tarfu

Welsh

Etymology

Perhaps from the same root as Ancient Greek τάρβος (tárbos, “terror; awe”), Latin torvus (“grim, fierce”), and Sanskrit तर्जति (tarjati, “to threaten, frighten”).

Verb

tarfu (first-person singular present tarfaf)

1. to frighten, to scare off
2. to disrupt, to disturb
   • 2022 February 21, “'Teimlo fel bod llai o werth' ar blant ag anghenion dysgu”, in BBC Cymru Fyw‎^[1]:

     Mae Aliou, sy'n naw oed ac yn mynychu ysgol arbennig ger Castell-nedd, yn dal i wynebu tarfu mawr ar ei addysg.

     Aliou, who is nine years old and attends a special school near Neath, still faces great disruption to his education.

Conjugation

Conjugation (literary)

	singular			plural			impersonal
	first	second	third	first	second	third
present indicative/future	tarfaf	terfi	tarfa	tarfwn	terfwch, tarfwch	tarfant	terfir
imperfect (indicative/subjunctive)/ conditional	tarfwn	tarfit	tarfai	tarfem	tarfech	tarfent	terfid
preterite	terfais	terfaist	tarfodd	tarfasom	tarfasoch	tarfasant	tarfwyd
pluperfect	tarfaswn	tarfasit	tarfasai	tarfasem	tarfasech	tarfasent	tarfasid, tarfesid
present subjunctive	tarfwyf	terfych	tarfo	tarfom	tarfoch	tarfont	tarfer
imperative	—	tarfa	tarfed	tarfwn	terfwch, tarfwch	tarfent	tarfer
verbal noun	tarfu
verbal adjectives	tarfedig tarfadwy

Conjugation (colloquial)

Inflected colloquial forms	singular			plural
	first	second	third	first	second	third
future	tarfa i, tarfaf i	tarfi di	tarfith o/e/hi, tarfiff e/hi	tarfwn ni	tarfwch chi	tarfan nhw
conditional	tarfwn i, tarfswn i	tarfet ti, tarfset ti	tarfai fo/fe/hi, tarfsai fo/fe/hi	tarfen ni, tarfsen ni	tarfech chi, tarfsech chi	tarfen nhw, tarfsen nhw
preterite	tarfais i, tarfes i	tarfaist ti, tarfest ti	tarfodd o/e/hi	tarfon ni	tarfoch chi	tarfon nhw
imperative	—	tarfa	—	—	tarfwch	—
Note: All other forms are periphrastic, as usual in colloquial Welsh.

Derived terms

• tarfu ar (“to disturb”)
• tarfiad (“disturbance, interruption”)