Our Welsh word of the day today is helynt (trouble). This noun can mean trouble as in difficulty or bother, and it can also mean trouble more as in a specifically trafferthus (troublesome) situation, like a predicament. It doesn’t mean trouble as in someone’s worries or things that are troubling them; this would be pryderon or gofidiau. It is also not usually used to mean trouble as in to go to the trouble, or as in medical trouble; here trafferth is most common.
Although trouble is a good general equivalent, depending on the context, helynt can be used to translate English words as various as chaos, fiasco, plight, furore, mess, and quandary. It’s very useful!
Helynt is pronounced like this in standard modern Welsh:
helynt
trouble
helyntion
troubles
But many Southerners will say it more like this, with a longer first vowel:
Both helynt’s gender and its plural are inconstant. Some people treat it as feminine and some as masculine. The most common plural form is helyntion but helyntoedd, helyntau, and helyntiau are all heard too.
The word comes from a combination of hela (to hunt), and hynt, an old word for path or journey that now is mostly just used in compound words and specific phrases, like ar hynt (immediately). So helynt literally means something like hunting path.
In everyday usage, helynt often turns up to refer to a difficult situation that someone is in. It also commonly appears in phrases like creu helynt / codi helynt (to be disruptive, to create trouble), mwy o helynt (more trouble, more problems), mynd i helynt (to get into trouble), gofyn am helynt (asking for trouble), chwilio am helynt (looking for trouble), and mewn helynt (in trouble).
Clywais dy fod ti mewn helynt gyda’r gyfraith.
I heard that you were in trouble with the law.
Welsh words that are synonymous with helynt or have similar meanings to it include:
- trafferth = trouble, difficulty
- helbul = trouble, difficulty
- trwbl = trouble
- penbleth = predicament, dilemma
- picil = a trouble, a pickle (as in to be in a… )
- trallod = distress, affliction, misfortune
- anhawster = difficulty, obstacle
- trybini = troubles, misfortunes
Helbul is not as commonly used as helynt, but shares its first syllable and so likely comes from the same root – this is reflected in that they can be used in broadly similar ways, although again, colloquially almost everyone would say helynt more often than helbul. The latter is more useful for providing variety in descriptive and creative writing.
And there are yet more variants that are used in specific regions – like stryffîg, helcyd and strach for trouble or difficulty in the North-West.
Which word sounds most natural to use in a specific phrase is something that will come to you with time and immersion, but for translating trouble, either trafferth itself or helynt will usually be your best bet.
Mae hi am greu helynt.
She’s off to cause trouble.
Historically, helynt was used slightly more broadly than it is today, referring more generally to happening, affairs, or behaviour, rather than specifically to problematic happenings. For example, in one text from the late 1800s, the phrase affairs of state is translated as helyntion gwladol. Today we would more likely say materion gwladol, using the word materion (matters).
Helynt appears in some interesting idioms and proverbs you may hear others use, or that you can employ yourself to spice up your speech in Welsh:
- helynt a hanner = lots of trouble (literally trouble and a half)
- hynt a helynt = someone’s successes and failures (literally journey and trouble)
- cael merch i helynt = to get a girl pregnant (literally to get a girl to trouble)
- bod ym mhen eich helynt = to be very busy (literally to be in the head of one’s trouble)
- tynnu helynt yn eich pen = to create trouble for oneself (literally to pull trouble to one’s head)
- helynt ni ddaw ei hunan = bad things in life don’t come one at a time (literally trouble doesn’t bring itself)
