"daearyddiaeth Sbaen"

Translation: Spain's geography

[AnCatDubh]

That’s a long-ass word... Anyone mind deconstructing it?

[EllisVaughan]

Daear(F)=Earth.
Yddiaeth/iaeth=kind of means -science of in this instance or is sort of like making something a subject e.g gwlad(county)+iaeth= Gwleidyddiaeth (Politics). Also any word ending in "iaeth" is feminine.

[Dim-ond-dysgwr]

daear = earth

-ydd denotes a specialist or someone especially connected...
so,
deaerydd = geographer ("earth-specialist")
(compare: llyfrgell = library [literally, book-cell]; llyfrgellydd = librarian
ysgrifennu: write = to write; ysgrifennydd = secretary)

-(i)aeth makes an abstract noun, an idea, an activity etc.
so,
daear+ydd+iaeth is "earth-specialist-activity", what it is an earth-specialist (geographer) does!
(compare: gwerin = the people, the folk; gweriniaeth = a republic)

[Marc887701]

When translating it as follows 'geography of Spain', I got pinged by Duolingo as wrong with the explanation: You need the article "The" here. (The geography of Spain) Uhm .. huh? Do I? Why?

[Dim-ond-dysgwr]

Duolingo is perhaps being a little bit harsh there, but strictly speaking they are right: if you were using "daearyddiaeth Sbaen" in a sentence it would correspond to "the geography of Spain" (or "Spain's geography") in English. E.g. Dw i'n ysgrifennu llyfr am ddaearyddiaeth Sbaen / I'm writing a book about the geography of Spain; Mae daearyddiaeth Sbaen yn amrywiol iawn / Spain's geography is very varied.

[teeling2]

How about "Spanish geography"??

[Dim-ond-dysgwr]

Hmm. The trouble with that formulation is that it could very well mean "the science of geography as it is practised in Spain".