achyfi
Douglas G. Wilson
douglas at NB.NET
Mon Sep 11 20:46:00 UTC 2000
>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_. ....
Aha! I should have tried splitting it up! Several Web sites show "ach y fi"
-- also "ach-a-fi" -- as "a Welsh expression of disgust".
Apparently it appears in Dylan Thomas, "Under Milk Wood"; there is a
commentary including the expression at
http://jade.ccccd.edu/grooms/geirn1.htm
I think the expression is probably being likened to Yiddish "Oy vay" in one
Web item:
http://home.ccil.org/%7Ecowan/sessiwn/msg00298.html
I suspect that the Japanese lexicographers did an automated search for ALL
words in a huge body of English, and picked up a few marginal items. I
applaud the thoroughness. Of course the spaces may not be entirely fixed in
such an expression even in English, much less in Japanese.
-- Doug Wilson
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