Pronouncing Welsh Words and Place Names
During my trip to Wales last spring, I finally had the chance to really see how bad my Welsh pronunciation was. After two weeks, it was really getting better, but I am by no means an expert. If you want to pronounce the names accurately, the following is a good start. I can testify that the pronunciation below for Llangollen, for example, is exactly right. Remember, in Welsh, the emphasis in on the second to last syllable in a word. This post is to follow up on the pronunciation guide. First off are two fabulous maps with audio place names for Wales: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/whatsinaname/sites/howdoisay/ http://www.plas-coch.co.uk/soundmap.html Below is a quick guide to just a few Welsh place-names: Cymru: kum-ree Caernarfon: kyre-nar-von Beddgelert: beth-gel-airt Llanberis: /sh/-an-ber-ris Llangollen: /sh/an-go/sh/-en Felindre: veh-leen-dreh Gwynedd: gwin-eth Afon Dee: av-on dee Bwlch: boolch Castell Coch: kas-te/sh/t koch Dinas Emrys: dinnass emm-riss Ynys Read more…
Children of Time now available at all venues!
I’m happy to report that my hopes have been fulfilled that November would be the month that all readers could download Children of Time in the format of their choice. It is now available at Amazon, BN, Apple, Smashwords and all the international stores to which these stores distribute. It is also available at Amazon and BN in paper both in the US and internationally. Children of Time (Book Four in the After Cilmeri Series) November 1288. Bereft of a king or rightful heir, England hurtles towards civil war for the second time in a generation. When David, Prince of Wales, and his wife, Lili, travel to London to attend the wedding of William de Bohun and Princess Joan, they have no intention of involving themselves in local politics. But as infighting leads to murder, David and Lili find themselves at Read more…
Uneasy Lies the Crown–Owain Glyndwr
I have a guest post today on a subject near and dear to my heart … medieval Wales! N. Gemini Sasson has written a book about Owain Glyndwr and the Welsh War of Independence. Welcome Gemini! ____________________ Owain Glyndwr and the Welsh War of Independence N. Gemini Sasson The history of Wales predates Roman settlements to a Celtic people who called themselves the Cymry. It was a society as much rooted in warfare as it was in bardic tradition. Although the Welsh as a society were autonomous from England for many centuries, the proximity of the two countries and the ancient Welsh customs of fostering out sons and dividing inheritances among male heirs destabilized the region by perpetuating territorial feuds. English kings used this lack of unity to their utmost advantage. When Edward I came to the throne of England Read more…
What Scares Me?
In honor of Halloween, I’d thought I’d share what scares me … (originally posted at: http://toddrwrite.com/blog/2011/what-scares-author-sarah-woodbury.phtml) When I was a little girl, I had an army of stuffed animals to protect me at night. Cuddly the bear, because he was the biggest, would nestle next to my right shoulder. Yellow-hopper (the yellow bunny) would buttress my left shoulder, and Mr. Octopus and Raggedy Andy would sit sentry on the pillow. I stationed all the rest—bears, bunnies, horses—facing the window. I had a big bed too—a double—with a wooden headboard and a gaping foot-high empty space underneath it. That’s where the monsters hung out. Every night, I lay flat on my back, perfectly still, so that I wouldn’t make any noise and my movements wouldn’t bring them out. I also had a big closet that loomed along the inner wall. I always Read more…
Scots, Scottish, and Gaelic … what’s the difference?
What language were people speaking in 13th century Scotland? Undoubtedly, that is a question that keeps most people up at night. In a nutshell, in 1288, in Scotland, people spoke three local languages regularly. At the time, they called them: French, English, and Scottish. What is confusing is that those are not the names used to refer to these languages NOW. French, was Norman French. Robert the Bruce, a great King of Scotland, descended from the Gaelic Earls of Carrick, and on his father’s side from “ancestors in Brix, in Flanders. In 1124, King David I granted the massive estates of Annandale to his follower, Robert de Brus, in order to secure the border. The name, Robert, was very common in the family. Brought up at Turnberry Castle, Bruce was a product of his lineage, speaking Gaelic, Scots and Norman Read more…
Children of Time now available!
