Gwersi? gwersi?

[Eilthireach]

Hello!

There is the opinion expressed that gwersi would be a 'cringeworthy" mistake and Gwersi is the correct plural of Gwers.

Unfortunately the opinion does not carry further proof.

Can this be confirmed by a Welsh speaker here?

Thank you very much in advance!

Eilthireach /|\.

gwersi is a cringeworthy inaccuracy used mistakenly by the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids (OBOD) instead of the correct Welsh word Gwersi, meaning lessons. The Welsh Language Society have confirmed that the correct spelling and pronunciation is Gwersi, and that gwersi as a word does not and has never existed in Welsh. OBOD produce a distance learning course, which they call the gwersi (aargh!), in the form of booklets and CD's. Through the use of these lessons, druids may learn about their traditions and progress on their spiritual path through the grades of Bard, Ovate and finally Druid.

source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_m ... ord_gwersi

[Ailim]

I was also told similar about a year ago, and have since tried to use gwersi when referring to multiple lessons. I use the singular form of "gwers" for 1 lesson. But would also like to know if I'm using the right terminology please.

[Badger Bob]

Oddly enough I use the word Gwersi in my own notes, journals etc. I don't know why I do that, maybe I picked it up from learning a bit of Welsh and never realised.

[serenarian]

I'm drawing on my AS Level Welsh here for the benefit of the board... The correct spelling is indeed Gwersi. I think the misspelling of 'gwersi' comes from an adapted spelling of the above word, i.e gwersau, which would also be correct, but only with the 'a'. I believe this is the case although I am far from a fluent Welsh speaker. If anyone could confirm or correct I would be most grateful.

[Eilthireach]

Thank you very much Serenarian!

I'll try to use Gwersi from now on.

Eilthireach /|\.

[Dysgwr]

Might the confusion also come from the fact that both gwersu and gwersi are pronounced the same.

Well they seem to be from the limited Welsh (gogledd Cymru) I'm learning

[ennys]

In southern Welsh they are, I thought, but in Northern welsh the 'u' is a different sound...

[Dysgwr]

Me too at first, ennys, but in the books and CDs I used (Cwrs Mynediad) there doesn't seem to be that much variation, to my ear anyway.

[ennys]

really? I have learnt a different pronunciation for both sounds...The u was a very weird pne while the i was just like..a dutch or french i.

But still I am no expert.

[Dysgwr]

Well the pronunciation they give for words ending in -u, like canu(sing) is like the english would pronounce can-knee.

Although I'm just a beginner.

[Mab-y-meini]

I am a fluent Welsh speaker and can assure all of you that there is no such word as gwersi. The correct form of the plural of Gwers is Gwersi. Do not confuse this with the similar pronunciation of "i" and "u" in South Wales, which is a completely different matter.

[Philip]

Hello All,

The ADF's motto is 'As Fast as a Speeding Oak' - well I think we should adopt a similar one. When we were initially alerted to the error a few years ago we began correcting all references on the website before moving on to the printed references. About half way through that work we received conflicting advice that the plural was in fact Gwersau as in Eisteddfodau, rather than Gwersi. Now that we have determined that Gwersi is the correct spelling we are instituting a full change in all the printed materials. It will however take several years to allow print stocks to be exhausted and corrections made to new material, but in the meanwhile 'Erratum' slips will be printed to go out in the course material.
Yours beside the warmth of the fire,
Philip /|\

[Bard of the Dawn]

gwersi? I am cringing. It's just plain wrong. There's no difference in pronunciation between north and south in this case.

[Nightfalls]

ah philip, you beat me to editing the answer. Apparently the one who had the original post on wiki answers did not like obod too much. A shame that some people let personal feelings get in the way of making informed, neutral answers to legitimate questions. Being a southerner in the US and having the southern draw on my vowels i just call them Gwers. I figured trying to find the plural of Gwers would be like trying to find the plural of Moose or Sheep.

[treegod]

"I figured trying to find the plural of Gwers would be like trying to find the plural of Moose or Sheep."

Lol! Apparently the plural for chicken is actually chickens, but I still say I have some chicken

[John T. Folden]

Lol! Apparently the plural for chicken is actually chickens, but I still say I have some chicken

If they're in your yard it's "chickens", if they're on your plate it's "chicken."

[treegod]

Yes, I know that. I discovered that a few months ago. And yet I still refer to the plural things in my chicken coop as "chicken". My daily chant is "I'm just going to see the chicken. Even my family do it! I'm not sure if it's an internal family mistake, a colloquialism or something that comes from urbanites being forgetting the rural usage and using the urban supermarket version for living chooks as well.

For some reason when I say "chickens" it feels wrong, like I'm saying sheeps. It's that ingrained.

I think I've officially come off topic...

[Welsh Mythology]

In Welsh, the singular is gwers, plural gwersi, not gwersau. gwersi is a mistake, the u denotes a verb, and the correct verb for that kind of thing would be dysgu. Not to worry though, you'll only make Welsh speakers cringe!

[Selene]

Hi, Welsh Mythology,

What you see here is a very old thread (that I had totally forgotten about!). Prior to March 2010, OBOD referred to its lessons as g w e r s u. When Philip announced that the word we had used was incorrect (see his March 23, 2010, post earlier in this thread) I made an across-the-board edit that changed all instances of the incorrect word to the correct one, i.e., "g w e r s u" to gwersi. Thus it's no longer even possible to write g w e r s u unless you put spaces or periods or something between the letters! Thanks for your input, but we'd actually figured it out a while back and I should have taken this thread down long before now. So I'll go ahead and lock the thread and leave it in place for a bit so everyone can see the most recent posts, then we'll archive it so nobody else will get confused by the (confusing!) wording here!

Welcome to the board, Welsh Mythology, and we look forward to hearing more from you!