malwod

Welsh

Etymology

From Old Welsh meluet, from Proto-Brythonic *melw- (“soft”), from Proto-Celtic *meldo- (“pleasant, mild”), *mlido (“soft”), from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥dus (“soft, weak”).

Compare Breton melc'hwed, Cornish melhwes, (compare Breton melw (“snot”)). Also see Gaulish *multon- (“sheep”), which could be related.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmalwɔd/

Noun

malwod f (collective, singulative malwoden or malwen)

1. snails
2. slugs

   Synonym: gwlithenni

3. (obsolete) turtles

   Synonym: crwbannod

4. (weaponry) slugs (pieces of metal fired from a gun)
   1. (transferred sense) segments (of orange etc.)

      Synonyms: rhannau, sugennau, moch, llygod, petalau

Hyponyms

• malwod cregyn (“snails”)
• (Northeast Wales) malwod noethlymun (“slugs”)

Derived terms

• malwod môr (“sea snails”)
• malwod pendoll (“leeches”)
• malwod troellog (“whorl snails”)
• cysgu yn llety’r falwoden (“to sleep by an outside wall”, literally “to sleep in the snail's lodgings”)

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
malwod	falwod	unchanged	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Matasović, Ranko (2009) “meldo-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 262
• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “malwod”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies