Welsh Flora and Fauna Quiz / Test | Languages

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. If you were going for a day's sport at Chepstow, in what sort of a race might you see a "ceffyl" running?

Answer: Horse Race

If it was a snail, you'd see a "malwoden"; A crab race would reveal a lot of "crancs", or "crancod", and a greyhound is a "milgi".

2. On St David's Day, you'll see a lot of people walking round with a "Cenhinen Pedr" in their buttonhole - what flower is this?

Answer: Daffodil

Literally translated, this means "Peter's Leek". Now, the leek is a well known Welsh symbol, possibly dating back to the time that Welsh archers wore leeks at Crecy to identify themselves, possibly going back to the times of St David. Nobody can give any coherent explanation of who Peter was though.

It is thought that the Daffodil, notable for flowering around the time of St David's Day (March 1st) was introduced by David Lloyd George, the former British Prime Minister, as a brighter, more colourful emblem than the leek - and the fact that they share a name just adds to the confusion, I'm afraid!

3. If you dragged your "cath" into the bath, what probably highly reluctant Welsh animal would you be trying to wash?

Answer: Cat

There's an easy Word for you to learn - add an "h" to cat, and you have the Welsh feline on the tip of your tongue. I'd love to see you trying to put a horse or a hippo in your bath - in any language!

4. I have a beautiful red "rhosyn" growing in my garden - although if you were a Yorkshireman, I suspect you'd prefer it if I had a white "rhosyn" growing there. What flower is a "rhosyn" in Welsh?

Answer: Rose

The red rose being the symbol of Lancashire, and the white rose, that of Yorkshire, of course!

5. If you were to watch a "Malwoden" crawling slowly across your Welsh garden, carrying his house on his back, what would you be looking at?

Answer: A snail

It's all relative I suppose - any animal carrying his house across your garden would almost certainly be doing so slowly. But a slug doesn't carry his house with him, I'd love to see a rabbit carrying either a hutch or a warren across anybody's garden, and I'm not aware of the Sloth being native to Wales - so by process of elimination, the "malwoden" had to be the snail!

6. The Welsh word for "Oak" is believed to have formed the basis for the English words "Druid" as well as "tree". Those are your main clues for working out the Welsh word for "Oak".

Answer: Derwen

"Coeden" is the Welsh word for tree, a "Drws" could be made of oak, but it's actually a door - and I included "Llanymddyfri" because there are some lovely Oak trees around the cricket ground there! But the Welsh word for "Oak" is "Derwen".

7. One morning, you look out of your window, and you see an "Eliffant" in your back garden. You're a little surprised, as this isn't an indigenous animal to Wales (certainly not the civilized bits, anyway), and you're worried that your prize leeks may get trampled. What animal is about to cause potential mayhem in your vegetable plot?

Answer: An Elephant

It's an "elephant" of course! If we have a difficult word to untangle in Welsh, we tend to keep the translation as simple as possible - so "elephant" becomes "eliffant", nice and easy like!

8. If I want a nice vegetable to go in a soup with my "Cennin" (leeks), I could do a lot worse than use some "Tatws". What are "Tatws"?

Answer: Potatoes

A Tomato is a fruit, so it couldn't have been that. I've never heard of Leek and Turnip soup, but now you mention it, maybe it could be quite nice. It was never going to be cauliflower - but I was absoluterly desperate to work in the Welsh translation of Cauliflower into this quiz in some way, and now I've done it - "Blodfresychen" anyone?

9. Ted Hughes, the former Poet Laureate, had a Welsh name, though he wasn't Welsh at all. One of his most famous poems, if translated into Welsh, would have been titled "Y Llwynog Meddwl". If "Meddwl" is thought - what animal is a "Llwynog"?

Answer: Fox

A "llwynog" is a fox. I had to throw "Llama" in, as it's one of the few words from other languages that looks Welsh, with that "double L", though it quite patently isn't a Welsh word. A mouse is a "Llygoden" in Welsh, and Owls are quite brainy, so it seemed feasible, especially as they also have a "double L" in Welsh, as they're called "Tylluanod". So there you are - you've got the dreaded "double L" question out of the way, hopefully without trying to pronounce it. Altogether now - Llewellyn went to Llanelli on his Llama..

10. In Welsh, what is the mythical creature seen on the Welsh flag?

Answer: Y Ddraig Goch

Neither Indigo Unicorns or Green Grifins are seen on the Welsh flag - and I'd love to see a depiction of the flag with a Pink Budgie on it. Of course, it's the Red Dragon which graces our national standard. I know some of you will try and cry foul here, saying this quiz was about the flora and fauna of Wales, and Dragons don't exist - well, can you prove it for sure? Don't deny the Dragon!

Source: Author huw27

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Bruyere before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Welsh Flora and Fauna Trivia Quiz

Some of these Welsh words will be obvious - with others, you'll need to follow the clues. But have fun, learn some Welsh - and score some points!

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