The Welsh word for long is hir. I know what you’re thinking – it’s a very short word for such a long concept!
hir
long
The word hir existed in both Middle and Old Welsh, and even in Brittonic, which was the parent language of Old Welsh, Old Cornish, Old Breton, and the now sadly extinct Cumbric. It had been passed into Brittonic from the even-older proto-Celtic language, where it existed in the form *siros. This is the root of the Manx prefix sheer (endless) and the Scottish Gaelic sìor (incessant).
Although Welsh and other Celtic languages have borrowed many words from English, French, and other Western European languages, the reverse is far less common. However, hir is a rare exception to this rule!
The word hir exists in Modern Breton as well as in Welsh and has the exact same meaning. In Breton, it became part of the compound word maen-hir, literally long stone, referring to prehistoric standing stone monuments found by archaeologists – the kind that are dotted all over the British Isles at sites like Stonehenge.
Maen-hir was borrowed into French from Breton as menhir, and later even into English too. In Welsh, a standing stone is called maen hir just like the Breton, and the plural is meini hirion.
You’ll notice that I’ve changed hir to hirion when using it to describe a plural noun. This is normal for Welsh adjectives; they pretty much all have plural forms, although they tend to get dropped in colloquial speech. Hir doesn’t change its form based on noun gender, though, so that makes things a little simpler. And it also doesn’t mutate, as it begins with the non-mutable letter h.
Pa mor hir yw’r ddarlith?
How long is the lecture?
Longer in Welsh was traditionally hwy, and longest was hwyaf. These don’t follow the traditional pattern of how Welsh comparative adjectives are formed, and the more predictable alternatives hirach and hiraf respectively are becoming more common. You can use either, but I’d recommend the first pair in more formal settings, where they might be considered more correct, and the second pair if you’re speaking to other learners and new speakers.
The equative form of hir is cyhyd, sometimes just shortened to cŷd. This comes from the noun hyd (length). If you haven’t come across equative adjectives in Welsh before, cyhyd means as long (as). So, as long as a piece of string is cyhyd â darn o linyn.
Like most Welsh adjectives, hir generally goes after the noun, as in the phrases gwallt hir (long hair) and sgert hir (a long skirt).
But in some phrases, particularly literary ones, it might turn up before the noun. For example, yr hir gartref (the long home) is an old-fashioned euphemism for death.
In this sense, it’s almost functioning as a prefix, by appearing before the noun and causing a soft mutation. And there are actually lots of words even in modern spoken Welsh where hir does show up as a prefix.
- hirfain = long and thin
- hirgul = long and narrow
- hirlwm = long and gloomy, often used to refer to deepest winter
- hirwyntog = long-winded
- hiroes / hirhoedledd = longevity
- hirgwsg = a long sleep
- hirfore = early morning
- hirsgwar = an oblong
- hirgrwn / hirgron = an oval
Hir is not the only word for long in Welsh. Maith is a really important word which refers usually to long periods of time – you can even combine the two into the word hirfaith, although this isn’t very common.
To be fair, hir can describe time too, as in the super-common expression cyn bo hir (before long). But in many cases maith is the more idiomatic choice, particularly when you’re talking about very, very long periods of time.
For example, take the phrases amser maith yn ôl (a long time ago). This is often used to begin stories told to children.
There was even a children’s sioe deledu (television show) on S4C a few years ago called Amser Maith Maith yn Ôl, which you can still watch on iPlayer now – the episodes are quite short, and use simple language, so it’s a good source of Welsh-language immersion for learners!
Does gen i’m coesau hir, ond eitha(f) tal ydw i be bynnag.
I don’t have long legs, but I’m quite tall anyway.
Sometimes, something that is specifically long and flowing, like hair or clothing, might be described as llaes. This is also the word we use for the treiglad llaes (aspirate mutation). That’s because it indicates something loose, free, slack, or flowing. We can think of this as referring to the breathy, flowing noise of the h sound which gets added to words when they undergo aspirate mutation.
On the other end of the spectrum, short is byr, or sometimes cwta. While byr is a more direct equivalent to the English word short, cwta often means something that has specifically been cut short, or something succinct. For example, guinea pigs are moch cwta because of their short tails that look as though they’ve been docked.
Probably the most famous Welsh word including hir is hiraeth. The two words are most likely etymologically related, though it’s not exactly clear how.
People interpret hiraeth in different ways, but I believe the best translation is longing. This longing is often tied to a specific time or place, carrying connotations of homesickness, nostalgia, wistfulness, and even grief. It’s a deeply emotional word, often used by Welsh people to express a profound yearning for their homeland.
