'Hiraeth' is a word that the Welsh say is untranslatable (at least into English) but is close (IMHO) to the Spanish/Catalan 'anhelo' in the sense of 'yearning' or 'longing'. Experts in other romance languages (BigWalt?) may confirm my suspicion that it has similar meanings there too. It also contains elements of 'lamentation', 'grief' and possibly most importantly, 'homesickness'. I say 'possibly' here because the Welsh have never really suffered a diaspora in the way that the Africans, Jews, Andaluz, Irish and others have, except to a much smaller extent. There are many Welsh people still living in Patagonia, Argentina in what was originally a Welsh settlement. Other Welsh emigrants went to north America, particularly to Pennsylvania. Scranton and Wilke's Barre were two places we were taught about in Welsh history as being Welsh 'centres' in the USA. 'Bryn Mawr', as in the University, is a Welsh phrase meaning 'Big Hill'. BTW 'mawr', meaning 'big', is not pronounced like 'more'; the vowel sounds like the 'o' in 'loud', or 'cow'. 'Hiraeth' is therefore lamenting the present because it is not like the glorious, mythical (possibly invented) past. I say 'possibly invented' because it is not at all clear if Welsh History is as 'truthful' as it is presented. One wonderful, Welsh historian, Gwyn Alf Williams, said that the poem 'Welsh History', which I posted recently, was "a fine poem which expresses some historical truths. It also sanctifies a monstrous historical lie". His thesis is that the historical presentation of Wales as an ancient society/culture of druids, bards, Arthurian knights etc is based on a wish to create an 'imagined community' as described in Benedict Anderson's wonderful book of that title. Imagining oneself as part of a community was often the beginning of nationalistic movements, based on the idea that "in the minds of each lives the image of their communion". Anderson states that "communities are to be distinguished, not by their falsity/genuineness, but by the style in which they are imagined". It is not important if the myths of origin, or histories of diasporas, or stories of persecution are historically true or not; what is important, for Anderson, is if they 'work' or not. Do they serve to unite people around a myth of origin, or whatever? As a strategy, does it serve a nationalistic purpose? Gwyn Alf Williams' thesis is that the Welsh have been guilty of creating an imagined community, and his book 'When Was Wales?' is an attempt to sort out the truth from the myth, if possible. His book is wonderfully written. Hiraeth is also wishing ahead to a bright future, a future which will return us to the glorious past so that we can live in an equally glorious present. This is, of course, paradoxical because, for me, wishing is future orientated and yearning is past orientated. Combine these two states of mind and time frames with the lamentation for the not-so-rosy present and we have key elements of hiraeth.
The accent / intonation is on the first syllable. 'Hir' means 'long' (metaphorically as in 'longing' and literally in words like 'hirfys', middle or longest finger) and sounds like 'Kir' as in 'Kirschwasser' (which appears in Steely Dan's Babylon Sisters, I think). The first syllable does not sound like 'here' / 'hear'. To pronounce the second syllable correctly you need to imagine Sylvester the cat (Tweety Pie's tormentee) trying to say 'Ith Justith, just aeth/ithe?' Put them together and you have Hir/aeth. I repeat that this is just MY take on Hiraeth. I'd like to hear other welsh jonilistas' versions too, as well as Wally's songs. Kate, is this something like what you were trying to express in your song? I'll finish here for today but as a special reward I'll post a Welsh poem (in English) instead of Galeano on Monday. Have a great weekend. meic
