#trawsryweddol

[llyfrenfys]

PLEASE TELL US ABOUT Y DDRAIG TRAWS!

Certainly! I'm more than happy to oblige.

First though I'm gonna need to tldr: the history of Y Ddraig Goch before we get onto the (accidentally) canonically trans part.

A brief history of Y Ddraig Goch:

(The modern Welsh flag)

Y Ddraig Goch first appears in the tales of the Mabinogi (Charlotte Guest version) in the tale of Lludd and Llefelys where it is fighting a white dragon. The fight is also described/expanded upon in the c. 829 AD text Historia Brittonum (attributed to Nennius) - where the red dragon represents Wales and the white dragon represents the Anglo-Saxons. In the story the red dragon triumphs over the white. Of course, Geoffrey of Monmouth also covers the story c. 1136 in Historia Regnum Brittaniae in which he introduces the concept of the red dragon heralding the arrival of King Arthur.

Geoffrey of Monmouth claims Arthur used a banner featuring a golden dragon. But we also know the accuracy of Monmouth can be questionable at times. Owain Glyndŵr did use a banner with a golden dragon called Y Ddraig Aur - raised in 1401 at Caernarfon - Glyndŵr chose this banner as a nod to the supposed banner of Arthur and his father.

Later on the Tudor monarchs (being a Welsh family) adopted a red dragon on a white and green background in their heraldry. Eventually Y Ddraig Goch on a white and green background became the official badge of Wales in 1800. The design became the official flag of Wales in 1959.

Y Ddraig Traws:

Now for the thing you're all here for -

So, as outlined, the history of the dragon as a national symbol of Wales goes back a long way. If we're just talking post-1959, there's some interesting implications for Y Ddraig Goch's depiction.

This is what the Welsh flag (and Y Ddraig Goch) looked like in 1959 when it was officially adopted as the flag of Wales. It looks broadly the same as the first flag and has some common features - such as not having a penis (or, as in the correct heraldic terminology - a pizzle). Meanwhile, in the arms of the Tudors (specifically Henry VII)

(Tudor dragon with pizzle) vs (dragon on the flag of Cardiff - pizzleless)

the penis is almost always included. So much to the point that the present royal family still includes the penis. While pretty much 0 depictions of the dragon in Wales include a penis. So you could interpret this as the dragon is seen as male only by the British royal family and as female everywhere else (which kinda implies that at some point the Tudor dragon had an mtf transition in Wales and she keeps getting misgendered by the royal family every time she is depicted in (mostly) England).

So much to the point that in 1995 this pound coin was made by the Royal Mint featuring the pizzle on the dragon with all four feet touching the ground as opposed to standing up (passant rather than rampant).

But in Wales you'd be hard pressed to see a pizzled dragon anywhere. Ergo, we can only conclude Y Ddraig Goch is trans and she transitioned in Wales and keeps getting misgendered in England.

[note: This is mostly tongue in cheek - but I do think it's fun to extrapolate that the Welsh dragon is trans because of the differences in depiction between Wales and England. Like many things Welsh, it is misrepresented by England and the idea of the Welsh dragon being misgendered only in England is, I think, a good metaphor for a whole lot of English treatment of Wales.]

Unrelatedly, there is a gay Welsh flag held at the National Museum of Wales which has a very wonky dragon which I find very endearing.

(cleaned up version I made)

So much so I made it an emoji in my Welsh bilingual LGBTQIA+ Discord (requirements for joining are - be 16+, either speak or are learning Welsh and identify as LGBTQIA+ in some way. Dm for link!).

(triaist ti 'you tried' emoji)

~ Completely unrelatedly ~ never forget the time someone was trying to homophobic to me by suggesting that I was disrespecting all the soldiers who died 'for the Welsh flag' by making it rainbow colours and not red - arguing that any change of colour of the dragon was disrespectful. Reader, my bus pass at the time for Mid Wales Travel had a purple dragon on it.

[pethaucwiar]

y gair Gymraeg am "gock" yw pidynes, fe'i pasiwch ymlaen

[wildermannawyddan]

MARI LWYD AT PRIDE She’s come to sing her way into your polycule/queer theory bookclub  Balchder Hapus / Happy Pride

[sheepfroggy]

LGBTQIA+ Vocabulary in Welsh!

