The word for generous in Welsh is hael. When describing plural nouns, especially in older texts, you may see it rendered as haelion. However, this is not necessarily the norm today and it isn’t ‘incorrect’ to just use hael.
hael
generous
Now, the first pitfall with this word is trying not to get it confused with haul (sun). The problem is that in Southern dialects, haul and hael sound identical, as au and ae make the same sound. So it’s a matter of remembering which spelling goes with which meaning.
On the other hand, in the North, it’s harder in some ways and easier in others. It’s easier in that there’s a clear difference between the way the two words are pronounced – but harder in that the vowel sound in haul is quite unique and can be hard to master.
As if that weren’t enough, you also need to know when people mean generous and when they’re using a h-prosthesised version of ael (eyebrow). Luckily, h-prosthesis isn’t used that often by most people in modern colloquial Welsh, so you won’t come across this problem as often as the haul–hael dichotomy.
Hael is a native Celtic word, originally deriving from proto-Indo-European root *seghos (victorious).
This etymology also produced the words haelioni, haelfrydedd, and haelder, all options to mean generosity. Haelfrydedd can become haelfrydig (magnanimous), also.
Mae fy ffrindiau hael iawn wedi’i phrynu anrheg i mi.
My very generous friends have bought me a present.
You can’t necessarily use hael for any sense that you’d use generous in English – the two words don’t correspond perfectly in every case.
In English we use it to mean that there is a bountiful and generous quantity of something, like an amount or a helping. In Welsh this isn’t the most natural phrasing and we would be more likely to just use words like llawer (a lot). However, for a similar effect you could try helaeth or digonol, translating roughly to abundant or plentiful.
But hael is the perfect word to describe a person who is generous, liberal and kind with what they give away. Though this isn’t necessarily always a good thing – think of the proverb hael yw Hywel ar bwrs y wlad (it’s easy to be generous with other people’s money, literally Hywel is generous with the country’s purse) for example.
Other words with similar meanings include:
- caredig = kind, loving
- rhadlon = generous, kind, gracious
- rhyddfrydig = liberal
- mawrfrydig = magnanimous
- eneidfawr = magnanimous (very literary)
- tirion = gracious, good-natured
Hael is a useful adjective and a great quality in a person. Try using it in a sentence one of these days!
