hiraeth

Welsh

FWOTD – 19 December 2021

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *hiraɨθ, from Proto-Celtic *sīraxto-, akin to Gaulish siraxta (“longing”). Compare Cornish hireth, Breton hiraezh, and Old Irish sírecht. By surface analysis, hir +‎ -aeth.

Pronunciation

• (North Wales, standard, colloquial) IPA^(key): /ˈhɪraɨ̯θ/
  • (North Wales, colloquial) IPA^(key): /ˈhɪrɛθ/
• (South Wales, standard) IPA^(key): /ˈhiːrai̯θ/, /ˈhɪrai̯θ/
  • (South Wales, colloquial) IPA^(key): /ˈhiːrɛθ/, /ˈhɪrɛθ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

hiraeth m (plural hiraethau or hiraethion, not mutable)

1. wistfulness; nostalgia; longing; homesickness; a deep feeling of yearning for something, someone or somewhere
2. (specifically of Wales) longing for a romanticized ideal of Wales or Welsh culture
3. regret

Related terms

• hiraethu

See also

• Portuguese saudade

References

• https://www.definitions.net/definition/hiraeth
• Williams, Robert (1865) “hiraeth”, in Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum: A Dictionary of the Ancient Celtic Language of Cornwall, in which the Words are elucidated by Copious Examples from the Cornish Works now remaining; With Translations in English​, London: Trubner & Co., page 217
• http://geiriadur.bangor.ac.uk/#Hiraeth
• https://geiriadur.uwtsd.ac.uk/index.php?page=ateb&term=Hiraeth&direction=we&type=all&whichpart=exact&search=#ateb_top