Wiktionary

bara brith

English edit

WOTD – 1 March 2020

Etymology edit

 
Bara brith is usually served sliced and buttered

Borrowed from Welsh bara brith (literally “speckled bread”), from bara (“bread”) + brith (“brindled, mottled, speckled”).[1]

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

bara brith (uncountable)

  1. A Welsh yeast bread enriched with dried fruit; also, a Welsh fruitcake made with self-raising flour but no yeast.
    • 1878 December 21, R. P. Hampton Roberts, “Christmas Chronicles of Llanfairpwllycrochon”, in Notes and Queries: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, General Readers, etc., volume X (5th Series), London: Published […] [b]y John Francis, →OCLC, page 490, column 2:
      Then there was the bun-loaf, or bara brith, one of the grand institutions of Llanfairpwllycrochon. Many were the pains taken over this huge loaf—made large enough to last a week or fortnight, according to the appetites of the juvenile partakers— [...]
    • 1899, Temple Bar: A London Magazine for Town and Country Readers, volume CXVII, London: Richard Bentley, […]; New York, N.Y.: Willmer and Rogers, →OCLC, page 532:
      We must go all the same, Shonat anwyl (dear), or else we shall get no bara brith (currant bread) after the tea-parties. And fair play to Mrs. Jones, she does make very good bara brith, and plenty of it—I will say that for her, yes indeed!
    • 1976, Nancy Bond, “Wolf!”, in A String in the Harp, New York, N.Y.: Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, →ISBN, page 235:
      A little nervously, Jen tried making her own Bara Brith at Bryn Celin one Wednesday afternoon. [...] The loaves came out of the oven miraculously rounded and golden, filling the house with their rich smell, and Jen felt like crowing. From flour and sugar and yeast she had made her own bread instead of buying it in a shop.
    • 1992, Joanna Bogle, “St Patrick”, in A Book of Feasts and Seasons, new edition, Leominster, Herefordshire: Gracewing, published 2002, →ISBN, page 94:
      You eat the bara brith in thick slices, spread with butter, at tea-time.
      The recipe in this book calls for self-raising flour instead of yeast.
    • 2000, Beth Hensperger, “Express-lane Bread: No-yeast Quick Breads”, in Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook: A Master Baker’s 300 Favorite Recipes for Perfect-every-time Bread—from Every Kind of Machine, Boston, Mass.: The Harvard Common Press, →ISBN, page 554:
      This loaf may sound unusual, but it is a favorite tea bread among quick bread lovers and very old-fashioned. While bara brith can also be made with yeast, the main requirement is that the cake be speckled with dried fruit steeped for a few hours in tea, rather like a simple fruitcake the Brits so love.
    • 2014, Claire Clark, “Bara Brith: Wales”, in 80 Cakes from around the World, Bath, Somerset: Absolute Press, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 34:
      A good bara brith always calls for the fruit to be soaked overnight in strong tea. The cake improves with age, and is really good three or four days after baking. Or you can serve it warm from the oven, with lashings of salted butter and drizzled with more honey.
      The recipe in this book calls for self-raising flour instead of yeast.
    • 2014, Judith Thomas, “Patagonia Pilgrims”, in All in the Head: & Other Tales with a Twist, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Matador, →ISBN, page 105:
      They spoke Welsh and she didn't. They cooked Welsh cakes and Bara-brith, a cross between cake and bread, and she didn't. She had long ago succumbed to the bakery section at Waitrose.

Translations edit

References edit

  1. ^ “bara brith, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading edit

Welsh edit

Etymology edit

From bara (“bread”) +‎ brith (“speckled, mottled”), literally "speckled bread".

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

bara brith m (uncountable)

  1. bara brith (a Welsh currant loaf)

Mutation edit

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

References edit

  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “bara brith”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
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