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.

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)

nostalgia, longing, homesickness, a deep feeling of yearning for something, someone or somewhere. In reference to a Wales that never was or a longing to be reunited with Welsh culture.
regret

Related terms

hiraethu

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