), also facetious or derogative
- blewgi = a hairy, unpleasant man
- sgramgi = another word for glutton
Most of these are quite old-fashioned, and would be generally used in a tongue-in-cheek sense.
Mae e’n wirioneddol yn folgi – roedd e wedi bwyta tri phlât o fwyd cyn i bawb arall orffen eu cyntaf!
He’s truly a glutton – he ate three plates of food before everyone else finished their first!
As we hinted earlier, bolgi is far from the only term used in Welsh to describe someone with a hearty appetite. Across the country, you’ll also come across the adjectives barus and gwancus, which convey a more general sense of being greedy. In the north, you might hear colourful words like stumongar, harllig, sglaffiwr, or smongar. As you travel south, terms such as trachwant(us), stumogus, stumogol, dwff, or bolastwr would be more common.
Some expressions paint vivid pictures, such as un am ei fol (one for his belly) or un ‘sgut am ei fwyd (one swift for his food).
A particularly fun phrase to describe a gluttonous man is Ieuan/Ifan l(l)ygad y bwyd (Ieuan/Ifan, eyer of the food). Interestingly, the person doesn’t need to be named Ieuan or Ifan to earn the title! This phrase ties into yet another word for glutton, llygad bwyd (food eyer).
Finally, in literary Welsh, you may encounter words like gloddestwr or glwth. I used to think English had plenty of words for a glutton, but Welsh truly takes the cake!
