Note 40 — Chapter X · Difficulties of the Folklorist

The word twt, ‘tidy,’ is another vocable which has found its way into Wales from the western counties of England; and though its meaning is more universally that of ‘tidy or natty,’ the term gwas twt, which in North Cardiganshire means a youth who is ready to run on all kinds of errands, would seem to bring us to its earlier meaning of the French tout—as if gwas twt might be rendered a ‘garçon à tout’—which survives as tote in the counties of Gloucester and Hereford, as I am informed by Professor Wright. Possibly, however, one may prefer to connect twt with the nautical English word taut; but we want more light. In any case one may venture to say that colloquial Welsh swarms with words whose origin is to be sought outside the Principality. ↑