mellt

Welsh

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *meldʰ-. Related to Old Norse Mjǫllnir.

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /meːɬd/, [meːɬt]
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /mɛɬd/, [mɛɬt]
• Rhymes: -ɛɬd

Noun

mellt f (collective, singulative mellten)

1. lightning

   Synonym: lluched

   Maen nhw'n darogan mellt a tharanau.

   They're predicting thunder and lightning.

2. (in the singulative) a flash or bolt of lightning

   Fe gafodd ei daro gan fellten.

   He/It was struck by (a bolt of) lightning.

Usage notes

Welsh may employ the plural/collective mellt or singular/singulative mellten to correspond to English collective noun lightning depending on the context, e.g.

• Welest ti’r mellt ’na?

  Did you see that lightning? (i.e. those (several) flashes of lightning)

• Welest ti’r fellten ’na?

  Did you see that lightning? (i.e. that (single) flash of lightning)

Coordinate terms

• taran (“thunder”)

Derived terms

• fel mellten (“like lightning, like a flash”)
• mellt a tharanau (“thunder and lightning”)

Mutation

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

Further reading

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