Magu is a Welsh word that means to bring up or to raise, specifically in the context of raising children or animals.
magu
to raise
There is a very, very slight difference in pronunciation for this word between North and South. Above I’ve given an example of the Southern pronunciation, with a long ‘ah’ sound and a shorter ‘ee’ at the end. The Northern pronunciation lengthens the final vowel and uses a shorter ‘a’ sound in the middle, like this:
Magu comes from the proto-Celtic *maketi (to raise), which has another descendant in Welsh, too. This is the word maeth. It means nourishment or sustenance, but is sometimes also used idiomatically to mean nurture. Maeth is likely related to, or even a direct ancestor of, the word meithrin, meaning nursery.
There are a couple of other Welsh words descended from magu directly, as well. The noun magwr (pl: magwyr) means rearer or fosterer, and, developed from this, you can refer to someone’s upbringing as their magwraeth, and magwrfa may be used for nursery – either for children, or trees.
There’s also the funny little word mag, a back-formation from magu which means a young fish. It’s like the English small fry and might be used jocularly to refer to young people. From mag and tân (fire) the word mactan evolved, meaning kindling.
Magu only responds to the treiglad meddal (soft mutation), as below.
Soft mutation
fagu
Nasal mutation
N/A
Aspirate mutation
N/A
As with other verbs, it isn’t really necessary to learn all of the conjugations of magu, as it’s common to simply conjugate words in Welsh periphrastically (this just means, for example, saying “did raise” instead of “raised”). This sounds much more natural in Welsh than it would in English! However, it is useful to learn some of the most common conjugations.
- magaf i = I will raise
- magi di = you will raise
- magith o/e/hi = he/she will raise
- magais i = I raised
- magaist ti = you raised
- magodd o/e/hi = he/she raised
- maga = imperative, raise!
- magwch = imperative, raise! (more formal / plural)
- magedig = having been raised (as an adjective)
Remember that although we’re translating magu as raise here, it is closer in meaning to bring up. It only applies to contexts of childbirth and child-rearing – in any other context, raise is codi.
One context in which you are likely to use magu is when talking about your own upbringing. I was raised is ces i fy magu (literally, I had my raising). If you want to describe who brought you up, you would say ces i fy magu gan fy Nain (I was raised by my Gran), for example. If you wanted to describe where you grew up, you might say ces i fy magu ym Mangor (I was raised in Bangor).
Caeth o ei fagu yng Nghaerdydd gan ei fam a’i dad.
He was raised in Cardiff by his Mum and Dad.
As well as children, magu is used to describe raising or breeding farm animals. In this context it can actually also be translated as breed, so to breed cattle is magu gwartheg. There is a specific term for a breeding cow, which is buwch fagu (pl: buchod magu), and a breeding sow, which is hwch fagu (pl: hychod magu)
And when referring to either animals or humans it can be translated as foster, and to foster out a child uses the related term maeth, in the phrase rhoi plenty i’w faethu. The playful phrase to breed like rabbits is exactly the same in Welsh as it is in English – magu fel cwningod.
Magu can also mean more specifically to nurse. The word maeth that we’ve discussed can also be used as a verb in this way: magu/maethu plentyn (to nurse a child), magu/maethu baban (to nurse a baby). A nursing shawl is siôl fagu, with siôl being a direct borrowing from the English shawl.
Similarly, magu is a synonym for sidlo, meaning to cradle, and cadair fagu is the noun form of cradle. And you can even use magu to refer to pregnancy, as in the curious phrase magu esgyrn bach (to become pregnant), which is literally means growing little bones. As you can see, it’s a very versatile word!
Mae o’n magu defaid ar ei fferm.
He raises sheep on his farm.
In some cases, magu can even be used in a more abstract sense to mean grow or develop. For example, someone can magu hyder (develop confidence), magu asgwrn cefn (grow a spine), magu eiddigedd (become jealous), or even magu stumog (work up an appetite). A common everyday phrase is magu pwysau (to put on weight) – you can also use magu bola (to grow a tummy) or magu bloneg (to grow fat), and magu cefn (to grow a back) means to put on muscle weight.
There is a Welsh proverb that says, Trwy gicio a brathu, mae cariad yn magu. This literally translates to through kicking and biting, love is raised, and it means love grows in adversity. Less pleasant is magu cathod. You may recognise this as literally translating to raising cats – but it means to become covered in mould.
