# How do you say "God save the Queen" in Welsh? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 30, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616 "2014-05-30T04:24:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/1 "2014-05-30T04:24:44Z")
Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/2 "2014-05-30T04:52:21Z")
Oddly enough, there doesn’t seem to be any recognised or official translatin of the UK national anthem into Welsh. Perhaps no true Welshman would ever express such a sentiment? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/3 "2014-05-30T05:39:18Z")
According to Google Translate, it would be “Duw arbed y Frenhines.” But the connotations of “save” can be vague. A more accurate translation might be “Duw amddiffyn y Frenhines.” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/4 "2014-05-30T13:14:41Z")
Wales has [its own](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hen_Wlad_Fy_Nhadau) national anthem, FYI. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/5 "2014-05-30T13:46:19Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > According to Google Translate, it would be “Duw arbed y Frenhines.” But the connotations of “save” can be vague. A more accurate translation might be “Duw amddiffyn y Frenhines.” Neither of these. First, you want _cadw_ as a verb (“to keep,” but also “to save”). Second, you want the subjunctive mood. _Duw a gadwo’r frenhines_, or slightly more colloquially, _Duw gadwo’r frenhines_. Edit: a google search does turn up _Duw arbedo’r cwin a’i fascist regime,_ using “arbed” as save, but it’s pretty clearly a back translation from English (as is _cwin_ for “queen”). No less Welsh for that, but not something I’d recommend using. There’s also one example of _Duw a amddiffynno gyfiawnder!_ (God save righteousness) from the 19th century. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/6 "2014-05-30T14:03:44Z")
And from Middle Welsh, from the Deeds of Charlemagne, you have _Duw ath iachao di_ (“God save you,”) using _iachau_, which is the root of _iachadwriaeth_ (“salvation”), which one of my Welsh students says her father used to use as a swear word. Based on _iach_ (“healthy,”) it’s also in the toast _iechyd da_!(“Cheers,” lit. "good health). But go with _Duw gadwo_. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/7 "2014-05-30T14:13:10Z")
And from 1909 (in [Y Traethodydd](http://welshjournals.llgc.org.uk/browse/viewpage/llgc-id:1134021/llgc-id:1138577/llgc-id:1139014/get50Percent)), someone publishes a secular version. A quick translation of the first verse: God keep our dear country Safe from all treachery And from every ill Realm of true peace Without an enemy in the land But full of true unity With no more war [quite sad, this line, considering what was on the horizon] ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/8 "2014-05-30T14:17:29Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Edit: a google search does turn up _Duw arbedo’r cwin a’i fascist regime,_ Seriously? Sex Pistols lyrics in Welsh? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/9 "2014-05-30T15:23:41Z")
The Welsh will sing _anything_! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/10 "2014-05-30T15:24:45Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > But go with _Duw gadwo_. Thanks! And how would it be pronounced? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/11 "2014-05-30T15:25:44Z")
[punchline]The same way the Scots, Irish and French Canadians say it. PTUI![/punchline] ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/12 "2014-05-30T16:44:55Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Thanks! And how would it be pronounced? Duw rhymes with few (in South Wales, anyway) gadwo is “gahd-wo,” stress on the first syllable. 'r is a nice rolled R stuck on the back of gadwo frenhines is vrenn-hinn-ess, stress on the hinn. If you can manage to say the “wo” and the “ess” at a slightly higher pitch than the rest of the sentence, as if you’re almost asking a question, you get the lilt, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/13 "2014-05-30T19:16:25Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > [punchline]The same way the Scots, Irish and French Canadians say it. PTUI![/punchline] I was going to suggest “Fuck you, bitch.” But I didn’t want to be rude 😃 ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/14 "2014-05-31T03:38:29Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > [punchline]The same way the Scots, Irish and French Canadians say it. PTUI![/punchline] > [@Diceman](#): > > I was going to suggest “Fuck you, bitch.” But I didn’t want to be rude 😃 :rolleyes: Why would you think the Welsh or Scots (or, indeed, the protestant Northern Irish - Catholic Irish are another matter, but most are not under her rule anyway) would be any more likely to respond this way than the English? The Queen is _not_ in any sense a symbol of those nations’ subjugation to the English. Indeed, one could make a case that the British royal dynasty has been more Welsh than English since 1485, when Welshman Henry Tudor took throne (by conquest), and more Scottish since 1603, when Scotsman James Stuart, already king of Scotland, became king of England and Wales too. (Of course, subsequent to that it became more German than anything else.) As I understand it, if the Scots gain their independence in the upcoming referendum, they intend to keep the Queen as their sovereign. You Americans really don’t understand how Britain works, do you? ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/15 "2014-05-31T07:23:57Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I was going to suggest “Fuck you, bitch.” But I didn’t want to be rude 😃 Your cutsey emoticon doesn’t make your tasteless comment any less offensive to British people, including the Welsh woman reading it over my shoulder who’s response is unprintable in this forum. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/16 "2014-05-31T07:45:04Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > The Queen is _not_ in any sense a symbol of those nations’ subjugation to the English. That is not completely true. There is a strong lowercase-r republican sentiment in Wales, and the royal family is quite strongly despised in some quarters as symbols of foreign rule. Equally, though, the queen is much loved by a great many of the Welsh. I know more anti-royal Welsh people than pro-royal, but that may just be the circles I move in. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/17 "2014-05-31T08:08:48Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > That is not completely true. There is a strong lowercase-r republican sentiment in Wales, and the royal family is quite strongly despised in some quarters as symbols of foreign rule. Equally, though, the queen is much loved by a great many of the Welsh. I know more anti-royal Welsh people than pro-royal, but that may just be the circles I move in. Well, there are republicans in England too. The point is that republicanism and Welsh (or Scottish, English, Cornish, or whatever) nationalism do not necessarily correlate. I am sure some Welsh people (I am half-Welsh myself) still resent what happened to Llewellyn and Owain Glyndŵr, but have they forgotten that Henry Tudor was Welsh? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-god-save-the-queen-in-welsh/689616/18 "2014-05-31T19:49:42Z")
**Moderator Note** > [@kunilou](#): > > [punchline]The same way the Scots, Irish and French Canadians say it. PTUI![/punchline] > [@Diceman](#): > > I was going to suggest “Fuck you, bitch.” But I didn’t want to be rude 😃 Let’s keep the political pot shots out of GQ, please. No warning issued.