No, it isn't a typo. I didn't know what the word meant, but I knew immediately where it originated - Wales.
cwm
PRONUNCIATION:
(koom)
MEANING:
noun: A steep bowl-shaped mountain basin, carved by glaciers. Also known as a cirque.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Welsh cwm (valley). Earliest documented use: 1853.
NOTES:
The letter w works as a vowel in the Welsh language and it has given us another such word (without a standard English vowel aeiou, or y): crwth (krooth) meaning crowd (an ancient Celtic stringed instrument). We have also borrowed a synonym of the word cwm from another language: cirque from French.
from A Word A Day
DickC
Loc: NE Washington state
jerryc41 wrote:
No, it isn't a typo. I didn't know what the word meant, but I knew immediately where it originated - Wales.
cwm
PRONUNCIATION:
(koom)
MEANING:
noun: A steep bowl-shaped mountain basin, carved by glaciers. Also known as a cirque.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Welsh cwm (valley). Earliest documented use: 1853.
NOTES:
The letter w works as a vowel in the Welsh language and it has given us another such word (without a standard English vowel aeiou, or y): crwth (krooth) meaning crowd (an ancient Celtic stringed instrument). We have also borrowed a synonym of the word cwm from another language: cirque from French.
from A Word A Day
No, it isn't a typo. I didn't know what the word ... (
show quote)
CWM is mentioned quite a few times in reference to Mt. Everest climbing books.
I have seen this word many times on descriptions of Mt. Everest treks but did not know how to pronounce. Thanks for the info.
Thanks for posting Jerry. Etymology is interesting.
"Sky" has no vowel too... "Y" being a consonant,
even though it is pronounced like "I''.
Julian wrote:
I have seen this word many times on descriptions of Mt. Everest treks but did not know how to pronounce. Thanks for the info.
Ooops, just realized someone had posted similar comment.
DickC
Loc: NE Washington state
A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y ??
I guess the Welsh take "double-u" seriously!
(Do they sweep with a "vacwm"?)
--Rich
DickC wrote:
A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y ??
Maybe my memory is faulty, but I thought the vowel list included “and sometimes W and Y”.
DickC
Loc: NE Washington state
Billbobboy42 wrote:
Maybe my memory is faulty, but I thought the vowel list included “and sometimes W and Y”.
I never heard W being in the vowel list, see if you can google it and find out.
Bloke
Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania
Probably best known in the hymn, "Cwm Rhondda", Rhondda valley.
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