cwm

See also: Cwm and CWM

English

WOTD – 23 July 2010

A cwm on the south side of Rhinog Fawr, in Wales.

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Welsh cwm (“valley”). Doublet of combe.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /kuːm/, /kʊm/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Homophones: combe, coom, khoum (some pronunciations)
• Rhymes: -uːm

Noun

cwm (plural cwms)

1. A valley head created through glacial erosion and with a shape similar to an amphitheatre.

   Synonyms: cirque, combe, corrie

Translations

valley head created through glacial erosion

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 山側凹地／山侧凹地 (shāncè āodì)

• Czech: kar (cs) m
• Dutch: keteldal (nl) n, kaar (nl) n, U-dal n
• Esperanto: cirkvalo
• Finnish: onsilo (fi)
• French: cirque (fr)
• German: Kar (de) n
• Japanese: カール (ja) (kāru),圏谷 (kenkoku)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: botn (no) m

  Nynorsk: botn m

• Polish: cyrk lodowcowy (pl) m, kar (pl) m, kocioł (pl) m
• Russian: (ледниковый (ru) (lednikovyj)) цирк (ru) m (cirk)
• Serbo-Croatian: krnica (sh) f
• Spanish: circo (es)
• Welsh: cwm (cy)

Further reading

• cirque on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Welsh

Etymology

From Middle Welsh cwm, from Proto-Brythonic *komm, from Proto-Celtic *kumbā.

See also Breton komm (“trough”), Irish com, coim (“chest cavity”), French combe, English coomb and Old English cumb (“hollow; narrow valley”), Dutch kom (“bowl, basin”), German Kumpf (“vessel”), Ancient Greek κύμβη (kúmbē, “hollow”),Sanskrit कुम्भ (kumbha, “a pot, jug”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʊm/
• Rhymes: -ʊm

Noun

cwm m (plural cymau or cymoedd or cymydd)

1. valley, dale, glen

Descendants

• → English: cwm

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
cwm	gwm	nghwm	chwm
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

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