Idioms are a feature of many languages. Many have common origins , others can depend on the specific cultures and traditions in which they were formed.
Welsh idioms fall into both categories. We share many of them with English (and other languages). Some can be straight translations of the English (though this doesn't mean the English came first), others will be familiar to English speakers in terms of their meaning but use different words, and others will be uniquely Welsh.
It's this last category which many of the following fall into. They are sayings full of wisdom and wit which simply work to perfection in the Welsh language. Many of these examples come from Llyfr o Idiomau Cymraeg, by RE Jones.
1. Cysgu fel ci bwtsiwr
Literally means: To sleep like a butcher’s dog (ie with one eye open (to look out for pieces of meat being dropped))
Meaning: To sleep with one eye open
2. Ara bach a bob yn dipyn mae sdicio bys i dîn gwybedyn
Literally means: You have to go very slowly and bit by bit to get your finger up a fly’s backside
Meaning: Patience is a virtue
3. Fel rhech mewn pot jam
Literally means: Like a fart in a jam jar
Meaning: Useless
4. Fel cneifio mochyn: llawer o dwrw, ychydig o wlan
Literally means: Like shearing a pig: lots of noise, not much wool
Meaning: A job or task where there’s a lot of effort for little reward
5. Rhesi tatws mor gam a phisio mochyn
Literally means: Rows of potatoes as crooked as pig’s pi*s
Meaning: A term to describe bad ploughing
6. Dywyll fel bola buwch
Literally means: As dark as a cow’s stomach
Meaning: Very dark
7. Gwep fel wythnos wlyb
Literally means: A face like a wet week
Meaning: Miserable-looking
8. Bwrw hen wragedd a ffyn
Literally means: Raining old wives and walking sticks
Meaning: Raining really heavily (like raining cats and dogs)
9. Traed fel chwarter i dri
Literally means: Feet like quarter to three
Meaning: To stand with feet as if pointing to that time on a clock
10. Trefn yr iâr ddu: cachu tu fewn a bwyta tu fas
Literally means: As much orderliness as a black hen: sh**s inside and eats outside
Meaning: Disorderly
11. Siarad fel melin bupur
Literally means: Speaks like a pepper mill
Meaning: Speaks non-stop
12. Codi pais ar ol pisio
Literally means: To lift the petticoat after pi*sing
Meaning: To act too late (the equivalent of crying over spilt milk)
13. Ennill ar y menyn, colli ar y caws
Literally means: To win on the butter but lose on the cheese
Meaning: A situation in which different actions or options result in no eventual gain or loss (the equivalent of 'swings and roundabouts')
14. Fel chwys plismon
Literally means: Like a policeman’s sweat
Meaning: Very rare
15. Man a man a mwnci
Literally means: We're not sure a literal translation of this exists!
Meaning: Might as well
16. Gwell gweld pen buwch na chynffon tarw
Literally means: Better to see a cow’s head than a bull’s tail
Meaning: Better to see what you can trust than what you can't
17. Diawl pen pentan
Literally means: Devil on the mantelpiece
Meaning: Someone who appears to be kind but is cruel behind closed doors
18. Breuddwyd gwrach wrth ei hewyllys
Literally means: The dream of a witch according to her will
Meaning: Wishful thinking
