Pethau rhyfedd #2744 ... a bit of a "ffrwd o feddwl" this one....
OK ...so trugaredd = mercy. Fair enough. It's ♀ by the way
BUT ... trugareddau = "bits and pieces."
Well, that's what The Welsh Learner's Dictionary says. Collin's-Spurrell doesn't. It just lists trugaredd (-au) as a normal plural.I'm going to take the drastic step of mynd i lawr y grisiau to look at Y Geiriadur Mawr.... I daren't bring it upstairs in case the house topples over into the street. Hold on then .... no, just mercy ,no mention of bits and pieces. So what do we make of that ? None of my other dictionaries mention this odd meaning for the plural either, even my ancient 1915 one, which in general is a mine of ridiculous words.
Three questions ...
[1] ....why does trugareddau mean "bits and pieces" ?
[2] ... what if you want to say "mercies" as in "be thankful for small mercies" ?
[3]..... could it just be a mistake ?
Well, who knows.
For this next bit, bear in mind that trug and trig sound pretty much the same. Carry on ...
"trig" = a dwelling-place, a "stay".... in fact, trig/trug is what got this started ... a line from a Datblygu song was going through my head ( Casserole Efeilliaid) ... one I've often wondered about .. it involves a " cymdeithas trig" ... so I looked up trug/trig and therefore came across all this trugareddau business.
Now, my 4th question is, are there any other Welsh plurals like this that seem totally unconnected to the singular ? There must be, surely.
Oh, and as for "Casserole Efeilliaid", you might have a bit of trouble with the "Efeilliaid" bit because it's the slightly irregular soft mutated plural of gefell, "a twin". That's saved you a minute or two.