What foods can you think of that people either love or hate? The most popular example has got to be Marmite, but other controversial foodstuffs include olewydd (olives), pysgod (fish), and the subject of today’s article, madarch (mushrooms).
madarch
mushrooms
Before we begin, I’ve got to make my allegiance clear – dw i’n hoffi madarch (I like mushrooms). Tell us beth amdanoch chi? (what about you?) in our Facebook group or on Instagram!
The etymology of madarch is unclear, especially as the words for mushroom in Welsh’s closest living linguistic relatives, Breton and Cornish, are the completely different tog–touseg and skavel gronek. Pretty mysterious – which makes sense as madarch are quite mysterious beings themselves…
Madarch is a plural word, which means it translates to mushrooms rather than mushroom. There are quite a lot of words in Welsh like this, where the default version of the word is the plural, rather than the singular.
Other examples include coed (trees) and coeden (tree), rhedyn (ferns) and rhedynen (fern), and moch (pigs) and mochyn (pig). As you can see, it’s often words to do with nature and living things.
This is called the collective/singulative system, in contrast to the English system of counting nouns, which is the singular/plural system. Welsh actually uses both systems, although even when it follows the more familiar singular/plural system, the way words change to their plurals is not always predictable.
Collective nouns are actually a bit easier. There’s only really one way of forming the singular word from the collective, which is by adding yn or en onto the end. The former is used for masculine nouns, and the latter for feminine. (In some cases, the vowel in the root word might change slightly, but the suffix is always added.)
Soft mutation
fadarch
Nasal mutation
N/A
Aspirate mutation
N/A
Madarch is feminine, so just one mushroom is a madarchen. This means that translating the mushroom will result in a soft mutation (y fadarchen). Y madarch (the mushrooms) just stays as it is, though, since plural and collective nouns don’t mutate after y.
In literary Welsh, many words have a separate plural for when there is exactly two of something. These are mostly falling out of use today, except for some examples like the ubiquitous dwylo (the two hands of a person). Simply saying dwy fadarchen (two mushrooms) is the norm these days, but in an old poem or recipe you might come across dau medyrch, dau madeirch, or dau madarchau.
This is a word with plenty of synonyms. Madarch is by far the most common and the standard, but there are some weird and wacky regional variations!
- grawn unnos = one night’s spawn (literary Welsh)
- lloffion y ddafad = sheep’s pickings (Caerphilly area)
- bwyd y boda / bwyd y barcud = kite’s food (widespread)
- bwyd llyffant / bwyd y broga = toad’s food / frog’s food (Ceredigion)
- caws llyffant = toad’s cheese (North-West Wales)
- masiarŵms (North Wales)
- shrwmps (South Wales)
Many of these words would have historically been used indiscriminately to refer to both mushrooms and toadstools.
Dw i’n astudio madarch – mycolegydd dw i.
I study mushrooms – I’m a mycologist.
Madarch are a particular kind of edible ffwng (fungus), a living thing that is neither animal nor plant. Madarch as opposed to other types of ffwng are defined by having a coes (stem), cap (cap), and tegyll (gills).
What’s unique about ffwng is that they reproduce through sborau (spores), allowing them to grow very quickly. They’re able to survive in a wide variety of conditions, although they tend to gravitate towards places that are llaith (damp). There are thought to be around 3 million types of ffwng, of which humans only have a good understanding of around 150,000.
Humans have eaten madarch since y cynfyd (antiquity), and they are also used as meddyginiaeth (medicine) in many cultures. Madarch hudol (magic mushrooms) are a kind of hallucinogenic drug. The white and brown mushrooms that are most commonly cooked and eaten in the UK are the species Agaricus bisporus, known as madarch meithrin (cultivated mushrooms).
Madarch contribute a variety of healthy maetholion (nutrients) to our diet. They’re particularly popular with llysfwytawyr (vegetarians) and feganiaid (vegans), as they are relatively high protein and have a flavour that’s rich and sawrus (savoury / umami). Personally, I like them on pitsa (pizza).
Dw i’n dwlu ar gawl madarch.
I love mushroom soup.
However, just because you see a madarchen in the wild that looks like Agaricus bisporus doesn’t mean it’s safe to eat – there are a few kinds of common poisonous mushrooms that look identical to the untrained eye.
But in countryside areas where plenty of madarch gwyllt are to be found, you can often find foraging groups or guides who will teach you how to identify the edible ones yourself. It’s quite a fun day out! Canol Cymru (mid-Wales), where I’m from, is a particularly good place to learn the art of fforio (foraging), as it’s a sparsely populated area with plenty of unploughed porfeydd (pastures) in which to begin exploring.
Some kinds of mushrooms to be found in Wales include:
- madarch llwydd-ddu = inky cap
- caws Cesar = Caesar’s mushroom
- madarch y maes = field mushrooms
- wystrysen y coed = oyster mushrooms
- ambarel bwgan = parasol mushrooms
- madarch lelog = lilac mushrooms
Of course, you need to be careful to avoid Amanita’r gwybed (fly agaric). These are the famous red and white spotty madarch that often grow in cylchoedd (circles), supposedly marking the entrance to the realm of the tylwyth teg (fairies). The tylwyth teg of Welsh mythology are intelligent, mysterious and dangerous – and Amanita’r gwybed is toxic unless carefully prepared.
