Word of the week – gwyliau.

This week’s word is a Welsh one, and, like the last one which was Polish, it is also very summery, and, to me, sounds very cute.

This word is gwyliau, gwyliau means holidays. I don’t think there is a better word in any language to describe holidays.

The singular form of gwyliau is gwyl, which, in the accent I am learning – which is northern welsh – is pronounced: /ɡuːɨ̯l/ .

Why do I like this word so much?

First of all, because it sounds just like summer holidays. So idyllic and warm. And cute. It sounds different than the last week’s word, but it has so many similar associations for me.

When I hear the word gwyliau, my synesthetic associations that come to my mind are berry fruit, their shape and taste, lapping streams, shining sun, laughing children. Another association – rather unrelated to the holidays, but definitely sensory – are balls of a ball bearing, a rather small one. I was often playing with balls from bearings as a kid and there are words that I associate with them for some reason. 😀 I often associate words with things I touched often as a little child. Gwyliau, also similarly to the last week’s word lipiec, sounds quite “round” to me, and maybe that’s why I associate it with it. Also, when I think of gwyliau, I think of fresh peas, also quite summery thing.

But, there’s yet another reason to why I love the word gwyliau. It sounds quite similar to my crush’s name, Gwilym, or Gwil. There are lots of similar words in Welsh, that sound similar to the name Gwilym, like gwylio – to watch – for example. And I LOVE them all!!! They’re so cute, so beautiful, so… gwilicious! 😀

I also have an audiofile for you, with my Welsh speech synthesiser saying gwyliau, so that you know how it sounds exactly. Her accent is southern, if it makes any difference for you.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uke5tkw8il3t1cw/Gwyliau.mp3?dl=0

What comes to your mind when you hear gwyliau? DO you like this word? Does it remind you of holidays, or rather something different?

Word of the week – lipiec.

I’m very pleased to introduce my new series to you, which is called word of the week, which can feature words from any languages, that have something special to them in my opinion. I hope you’ll find it fun, or maybe even inspiring for your new posts. Don’t know for how long I will be doing this, but if it’ll be enjoyable for us it may become a regular feature on my blog. If you have any suggestions regarding the series or any words you’d like to see featured and that you think deserve more attention, please feel free to let me know. So, this week’s word is lipiec.
Lipiec: LEE-pyets, means July in Polish. It is derived from the word lipa (LEE-pah), which means linden, because of lindens blooming in this month.
While its core word lipa isn’t my very favourite – besides linden it can also mean trash or shoddy or generally something of bad quality, or a lie – I really like the word lipiec. I’ve always liked it. For me it sounds just cute. I can’t precise why though. It has such a soft, childish, yet sort of romantic sound to it, it’s really a perfect, sweet name for a summer month.
As you know, I have sort of synesthetic associations with words, or phrases, or other types of sounds, they’re usually tactile.
My main association with the word lipiec are clip-on earrings. Particularly the clip-on earrings my gramma had in the past, I really liked them, but most of clip-on earrings look to me like lipiec as well. I usually don’t know from where my associations derive, but I suppose this one could be because of the -lip part both in the word lipiec and clip-on.
I have also other associations with the word lipiec that are clearly synesthetic and many of them have to do with nature. For example, I associate the word lipiec not surprisingly with linden leaves, but also privet leaves for some reason, tulip petals and muscari petals, blackberries, and many berry fruits. For some reason the word lipiec makes me think of little babies, particularly asleep, maybe because of how childish it sounds to me. Generally lots of ball- round-shaped things I can associate with this word, because it sounds quite round to me.
I often seem to have even taste associations, and the word lipiec is for me forever connected with… salted peanuts! They just taste like lipiec.
I can have just the same associations with some other words, for example those related to lipiec, or that sound similarly, anyway these are my main synesthetic associations with this word.
I know it may seem strange and unrelatable for you, but for me words have always been sort of multisensory, which always helps me with learning new languages, writing, finding inspiration in the words, etc. I quite like it, even if it’s weird and I know only one person who has it similar, and he’s also blind.
My more normal associations include my Mum’s nameday, which is in lipiec, heat, holidays, fun, happiness, and generally lots of idyllic things.
I can’t say lipiec is my most favourite month – it’s usually pretty hot – but I can surely say it’s the month with the most beautiful name.
Something else I can tell you about lipiec is that it is also a Polish surname, and there are quite a few others derived from linden.
I’ve made an audiophile with one of my Polish speech synthesisers (called Jacek) saying this word, so you can get how it sounds naturally as English phonetics are pretty poor in comparison to Polish and it’s hard to explain things just with writing. https://www.dropbox.com/s/8qetmz42ol06nws/Lipiec_.mp3?dl=0 I hope it makes things a bit clearer for you.
What are your thoughts on the word lipiec? What comes to your mind when you hear it? Do you like it, or do you prefer July, or in any other language?