Hey, everyone! Since I'm a queer Welsh person, I figured it was important I share some of the common queer terminology we use in our day to day lives, but in Welsh! Enjoy!!

Lesbian - Lesbiaidd

Gay - Hoyw

Bisexual - Deurywiol

Transgender - Trawsryweddol

Pansexual - Panrywiol

Non-binary - Anneuaidd

Queer - Cwiar (Can also be seen just as queer)

Questioning - Cwestiynu

All the information on this post has come from Stonewall, who's page has more terms than what I'm sharing here. Please take a look if that interests you. Also, feel free to share any additions or corrections! <3

[seth-the-hobbit]

“I love my LGBT friends” in Welsh

Rydw i'n garu fy ffrindiau lesbiaidd

Rydw i'n garu fy ffrindiau hoyw

Rydw i'n garu fy ffrindiau deurywiol

Rydw i'n garu fy ffrindiau trawsryweddol

.

Please don’t hesitate to ask if you want another identity or language to be made - simply send the correct words in the language and I will make the edit

[llyfrenfys]

Gilbert Baker pride flag stripe meanings yn Gymraeg

Made some edits of the Gilbert Baker pride flag with the meanings in Welsh. Free to use with credit/link to me.

[llyfrenfys]

Llyfr Enfys x Hanes LHDT+ Cymru

Helô pawb! I am here today with to announce that I've been working with Hanes LHDT+ Cymru to publish the second chapter of my undergraduate dissertation "What drove the development of Welsh-language LGBTQIA+ terminology 1972-2022” for free on their blog!

Find the chapter here: https://lgbtqcymru.swansea.ac.uk/2023/10/03/the-post-1957-shift-in-lgbtqia-language-in-wales/

Some of you may also remember that I have worked with Hanes LHDT+ Cymru before and written some blogs for them. You can find them here:

Term Anniversaries- Vital Landmarks for Welsh LGBTQIA+ History (April 2023)

A brief history of Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex and Other terminology in Welsh dictionaries (Nov 2022)

Rhagenwau Rhyfedd- The Wonderful World of Weird Welsh Pronouns (Sept 2022)

Queer Ancestry- A look into the familial lives of some of Wales’ Queer historical figures (July 2022)

Papurau Pinc | Pink Papers: 18th-21st Century Welsh language newspaper reporting on Queer folk (June 2022)

The Case of the 450 year-old Word: A Queer Welsh slur throughout the centuries (June 2022)

[llyfrenfys]

Welsh Gender Neutral Family Terms

We've come up with some gender neutral Welsh family terms in the LGBTQIA+ Welsh discord I run (dm for link) lately and so far people seem to like the terms. So, this is an introduction to some of the terms we've come up with so far.

I plan to make polls eventually with these terms and any other suggestions you might have and run a little tournament to see which terms are favoured most by Welsh speaking LGBTQIA+ people.

Without further ado, here are the terms:

(f. = feminine grammatical gender, m. = masculine grammatical gender)

Chwaed(ion) f. - Sibling(s)

[‘chwaer’ (sister) + ‘brawd’ (brother). Rhymes with ‘gwaed’ (blood), reminiscent of family ties]

Chwaerydd m. - Sibling

['chwaer' + '-ydd' (masculine suffix) ]

Chwaed fy mam / fy nhad - Aunt/Uncle (Literally, my mother’s/father’s sibling)

 [Literal translation (my mother’s / father’s sibling) ]

Naith f. - Niece/Nephew

[‘nith’ (niece) + ‘nai’ (nephew) ]

Dain (Deiniau) f. - Grandparent(s)

[‘taid’ (grandfather)+ t > d + ‘nain’ (grandmother) ]

Nam-gu f.- (Grandparent)

['fy nhad-cu' + 'fy mam-gu']

Of course, these are only suggestions. So far, chwaed has been very popular and dain has been preferred over nam-gu because it's less South Walian. But I'm interested to hear what you think or hear if you have any suggestions of your own!

Please share this post so we can get a larger sample size. Diolch!

NB:

These terms have come from multiple users, so bear that in mind with feedback. I can pass on suggestions to the users who coined them.

Grammatical gender is unavoidable in Welsh, but grammatical gender does not necessarily equal gender gender. E.g. the German word for girl 'maedchen' is grammatically neutral. In addition to this, certain suffixes in Welsh are gendered, which affects how words behave in certain sentences.

