Welsh: bant

[Gavril]

The Welsh word bant means "away", but I never encountered this word when I was studying Welsh (as I recall, my textbooks preferred the phrase i ffwrdd as a translation of "away").

Is bant considered standard Welsh, or is it seen as a regional (northern/southern) or colloquial word?

Diolch am hysbysrwydd

 

[Alxmrphi]

Haha I take it nobody's ever told you to Cachau bant

I've been out of Wales for the last 4 months, but I'm heading back in 3 weeks, so my mind's a bit out of it, but I've come across this in some articles on the Celtic hypothesis, so I can't tell you if it's really regional, but I think it's pretty standard. Ffwrdd is just another way of basically writing fford which means road in North Wales, in the south they don't really use ffordd, but rather heol/hewl (I think). I don't really concentrate on South Wales but I do remember coming across the absence of ffordd in South Wales, so I'd actually expect the i frwrdd might be an alternative down there, or it's that one that's tied to the north. I'd have to enquire to find out more details, this is just my patchy knowledge right now.

 

[Gavril]

Haha I take it nobody's ever told you to Cachau bant

I've been out of Wales for the last 4 months, but I'm heading back in 3 weeks, so my mind's a bit out of it, but I've come across this in some articles on the Celtic hypothesis, so I can't tell you if it's really regional, but I think it's pretty standard. Ffwrdd is just another way of basically writing fford which means road in North Wales, in the south they don't really use ffordd, but rather heol/hewl (I think). I don't really concentrate on South Wales but I do remember coming across the absence of ffordd in South Wales, so I'd actually expect the i frwrdd might be an alternative down there, or it's that one that's tied to the north. I'd have to enquire to find out more details, this is just my patchy knowledge right now.

I was taught to say ffordd rather than heol, which is strange, because I recall that my Welsh instructors/textbooks were more biased towards South Welsh dialect than North.

I'd forgotten that ffwrdd is not a "dictionary-approved" form of ffordd. If Google is any guide, though, the phrase i ffwrdd seems more common than i ffordd.

 

[Auflauf]

Helo! Native Welsh speaker here, I speak the mid-Wales dialect and would rarely say 'ffwrdd' (it is a Northern Welsh usage I believe). 'Bant' for 'away' is perfectly standard as far as I'm concerned, eg:

Cer bant = cer i ffwrdd = go away
Mae e wedi mynd bant = mae e wedi mynd i ffwrdd = he's gone awayAs for ffwrdd and ffordd, I have never seen ffordd used as a substitute for the former - i ffordd is incorrect, I believe.

Hope this helps!