Cat, in my words

cath : cat

The Fennas word for cat is cath. Cath is a last name. Cath means battle in Irish and Scots Gaelic.

How did I come up with this word? The Welsh word for cat is cath, the Irish word for cat is cat(!), and the Breton word for cat is kazh.

Not much to play with here. I haven't been using the letters K or Z, as in the Breton word. Both the Welsh and the Breton words end in H, so I thought I would do that in Fennas. My word for cat ends up being the same as Welsh (and Cornish).

Gray, in my words

liat : gray

The Fennas word for gray is liat. Liat is an uncommon last name. Liat is an unusual feminine first name. LIAT is an acronym for Leeward Islands Air Transport.

How did I come up with this word? The Welsh word for gray is llwyd, the Irish word for gray is liath, and the Breton word for gray is louet.

My previous Fennas word for gray was leit. Not a big change.

Green, in my words

gwed : green

The Fennas word for green is gwed.

How did I come up with this word? The Welsh word for green is gwyrdd or glas, the Irish word for green is glas or uaine (vivid green), and the Breton word for green is glas or gwer (artifical green). It's interesting to note that glas is a very broad Celtic color term for a darker color, which also means blue and sometimes gray.

Previously my Fennas word for green was gair and glyes.

White, in my words

byn : white

The Fennas word for the color white is byn. Byn is an uncommon last name. Byn is an unusual first name. In Swedish byn is the definite singular of by which means village. Byn is the name of a number of cities and towns in Sweden.

How did I come up with this word? The word for white in Welsh is gwyn, white in Irish is bán, white in Breton is gwenn.

My previous Fennas word for white was wenn. After some consideration, I decided to change my word to take more from the Irish word. Starting the word for white with W was perhaps too like English. The word for white in French, blanc, also starts with B.

Yellow, in my words

melui : yellow

The Fennas word for the color yellow is melui. Imloth Melui is a place mentioned in The Lord of the Rings noted for fragrant roses (in Sindarin melui means lovely, sweet). Melui is a city on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia.

How did I come up with this word? The Welsh word for yellow is melyn, the Irish word for yellow is buí, and the Breton word for yellow is melen.

My previous Fennas word for yellow was melar. The new word starts like the Welsh and Breton words for yellow, and ends like Irish word.