[llyfrenfys]

Sequel to yesterday's poll!:

Bore da again Cymblr! Do you know how to describe your gender in Welsh?

/

Bore da eto Cymblr! Ydych chi'n gwybod sut i ddisgrifio eich rhywedd yn Gymraeg?

Or write in the tags!

/

Neu sgwennu yn y tagiau!

[llyfrenfys]

LHDTC+ : Acronym heb Q / LHDTC+ : Acronym without Q

P'nawn da pawb, Mae'r post hwn yw'r post cyntaf yn fy system ddwyeithog newydd. Mae'r Cymraeg sy'n dod yn gyntaf a Saesneg yn ail. Afternoon pawb, This post is the first post using my new bilingual system. Welsh is first and English is second.

[Fersiwn pinc o'r ddraig yn y faner hon/Pink version of the dragon on this flag]

Mae'r acronym Saesneg LGBT fel arfer yn cael ei sgwennu fel LHDT yn Gymraeg. Ond beth am y Q+?

Fi'n gweld 'LHDTQ+' yn aml - ond does dim llythren Q yn yr alffabet Gymraeg. Felly beth am C+?

Mae'n amhosib siarad am yr acronym heb sôn am yr hanes yr acronym yn Gymraeg. Ar hyn o bryd, mae'r sôn cyntaf am yr acronym yn Gymraeg yn "Storïau sy'n rhoi siâp ar fywyd" gan West Rhyl Young People’s Project yn 1994. Ar dudalen 4 mae'n dweud "LHD" ar gyfer LGB. Ar ôl LHD, mae LHDT yn cyrraedd yn "Canllaw Cryno i Gymunedau LHDT: Ar Herio Adroddiadau Negyddol Yn Y Cyfryngau" gan y Comisiynydd Plant Cymru yn 2015.

Hefyd, mae'n amhosib siarad am yr acronym heb sôn am Q am 'Queer' neu Q am 'questioning'. Mae'r ddau, y ddau yn dda iawn. Ond yn y Gymraeg mae trydedd ongl: C am 'Cwiar' neu Cadi'?

Siaradodd Mihangel Morgan ar 'theori Cadi' yn Queer Wales (2016). Mae Morgan yn hoffi gwell Cadi na Cwiar fel term cymunedol ac mae yna rai sy'n cytuno ag e. Ar y llaw arall, mae rhai pobl yn hoffi Cwiar. Ac mae rhai pobl yn hoffi'r ddau. Fi'n hoffi'r ddau yn bersonol. Ond fi'n meddwl ei fod yn bwysig dangos y sgwrs o gwmpas y pethau 'ma.

Beth yw eich barn chi? Atebwch isod neu mewn neges neu drwy fy mocs gofyn!

/

The English acronym LGBT is usually written as LHDT in Welsh. But what about the Q+?

I see 'LHDTQ+' often - but there is no letter Q in the Welsh alphabet. So what about C+?

It is impossible to talk about the acronym without also mentioning the history of the acronym in Welsh. Currently, the first (known) mention of the acronym in Welsh is in "Stories which give shape to lives" by West Rhyl Young People's Project in 1994. On page 4 it has "LHD" for LGB. After LGB makes a debut, the acronym LGBT arrives in "A Brief Guide for LGBT Communities: Challenging Negative Media Reports" (tr.) by the Children's Commissioner for Wales in 2015.

It is also impossible to talk about the acronym without mentioning whether it is Q for 'Queer' or Q for 'questioning'. Both, both are good. But in Welsh there exists a third angle: Q for 'Cwiar' or Cadi'?

Mihangel Morgan has spoken about 'Cadi theory' in Queer Wales (2016). Morgan has established that he prefers Cadi to Cwiar as a community term and there are some who agree with him. On the other hand, other people prefer Cwiar. And some people just like both. I like both personally. But I do think it is important to show the conversation around these things on here.

What do you think? Reply below or in a message or an ask!

[llyfrenfys]

Followers- Dw i angen eich help / I need your help

This is a post I've been sitting on for a while and it's time I finally write it to let you all know how I am, where I'm at and the progress of Prosiect Llyfr Enfys.

So, as I alluded to in previous posts, I had a health scare at the end of May which landed me in the hospital. I've spent June recovering from that and dealing with a few life changes as well (which I will talk about later).

