The Welsh word for flying or to fly is the verb-noun hedfan. Any time I’ve taught someone this word I’ve told them to remember it by using the name of Harry Potter’s owl, Hedwig!
hedfan
to fly
Sadly, there’s no etymological relationship between these two words! While Hedwig is an old German women’s name, hedfan comes from an older version of the same word, hedeg, combined with the suffix fan. It’s recorded in some old Welsh texts as ehedeg, which has also given us the poetic / literary word ednod (birds).
Hedeg probably came to Welsh all the way from the proto-Indo-European root word *pet(h), meaning to spread, particularly to spread wings. Interestingly *pet(h) is also the ancestor of adar (birds) in Welsh, which is the normal everyday version of ednod. So birds and flying are closely linked in Welsh etymology – which makes a lot of sense.
Although of course adar aren’t the only animal with the privilege of hedfan. Take for example:
- gwenyn (bees)
- cacwn / gwenyn meirch (wasps)
- pili–palod / ieir bach y haf (butterflies)
- ystlumod (bats)
- pryfed / clêr (flies)
- pysgod hedegog (flying fish)
- brogaod hedegog (flying frogs)
- pterodactyliaid (pterodactyls!)
There are a few different words for flight in Welsh. The most popular vary by region and formality. I remember being taught ehediad in school, but this is very often shortened to hediad, and hedfaniad is common too. You can pluralise any of these just by adding the suffix –au to make flights.
But for a lot of terms that feature the word flight in English, the Welsh form just relies on hedfan itself instead. Take rheolaeth hedfan, for example. It’s as if we are saying flying control rather than flight control.
Rhaid i fi hedfan i weld fy nhadcu, achos mae’n byw yng Nghanada.
I have to fly to see my grandad, because he lives in Canada.
Another example would be the phrase to take flight. In Welsh you might say simply codi (to raise / to lift), but if you wanted to be more specific you would just say hedfan i ffwrdd (to fly away).
Hedfan can also be used to describe moving very quickly, even when it doesn’t involve literal flight. In fact, this figurative meaning appears in the Welsh idiom gall newydd drwg hedfan heb adenydd – bad news can fly without wings.
Most people will only ever get to hedfan in an awyren (aeroplane), but humans have built all sorts of flying contraptions – from hofrenyddion (helicopters) and balŵns (balloons), to llongau rocedi (rocket-ships) and dronau (drones).
These days, you can even buy small dronau for children to play with, like a high-tech version of a barcut (kite).
To fly anything, from an awyren to a humble barcut, is hedfan too, just the same as if you were actually flying through the air with adenydd (wings) of your own. Be careful though – you will need a special trwydded (license) to become a peilot (pilot) and hedfan awyren (fly a plane) yourself.
The exact same basic mechanics are used in the ehediad of a human-made aircraft as are inherent in the biology of an aderyn (bird), be it one of the mighty barcudiaid coch that prowl Wales’ skies, or a humble bronfraith (thrush) or aderyn y to (roof bird / sparrow).
As air hits the aden (wing), it creates a grym (force) that lifts the aderyn upwards. This enables symudiad (motion). The opposing grym of drag is minimised by the corff (body) of the aderyn being as streamlined as possible, making it aerodynamig (aerodynamic). Continued thrust to maintain the movement forward is produced by the bird curo adenydd (flapping / beating wings).
It’s a pretty cool process – one that seems almost impossible when you see it in action, and of which humans have always been envious!
Mae’r eos fach yn hedfan drwy’r awyr.
The little nightingale is flying through the air.
I’ve mentioned the older variants ehedeg and hedeg already. On the other side of the spectrum, some speakers – especially in the South – have borrowed the English word and created fflio.
But, like in English, there are also a lot of really specific synonyms for hedfan that describe different kinds of ehediad. These are great to use when you’re being creative or descriptive, to add variety or paint a picture.
- ymysgwyd = to flutter
- esgyn = to rise / to soar
- disgyn / plymio = to swoop / to dive
- hwylio = sail
- crogi = hover
- sefyll ar y gwynt = to hover (literally to stand on the wind)
- nofio yn y gwynt = to float (literally to swim in the wind)
Many of these words can be used in a variety of contexts. Take hwylio, for example: while it literally means sailing on water, it can also be used metaphorically to describe a journey or flight of the imagination – an ehediad.
Speaking of metaphor, it’s important to remember that we use fly in a whole lot of non-literal ways in English, and these can’t just be translated directly into Welsh.
For example, in Welsh you don’t fly at someone, you rhuthro (rush). A door doesn’t fly open but will simply agor yn sydyn / agor yn chwipyn (open suddenly). And you wouldn’t fly a flag, you’d chwifio (wave) it.
So remember to always double-check any non-literal phrases when you’re translating from one language to another. Something can seem very natural in English, so much so that you wouldn’t even question it, but completely ridiculous in Welsh. And the same is true vice versa!
