Date:  Mon, 8 Dec 1997 14:27:39 +0000
From:  Jim Rader <jrader[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]M-W.COM>
Subject: Re: welsh/welch and taffy

When I was in regular contact with native Welsh speakers a number of
years ago I had the definite impression <welsh>/<welch> was considered an
ethnic slur. No matter its true origin, it was perceived as
referring to the Welsh.

<Taffy> is also derogatory when used by non-Welshmen, but I think it
may be used in self-reference more or less jocularly, especially in
the Anglicized parts of Wales. Pace W3, the notion that <Taffy> is
somehow modified from Welsh <Dafydd> looks quite implausible. There
are two equivalents of "David" in Welsh: <Dewi> /'de wi/ (a British
Celtic borrowing from ecclesiastical Latin, with vowel affection and
loss of the final voiced fricative) and <Dafydd> /'da v[barred
i][edh]) in North Wales, /'da vi[edh]/ in South Wales (a medieval
Welsh borrowing ). <St. David> is rendered in Welsh by the fixed
collocation <Dewi Sant>. I doubt that Welshmen would associate
either <Dewi> or <Dafydd> with <Taffy>; if anyone has evidence to the
contrary, it would be of interest.

A more plausible source of <Taffy> might be the river Taff, which
flows through Cardiff--at least it fits phonetically. The slangism
<Taffy> has a variant <Taff>, though it's attested much more
recently.

The Morris's <Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins>--I'm amazed it's
still in print--is of value only as a collection of etymology
folklore.

Jim Rader