-fa

See also: Appendix:Variations of "fa"

Welsh

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *magos (“field”). Compare Cornish -va, Old Irish mag, from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s.^[1]

According to Morris-Jones,^[2] in some cases (such as lladdfa) instead from the verbnoun ending -fan (as in hedfan), from Proto-Celtic *-man.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /va/

Suffix

-fa f (noun-forming suffix, plural -feydd or -faoedd or -fâu)

forms nouns referring to types of locations from verbs and nouns
Synonym: -le

‎swydd (“job”) + ‎-fa → ‎swyddfa (“office”)

‎meddyg (“doctor”) + ‎-fa → ‎meddygfa (“doctor's surgery”)

‎llysiau (“plants”) + ‎-fa → ‎llysieufa (“herbarium”)

‎meithrin (“to nurse, to rear”) + ‎-fa → ‎meithrinfa (“nursery”)

‎amlosgi (“to cremate”) + ‎-fa → ‎amlosgfa (“crematorium”)

‎myned (“to go”) + ‎-fa → ‎mynedfa (“entrance”)

‎cronni (“to collect; to dam”) + ‎-fa → ‎cronfa (“reservoir”)
forms abstract nouns signifying actions and results from verbs and nouns
‎dal (“to catch, to seize”) + ‎-fa → ‎dalfa (“custody”)

‎sengi (“to trample”) + ‎-fa → ‎sangfa (“oppression, affliction”)

‎tagu (“to choke, to strangle”) + ‎-fa → ‎sangfa (“choking, strangulation”)

‎lladd (“to kill, to slaughter”) + ‎-fa → ‎lladfa (“slaughter, carnage; corpses”)

‎cyboli (“to jumble”) + ‎-fa → ‎cybolfa (“hotchpotch, jumble”)

‎ymladd (“to fight”) + ‎-fa → ‎cybolfa (“fight, battle”)

‎gwasgu (“to squeeze”) + ‎-fa → ‎gwasgfa (“pang; fit, faint; anguish; pressure”)

‎cosi (“to itch; to beat”) + ‎-fa → ‎cosfa (“itch; beating, hiding”)

‎gyrru (“to drive”) + ‎-fa → ‎gyrfa (“course, journey; career, occupation”)

‎gradd (“degree; rank”) + ‎-fa → ‎graddfa (“scale; gradient”)

‎lluwch (“driven snow”) + ‎-fa → ‎lluwchfa (“snowdrift”)

Derived terms

References

^ R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “-fa”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
^ Morris Jones, John (1913), A Welsh Grammar, Historical and Comparative, Oxford: Clarendon Press, § 143 iii 16

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

[2] Morris Jones, John (1913), A Welsh Grammar, Historical and Comparative, Oxford: Clarendon Press, § 143 iii 16

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