Unfortunately, me and my partner had to deal with an unexpected bill of £200 this month which had to come directly out of my savings and is a huge chunk of it.

I've been doing research in preparation for hopefully doing a Masters at Aberystwyth in September on the topic of LGBTQ+ Welsh terminology before the 20th Century. My undergraduate dissertation was on the topic of 20th-21st Century LGBTQ+ Welsh terminology (which is currently unmarked due to the marking boycott). Hopefully after graduation I can share it with you. But my research into older terminology means needing to travel to different archives and libraries in Wales, which at the minute, I just can't afford. The closest place would be Bangor, but I have no money to spare at the minute and Prosiect Llyfr Enfys is not funded by any scheme or grant- it's currently all funded by myself.

For the first time in my life, I've been considering using a food bank. We're not quite at that stage yet, but it's precarious. It's another unexpected bill away from a critical situation.

Currently, my monthly expenses for anything related to the dictionary totals around £40 (subscriptions to archives, libraries, genealogy research tools) which have been instrumental in my work. For example, I couldn't have written my articles for Hanes LHDT+ Cymru without access to ancestry sites or online newspaper archives. This does not include other expenses such as bus tickets to get to the National Library of Wales when I need to, or costs of purchasing dictionaries in order to source them in my work.

All of this is to say that i need your help:

I have a patreon which I will be posting in next in July- if you enjoy Prosiect Llyfr Enfys and want to help keep it going, please consider subscribing today by clicking the link above or in my bio. The lowest tier is affordable and if you have the cash to spare, will enable me to keep on working on the project. If you want to make a one-time donation, I'm considering enabling tips on tumblr for those who would prefer that.

If enough people are able to subscribe to keep the project going, I can start to make some concrete plans for a trip to Bangor and share my journey with you all and involve you in the trip. If I'm unable to raise enough funds, I will have to make the decision to pause the project until after my Master's. I do not currently have a publisher, which is also a big factor in that decision, if I need to make it.

All your support is greatly appreciated- if you cannot donate, please share this post.

As ever, huge huge diolch yn fawr to everyone who has supported the project so far- with your help, we can get this dictionary published to help benefit the whole Welsh LGBTQ+ community and beyond.

[llyfrenfys]

Welsh LGBTQIA+ Terms IPA Pronucniation:

Anneuaidd- Nonbinary /anei̯ai̯ð/

Anrhamantus- Aromantic /anr̥amantɪs/

Anrhywiol- Asexual /anr̥ɪu̯jɔl/

Cwiar- Queer /ˈkw̥ʰjar/

Cyfunrhywiol- Homosexual /ˈkəvɪnr̥ɪu̯jɔl/

Deurywiol- Bisexual /ˈdei̯r̥ɪu̯jɔl/

Hollrywiol- Pansexual /hoːɬr̥ɪu̯jɔl/

Hoyw-Gay /ˈhɔi̯.u/

Lesbiaidd- Lesbian /lɛsbi̯ai̯ð/

Rhyngryw- Intersex /r̥əŋr̥ɪu̯/

Rhyweddgwiar- Genderqueer /r̥əwɛð'gw̥ʰjar/

Trawsryweddol- Transgender /trau̯sr̥əwɛðɔl/

Following the previous post, my informal/casual transcription left too much ambiguity, so I've taken it upon myself to learn the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to help make things a lot clearer for those interested.

[llyfrenfys]

Y llyfr heddiw yw 'The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes' gan Zoë Playdon, a gyhoeddwyd yn 2021.

Hanes y dyn traws Albanaidd Ewan Forbes yw'r llyfr hwn. Roedd Forbes yn fab i John Forbes-Sempill, 9fed Barwnig Craigievar ac yn frawd i William Forbes-Sempill, 10fed Barwnig Craigievar. Bu farw ei frawd ym 1965, felly roedd Ewan yn llinell ar fin etifeddu’r farwnigaeth, ond heriodd ei gefnder ef am y farwnigaeth yn 1968 oherwydd bod Forbes yn ddyn traws. Creodd Forbes ddogfennau meddygol ffug i ddangos ei fod yn rhyngryw - i newid ei gofrestriad genedigaeth o fenyw i wryw. Yn ei amser, roedd yn amhosibl newid cofrestriad genedigaeth heb honni i fod yn rhyngryw, felly nid oedd gan Forbes unrhyw dewis arall.

