> Now, the Welsh words for blue and green, as we know, are 'glas' and
> 'gwyrdd'. 'Glas', as far as I know, is a bona fide P-Celtic word. 'Gwyrdd',
> however, looks suspiciously to me like it may be a Latin borrowing; well,
> ahem, I don't actually know what the Latin for 'green' is, but assuming
> that it was something similar to the French 'vert' or the root of the
> English 'verdant', then 'vert'->'gwyrdd' is at least plausible, cf.
> 'Venedotia'->'Gwynedd' and 'Venta Silurum'->'Gwent'... If this is so, I
> wonder if it was the not-so-colour-blind Romans who intorduced the concept
> of 'green' to a colour-blind Welsh population who hadn't made the
> distinction before.
>
> Or maybe I'm just having a funny five minutes..

Brilliantly deduced Steve. Having just dug out my trusty copy of 'Yr
Elfen Ladin yn yr Iaith Gymraeg' (**) I find that gwyrdd is indeed
derived from the latin uiridis. There are a number of changes:
(1) the first -i- changes to -y- (same as in fides -> ffydd),
(2) the unaccented last syllable disappears (same as discipulus ->
disgybl),
(3) the initial u- changes to gw- (same as uitrem -> gwydr)
and (4) when b,d or m come between r- and a vowel, they mutate,
d -> dd, m,b -> f (e.g. terminus -> terfyn).

Nigel

(**) 'Yr Elfen Ladin yn yr Iaith Gymraeg', gan Henry Jones, Gwasg
Prifysgol Cymru, Caerdydd, 1943 (Adargraffwyd 1980) pp.53
ISBN 0 7083 0769 8. Dw i ddim yn siwr am y pris - fe dalais i 1.95 o
bunnau ym 1991, yn Heffers yng Nghaergrawnt. Llyfryn diddorol iawn.