The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #104596   Message #2144754
Posted By: Malcolm Douglas
09-Sep-07 - 03:28 PM
Thread Name: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
English 'crowd' (in this context) is a loan-word from Welsh. Whether the final consonant has hardened in English from original ð or whether it has softened in Welsh, I don't know; but I'd suspect the former, perhaps reinforced by print and the inevitable confusion of ð with d as the additional letter symbols used in Old and Middle English fell out of use.