Mae'r llyfr yn bwysig iawn i hanes traws ym Mhrydain ac yn ddiddorol iawn imi fel dyn traws yn y DU.

Ydych chi wedi darllen y llyfr hwn?

/

Today's book is 'The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes' by Zoë Playdon, published in 2021.

This book is the story of Scottish trans man Ewan Forbes. Forbes was the son of John Forbes-Sempill, 9th Baronet Craigievar and the brother of William Forbes-Sempill, 10th Baronet Craigievar. His brother died in 1965, so Ewan was then next in line to inherit the baronetcy, but his cousin challenged him for it in 1968 because Forbes was a trans man. Forbes created fake medical documents to show he was intersex - to change his birth registration from female to male. It was impossible to change a birth registration without claiming to be intersex in his time, so Forbes had no other choice.

The book is very important to trans history in Britain and very interesting to me as a trans man in the UK.

Have you read this book?

[llyfrenfys]

'Wel dyma ni'n mynd' (Welsh wassailing song Queer parody)

P'nawn da pawb! I'm here with my last Patreon post this year. This one's public and it's just a lil lighthearted project I've been working on. This one's (part of) my queer Mari Lwyd project!

It's a nonserious parody of a traditional Welsh wassailing song (linked in patreon post) associated with the Mari Lwyd. In this parody instead of going house to house for booze the Mari Lwyd is gathering lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans people and queer people as she goes along (thereby creating a pride parade). It's just a bit of fun and nothing too serious. So with the above in mind...

Introducing: Y Fari Lliwgar (The Colourful Mari)!

I also was working on a little video of my horse skull puppeted by me as a gay Mari Lwyd (technically March Lwyd as this skull belonged to a male horse as far as I know). The above is a still taken from the video footage. It was meant to be longer but unfortunately I ran out of time. But I hope you enjoy the concept of a Queer Mari Lwyd assembling a pride parade going house to house! You can watch the video here:

Nadolig Llawen!

[llyfrenfys]

New Features in the Discord!

If you didn't know, I run a bilingual Welsh LGBTQIA+ Discord (dm for link) for anyone 16+ who speaks or is learning Welsh. The server is three years old next year and has had some new features added recently after we ran a survey a few months ago!

New Features:

#history/hanes, #linguistics/ieithyddiaeth, #visual art/celf-weledol and animals/anifeiliad channels added to the chatrooms roster

#question of the day / cwestiwn y dydd channel added (Welsh language)

#breuddwyddion channel added (a channel to describe your dreams in Welsh for description practice! No nightmares though)

Send a dm if you are interested! Diolch

[llyfrenfys]

Y llyfr heddiw yw 'GENDERqUEER' a olygwyd gan Joan Nestle, Clare Howell a Riki Wilchins, a gyhoeddwyd yn 2002.

Mae'r llyfr hwn yn casgliad o draethodau rhyweddgwiar. Defnyddiwyd rhyweddgwiar yn y 1990au a'r 2000au i olygu unrhyw un yn croesi normau rhywedd - cydryweddol neu drawsryweddol, bwtsh neu ffem, wrywaidd neu fenywaidd, deuaidd neu anneuaidd - y ddau ac y naill na'r llall. Yn ddiweddar, mae'r term wedi dod yn olygu dim ond anneuaidd, ond mae'r term mewn gwirionedd yn ymbarél mawr. Mae'r traethodau'n ddisgrifio trawsnewid menyw i ddyn, rhyw lesbiaidd, menywod bwtsh, rhyw hoyw cyntaf, dysfforia rhywedd ac yn y blaen.

Dyma'r llyfr yn bwysig iawn imi - rwy'n ddyn traws ac yn rhyweddgwiar fy hun!

Ydych chi wedi darllen y llyfr hwn?

/

Today's book is 'GENDERqUEER' edited by Joan Nestle, Clare Howell and Riki Wilchins, published in 2002.

This book is a collection of genderqueer essays. Genderqueer was used in the 1990s and 2000s to mean anyone crossing gender norms - cisgender or transgender, butch or femme, male or female, binary or nonbinary - both, or neither. Lately, the term has come to mean just nonbinary, but the term is actually a huge umbrella. The essays describe female-to-male transition, lesbian sex, butch women, first gay sex, gender dysphoria and so on

. This book is very important to me - I'm a trans man and genderqueer myself!

Have you read this book?