Children of Time, the fourth book in the After Cilmeri series (fifth if you include Daughter of Time), is now available at AMAZON, AMAZON UK SMASHWORDS and as a PAPERBACK AT AMAZON! It should arrive soon at other venues (Nook/Sony/Apple). Children of Time November 1288. Bereft of a king or rightful heir, England hurtles towards civil war for the second time in a generation. When David, Prince of Wales, and his wife, Lili, travel to London to attend the wedding of William de Bohun and Princess Joan, they have no intention of involving themselves in local politics. But as infighting leads to murder, David and Lili find themselves at the center of a far-reaching conspiracy. Trapped between history and legend, they must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice to save not only their own country, but the people of England as well. Meanwhile, back in Read more…
Medieval Scottish Clans
All my books have so far been set in Wales, and my ancestry is Welsh, but it’s also Scottish. Lately, I’ve been exploring that history more. Here’s a map of the lands of the great Scottish clans: http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/the-great-clans-of-scotland/ One of my clans is MacKay (also known as Morgan? Really? Another Welsh connection?), from the far north. My ancestor, Donald McKay, fought for one of the Highland divisions against the United States in the Revolutionary War. As payment for his service, and because the Crown did not want all these Highlanders coming home to Scotland with nothing to do and no land to do it on (since the Highland Clearances had already occurred), he was given land in Nova Scotia. My multiple great grandfather, also Donald McKay, was born in Shelburne, though he emigrated to Boston, where he built clipper ships Read more…
The Black Death in Wales
The Black Death is generally understood to have been caused by the flea on a rat that appeared in Europe from Asia, having come from the steppes. The Black Death came in three forms: bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic, all caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis. These three forms had a mortality rate of 30-75%, 90-95%, and 100% respectively. http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/fleas/bdeath/Black.html Skip Knox writes: ‘The Black Death erupted in the Gobi Desert in the late 1320s. No one really knows why. The plague bacillus was alive and active long before that; indeed Europe itself had suffered an epidemic in the 6th century. But the disease had lain relatively dormant in the succeeding centuries. We know that the climate of Earth began to cool in the 14th century, and perhaps this so-called little Ice Age had something to do with it. Whatever Read more…
Morgane/Morgan le Fey/Morgana
Unlike Arthur, Gwenhwyfar, and Lancelot, the origins of Morgane are somewhat more obscure. (And given then their origins are obscure, this has to be really bad, right?) Morgane is first mentioned in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Life of Merlin, so right off, you know that this is going to be fantastical and historically inaccurate. Still, he found her somewhere, most likely in Welsh mythology. ‘Morgan’ is a man’s name in Welsh, but the creation of this character appears to have its roots in The Morrigan, the Celtic triple goddess (see https://sarahwoodbury.com/women-in-celtic-myth/) who is a goddess of war among other things. Morgane is also possibly related to Modrun, a specifically Welsh mother-goddess: The “name means “divine mother”. Often conflated with the Roman Matrona, she is the Tutelary of the Marne in Gaul. In Britain, she appears as a washerwoman, and thus there would seem Read more…
Who was Guinevere?
Guinevere, or Gwenhwyfar in Welsh, was King Arthur’s wife. That’s pretty much all that we know about her conclusively (bearing in mind that we can hardly be conclusive about King Arthur’s existence, either–see my posts here: https://sarahwoodbury.com/all-about-king-arthur/). She is first named in the Welsh story of Culhwch and Olwen, a tale about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors. We have two manuscripts: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, ca. 1400, and a fragmented version in The White Book of Rhydderch, ca. 1325. It is the longest of the surviving Welsh prose tale and likely existed before the 11th century, making it the earliest Arthurian tale. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culhwch_and_Olwen In it, Arthur says: “Since thou wilt not remain here, chieftain, thou shalt receive the boon whatsoever thy tongue may name, as far as the wind dries, and the rain moistens, and the sun revolves, Read more…
Annwn, the Welsh Underworld
Annwn, or Annuvin in the Chronicles of Prydein by Lloyd Alexander, is an ‘other’ world, from the one that mortals live in. It is the realm of the gods, or of the dead, depending upon the source. This site states: “The Welsh word annwn, annwfyn is traditionally translated “otherworld,” and is akin to some of the Irish worlds of the gods (Tír na mBéo, “Land of the Living,” etc.) One will recall that in the First Branch of The Mabinogi, Pwyll exchanges place and shape with Arawn, king of Annwn, whose realm is there depicted as co-existent with Pwyll’s Dyfed. In another poem from The Book of Taliesin ( Angar Kyfyndawt, 18.26-23.8) the speaker declares annwfyn to be underground: yn annwfyn ydiwyth, in Annwfyn the peacefulness, yn annwfyn ygorwyth in Annwfyn the wrath, yn annwfyn is eluyd in Annwfyn below Read more…
Children of Time is coming!
Here’s the cover for the print book! I just couldn’t wait to share it. Currently, Children of Time, the fourth book in the After Cilmeri series (fifth, if you include Daughter of Time), is in the editing/copyediting process. I am planning on a November release date. If you want to know the moment it arrives in stores, sign up in the side bar! November 1288. Bereft of a king or rightful heir, England hurtles towards civil war for the second time in a generation. When David, Prince of Wales, and his wife, Lili, travel to London to attend the wedding of William de Bohun and Princess Joan, they have no intention of involving themselves in local politics. But as infighting leads to murder, David and Lili find themselves at the center of a far-reaching conspiracy. Trapped between history and legend, Read more…
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