Dailingual‘Gavel’ yw’r Saesneg am forthwyl bach bydd beirniaid yn dal yn eu llaw.
Ydy geiriaduron Saesneg yn esbonio ystyr y gair Cymraeg “gafael” wrth esbonio #hanes y gair hwnnw?
Methu cael gafael ar un sydd yn dweud hynny…
“Gafael” is a Welsh word for holding something in your hand.
A gavel is a small hammer judges hold in their hand.
Do English #dictionaries mention that in gavel’s #etymology?
Not important, in their judgment.
Lando@Dailingual Genuine question: do we know that the English and Welsh words are related? Etymonline places the word at 1805 American English but admits the origin is unknown, possibly linked to German.
“Gafael” and “gavel” definitely look similar. But if there’s one thing I know about etymology it’s that looks can be deceiving, so I don’t want to make any assumptions.
@LandoDev no we don’t know. The frustration is, that experts in the English language look anywhere but Welsh. So it should be there for info at least?
@Dailingual Thanks for the insight. A lot of languages have been historically overlooked, so I would not be surprised if linguistics failed to attribute a word to Welsh when it should have. It’s important to point that stuff out.
That said, etymologies are usually very concise and give the most accurate or well supported theories. Unless there is specific evidence that the word is related to another language (not just looks alike), I wouldn’t expect them to have it listed in the etymology
@LandoDev this post prompted a few different responses, including someone saying that "gavel" stems from French originally...c'est la vie!