The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #93035   Message #1786605
Posted By: HuwG
18-Jul-06 - 04:25 PM
Thread Name: folklore: Welsh pronunciation & other Welsh stuff
Subject: RE: BS: Welsh pronunciation & other Welsh stuff
Llanfair = Church of St. Mary (Mair)
Llandudno = Church of St. Tudno

Ah, the joys of the Soft Mutation (Y treiglad meddal). And there are others. Mutation of the leading letter of a word is (as far as I know) unique to Celtic or Gaelic languages. It makes following a sentence with a dictionary nearly impossible unless you already know the relevant grammar, as a word will mysteriously begin with one letter, but belong elsewhere entirely.

Yes, we do it to annoy !