achyfi

[Mark E. Shoulson]

>Cc: rmandel at world.std.com, mark at kli.org
>From: Mark_Mandel at dragonsys.com
>Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2000 15:15:17 -0400
>
>"Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET> writes:
>
>>>>>>
>Anybody recognize the word 'achyfi'?
>
>This turns up as an 'English' word in one Japanese/English dictionary,
>where it seems to mean something like "Yuck!" or "Disgusting!" or
>"Annoying!"
>
>A Web search returns two hits for 'achyfi'. In one it is given as a Welsh
>word meaning 'repulsive' -- but this is found in a very dubious or
>unreliable context (a quotation from a German article about the
>relationship between the Welsh and Mandan languages). The other hit is as
>an unexplained entry in a huge word list.
>
>I can't find it in any English (or Welsh) dictionary immediately available
>to me.
><<<<<
>
>I have seen "ach y fi" (spaced thus) in Welsh dialogue in, iirc, Susan
>Cooper's prize-winning YA fantasy novel (in English) _The Grey King_. I
>don't know just what it means, but I suspect it's literally something like
>'woe is me' (with mutation on the /m/?), idiomatically perhaps an
>exclamation of surprise and/or dismay; like "oy gevalt!", which should not
>be translated as 'oh, violence!'. I will try to remember to check in the
>text at home (unless it's still packed away), where I also have _Teach
>Yourself Welsh_. But by the time I read tomorrow's ADS-L digest, hopefully
>someone more knowledgeable will have replied.

I can't be positive (not sure which book to look in, or where to look for
the book), but actually I believe the phrase is really "ych a fi", and not
"ach y fi".  This makes more sense, since "a" is a preposition in Welsh
(it's also a pronoun and a conjunction and a bunch of other things), but
"y" isn't.

>I believe the pronunciation would be approximately [ax at vi] (x = voiceless
>velar fricative, @ = schwa, rest as IPA; stressed, I guess, on first or
>third syllable].

And if I'm right it's the other way 'round: [@xavi].  Stressed on first
syllable (makes a good "UCCCCH!") and secondary stress on the pronoun "fi".

~mark