One of my favourite facts to tell people about Welsh is that there isn’t really a word for mind. The word meddwl (to think) might be used sometimes, and there is a word for brain (ymenydd). However, the word that is closest in usage to the English mind is probably cof (pl: cofion), which would be more directly translated as memory.
This makes a lot of sense when you think about it – when we say, for example, that we will bear something in mind (cadw rhywbeth mewn cof), what we are really saying is that we’re going to try and remember it.
cof
memory
Cof, as well as similar words in the other Celtic languages, derives from the proto-Celtic kommen, which itself is based on the root men, to think. This root is more clearly apparent in the modern Welsh meddwl, as well as in the English mental.
Plenty of important everyday vocabulary is based on cof, such as cofio (remember) and atgofion (memories). It’s also the root of more complex words like cofiadur (record-keeper), cofgolofn (monument), and coffáu (to commemorate).
One very useful word which doesn’t have an English translation is cofus, which is the antonym of anghofus (forgetful), used to describe someone who has a particularly good memory, or is just very wise. When speaking about a particularly happy or important memory, you would use the word coffiadwraeth. There’s also a unique word for a faint or fading memory, which is brithgof.
Here are the different ways in which cof mutates:
Soft mutation
gof
Nasal mutation
nghof
Aspirate mutation
chof
You can see an example of the nasal mutation nghof within the word anghofio (forget), which is a word I made good use of at school!
Cof is a masculine noun, although cofeb (memorial) is feminine, so it mutates to y gofeb.
What makes it clear how important cof is to the Welsh is where it’s used synonymously with mind. To remind someone of something is to atgoffa, or even to dwyn ar gof, which literally means steal into memory. There’s no real translation for It went out of my mind – we’d just say anghofiais i (I forgot). To be out of one’s mind is to be gwallgof, which merges cof with the word gwall, meaning error, and to be very angry is to be maes o gof. To colli gof (lose memory) is to lose one’s mind / go insane.
Cof gwael sydd gen i.
I have a terrible memory.
Here are some more useful Welsh phrases using the word cof:
- ar gof = by memory, by heart
- er cof am = in memory of
- dal yng nghof = to bear in mind
- pall cof = a failure of memory
- gadael heb gof = to forget
- colli’r cof = loss of memory
- o fewn cof = in living memory
- cyn cof = since time immemorial
It would probably be worth learning some of those ar gof!
Rhaid i ti ddysgu’r cerdd ar gof.
You have to learn the poem by heart.
Cof can also refer to historical or legal records, as in the phrase cof ysgrifen (written record). The term for national/cultural records is cof cenedl (literally: nation’s memory). The Welsh Government’s historic records service is called Cof Cymru (Wales’ Memory), and the National Monuments Record of Wales calls its online database coflein, a portmanteau of cof and ar-lein (online).
It’s even used in several contexts where the word history might be used in English: for example, cof clyw, which refers to oral history/tradition. You might also come across the phrase cof a chadw, literally memory and keeping, meaning the preservation of a memory, or of a historical record/artefact. It makes sense that a nation fighting hard to preserve its culture would attribute a lot of importance to memories.
One iconic Welsh song focussed on the theme of memory is the rousingly patriotic Yma o Hyd (Still Here), which opens with the line Dwyt ti’m yn cofio Macsen (You don’t remember Macsen), referring to Magnus Maximus, a Roman general credited with transferring authority back to native Welsh rulers and thus, essentially, founding Wales. The lyrics, written by nationalist politician Dafydd Iwan, lament that the 1600 years since the time of Magnus Maximus are amser rhy hir i’r cof (too long ago to remember; too long ago for the mind). However, today, the song is often sung at sports games and Eisteddfods, meaning that in a way, Iwan has proven himself wrong – Welsh history is not something that will be forgotten about any time soon.
