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Webster 1913 Edition

Welsh

Welsh

,
Adj.
[AS.
wælisc
,
welisc
, from
wealh
a stranger, foreigner, not of Saxon origin, a Welshman, a Celt, Gael; akin to OHG.
walh
, whence G.
wälsch
or
welsch
, Celtic, Welsh, Italian, French, Foreign, strange, OHG.
walhisc
; from the name of a Celtic tribe. See
Walnut
.]
Of or pertaining to Wales, or its inhabitants.
[Sometimes written also
Welch
.]
Welsh flannel
,
a fine kind of flannel made from the fleece of the flocks of the Welsh mountains, and largely manufactured by hand.
–
Welsh glaive
, or
Welsh hook
,
a weapon of war used in former times by the Welsh, commonly regarded as a kind of poleax.
Fairholt.
Craig.
–
Welsh mortgage
(O. Eng. Law)
,
a species of mortgage, being a conveyance of an estate, redeemable at any time on payment of the principal, with an understanding that the profits in the mean time shall be received by the mortgagee without account, in satisfaction of interest.
Burrill.
–
Welsh mutton
,
a choice and delicate kind of mutton obtained from a breed of small sheep in Wales.
–
Welsh onion
(Bot.)
,
a kind of onion (
Allium fistulosum
) having hollow inflated stalks and leaves, but scarcely any bulb, a native of Siberia. It is said to have been introduced from Germany, and is supposed to have derived its name from the German term wälsch foreign.
–
Welsh parsley
,
hemp, or halters made from hemp.
[Obs. & Jocular]
J. Fletcher.
–
Welsh rabbit
.
See under
Rabbit
.

Welsh

,
Noun.
1.
The language of Wales, or of the Welsh people.
2.
pl.
The natives or inhabitants of Wales.
☞ The Welsh call themselves Cymry, in the plural, and a Welshman Cymro, and their country Cymru, of which the adjective is Cymreig, and the name of their language Cymraeg. They are a branch of the Celtic family, and a relic of the earliest known population of England, driven into the mountains of Wales by the Anglo-Saxon invaders.

Webster 1828 Edition

Welsh

WELSH

,
Adj.
[G., foreign, strange, Celtic.] Pertaining to the Welsh nation.

WELSH

,
Noun.
1.
The language of Wales or of the Welsh.
2.
The general name of the inhabitants of Wales. The word signifies foreigners or wanderers, and was given to this people by other nations, probably because they came from some distant country. The Welsh call themselves Cymry, in the plural, and a Welshman Cymro, and their country Cymra, of which the adjective is Cymreig, and the name of their language, Cymraeg. They are supposed to be the Cimbri of Jutland.

Definition 2024

Welsh

Welsh

See also: welsh

English

Adjective

Welsh ‎(not comparable)

  1. (now historical) (Native) British; pertaining to the Celtic peoples who inhabited much of Britain before the Roman occupation. [from 5thc.]
    • 1985, Michael Wood, In Search of the Trojan War:
      The Tudors, it was argued, were of Welsh or ancient British descent.
  2. (near obsolete) Foreign; non-native. [10th-16thc.]
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xxiij, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVIII:
      By my hede sayd syr Gareth I wylle ryde vnto my lord sir launcelot for to helpe hym / […] / ye shalle not soo said sir Bors by my counceylle / onles that ye were desguysed / ye shalle see me dysguysed said syre Gareth / and there with al he aspyed a wallysshe knyghte where he was to repose hym
  3. Of or pertaining to Wales. [from 11thc.]
  4. Of or pertaining to the Celtic language of Wales. [from 16thc.]
  5. Designating plants or animals from or associated with Wales. (See Derived terms.) [from 17thc.]

Derived terms

Translations

Proper noun

Welsh

  1. The Welsh language. [from 10th c.]
    • 1832, Queen Victoria, journal, 6 Aug 1832:
      9 minutes to 2. We just stopped to have our horses' mouths washed, and there all people spoke welsh.
  2. (collectively) The people of Wales. [from 11th c.]
  3. A surname​ for someone who was a Welshman or a Celt.
  4. A breed of pig, kept mainly for bacon.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

  • Wiktionary's coverage of Welsh terms

References

  1. ↑ Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʋɛlʃ/

Etymology

From English Welsh.

Noun

Welsh n ‎(uncountable)

  1. Welsh, the language.

Synonyms

Adjective

Welsh ‎(not comparable)

  1. Welsh

Inflection

Inflection of Welsh
uninflected Welsh
inflected Welshe
comparative —
positive
predicative/adverbial Welsh
indefinite m./f. sing. Welshe
n. sing. Welsh
plural Welshe
definite Welshe
partitive Welsh

Synonyms

welsh

welsh

See also: Welsh

English

Alternative forms

Verb

welsh ‎(third-person singular simple present welshes, present participle welshing, simple past and past participle welshed)

  1. (offensive) To swindle someone by not paying a debt, especially a gambling debt.

Usage notes

  • The use of this term is sometimes considered offensive, especially by Welsh people, because it is taken as a negative stereotype of the Welsh.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style (2005, ISBN 0618604995): "Etymologists can find no firm evidence that the verb welsh, meaning "to swindle a person by not paying a debt" or "to fail to fulfill an obligation," is derived from Welsh, the people of Wales."

Etymology

From Middle English Welische, from Old English wīlisc, wylisc ‎(“foreigner; Celt”), from Proto-Germanic *walhiskaz ‎(“Celt; later Roman”), from *walhaz ‎(“Celt, Roman”) (compare Old English wealh), from the name of the Gaulish tribe, the Volcae (recorded only in Latin contexts). Historically the tribe's name has been linked to an animal, likely Gaulish *wolco- ‎(“wolf”), as Caesar described the Celts having fought with huge dogs, in turn from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos.[1]

This word was borrowed from Germanic into Slavic (compare Old Church Slavonic Влахъ ‎(Vlakhŭ, “Vlachs, Romanians”), Byzantine Greek Βλάχος ‎(Blákhos)).

Compare Walloon, walnut, Vlach, Walach.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /wɛlʃ/

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