Language, Grammar and Dictionaries

• Janet Davies, The Welsh Language (1993), now republished as The Welsh Language: A Pocket Guide A summary introduction to all aspects of the Welsh language, and from every angle - linguistic, literary, historical and sociological; the institutions, traditions, and every kind of modern social and cultural development. Welsh - by far the oldest language spoken in Britain - shares features with other languages of the Indo-European language family, and within this family has closer relationships with Irish and Gaelic, and with its even closer siblings Breton and Cornish, as fellow-members of the Celtic language group. The history, development and principal linguistic features of the Welsh language are all clearly set forth. Most distinctive of the linguistic features are the initial (and originally medial) consonantal mutations, which are common to all the Celtic tongues. Despite minor dialect variations in the spoken language between north and south Wales, the evolution of a single literary language was nurtured from an early date - through the different texts of the `Law of Hywel', the `Mabinogi', the indigenous tales, and adaptations from all kinds of foreign literary works and prose treatises on a variety of subjects. This unified development culminated in William Morgan's Bible of 1588, `an exalted model of correct and majestic Welsh', which drew on all the previous resources of the language. Within such a comprehensive survey of all things Welsh as is here provided, it is hardly possible that more than very brief attention could be paid to the writings of the early and medieval period. But some essentials are given: a page is devoted to the Cynfeirdd, with a facsimile from the manuscript of the `Gododdin', preceded by a reproduction of the poignant memorial to a family of four on the eighth(?)-century inscribed stone at Tywyn, Meirionydd - tricet nitanam (elsewhere interpreted by Ifor Williams as `grief and loss remain', see The Beginnings of Welsh Poetry.). The many maps, plates and reproductions of pages from early printed books, the inset quotations exemplifying categories of borrowed words, together with excerpts from famous poems, are further attractive features of the book. Bibliographical references are unfortunately minimal.
• Henry Lewis, Datblygiad yr Iaith Gymraeg (1931; revised edn 1946, 1994). This concise outline of the development of the Welsh language to the end of the medieval period was welcomed on its first appearance as an original work of synthesis, and it has remained the standard treatment of the subject for over sixty years. Three stages in the evolution of the language are identified: i) Early Welsh (elsewhere termed more appropriately `Primitive Welsh') to the end of the eighth century. During nearly four centuries of the Roman occupation of Britain, when Latin was the dominant language, the fully inflected speech of the Britons lost its inflected endings. This stage is exemplified only by names preserved on inscriptions, in a few Latin writings, and in some later copies; ii) Old Welsh, from the ninth to the eleventh centuries, represented by glosses on Latin works and by a few pieces of consecutive prose; iii) Medieval Welsh, from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries, exemplified by the competent technical prose of the Law codes, the literary artistry of the `Mabinogi', and the rich diversity of the variant genres exhibited in poetry. From these beginnings there evolved the poetic language of the succeeding `cywydd' period, and this provided a secure literary base for the diction of Bishop Morgan's Bible of 1588, a work which set a lasting standard for literary Welsh prose. The book includes a chapter on syntax (which indicates how the dialects retained certain archaic forms which became obsolete in literary Welsh) and some account of loan-words. For these, see also H. Lewis, Yr Elfen Ladin yn yr Iaith Gymraeg (1943, 1980).
• T.J. Morgan, Y Treigladau a'u Cystrawen (The Mutations and their Syntax) (1952, 1989). An unprecedented attempt, in nearly five hundred pages, to demonstrate hard and fast grammatical rules as governing the syntax of the initial consonantal mutations, both in the spoken language and in written Welsh of all periods. Although it has been shown that no such comprehensive rules are warranted by the facts, TJM's overall survey constitutes an indispensable work of reference, and an essential point of departure for any future studies of the subject. There are inevitably gaps in the literary sources which have been consulted, and little distinction has been made between dialectal differences in the spoken language; nor is there any reference to the corresponding mutations in the other Celtic languages, or to the instances in `canu caeth' in which the mutations have been manipulated to suit the demands of `cynghanedd'. (These points were made in a review by J.E. Caerwyn Williams, Llên Cymru ii (1953) which is an essential commentary on the contents of the book.)
• D.S. Evans, Gramadeg Cymraeg Canol (1951; pb. 1995). A descriptive grammar of medieval Welsh, as found in prose and verse texts recorded in writing between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. Illustrative quotations are given from the Cynfeirdd and the Gogynfeirdd, the `Mabinogi' and a wide range of prose texts, including medieval translations into Welsh. The historical development of the language is indicated by the frequent notes which look back to earlier word-forms attested in Old Welsh sources. [DSE's English counterpart to Gramadeg Cymraeg Canol, A Grammar of Middle Welsh (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies 1964, 1989) is not a close translation of the Welsh edition, since almost all sections in the earlier book have been considerably extended. A new and valuable introduction surveys all published sources for Old and Middle Welsh verse and prose, and translations are given for all examples cited from early sources to illustrate points of grammar. But Gramadeg Cymraeg Canol will remain an essential work of reference for all concerned with the study of the language in any depth, since it familiarizes the student with the appropriate Welsh linguistic and grammatical terms.
• Stephen J. Williams, Elfennau Gramadeg Cymraeg (1959; revised edn 1980; pb. 1990); idem, A Welsh Grammar (1980, 1993). This grammar of standard literary Welsh follows closely the arrangement of J. Morris-Jones's Elementary Welsh Grammar (Oxford, 1921) and idem, A Welsh Grammar (Oxford, 1913, 1925). But it takes account of more recent contributions to the study of accidence and syntax, which have been published by scholars in the Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies and elsewhere; the author acknowledges a particular debt to the works of Henry Lewis. Illustrative examples are drawn principally from William Morgan's Bible of 1588. The English Grammar is a close translation of the Welsh version, with occasional added notes, and some minor rearrangements. English translations are given for most of the examples quoted from original sources.
• J. Lloyd-Jones, Geirfa Barddoniaeth Gynnar Gymraeg (Glossary of Early Welsh Poetry). Originally published in eight parts: vol. 1 A-Enrydedd (1931-46); vol. 2 Enryuedd-Heilic (1950- 63). This work was compiled in response to an early request from the Board of Celtic Studies for a dictionary of the poetry of the Gogynfeirdd. It draws principally on J.G. Evans's diplomatic editions of the early poetry (pp.1-2 above), but these are supplemented by additional references to a wide range of published texts. The Geirfa represents the life's work of a single devoted scholar: it merits the title of `Geiriadur' or `Dictionary', rather than the lesser one of a mere `Geirfa' or `Vocabulary'. Most unfortunately it was left unfinished at its author's death.
• Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru: A Dictionary of the Welsh Language (1950-). The compilation of a historical dictionary of Welsh on the lines of the Oxford English Dictionary was planned by the Board of Celtic Studies in 1920, soon after the Board's foundation. Almost thirty years were spent in the preliminary collection of material on slips, before the work was sufficiently advanced for the first fascicule to be published in 1950, under the initial editorship of R.J. Thomas, with Ifor Williams as consultant editor. Equivalents for words are given in both Welsh and English. Illustrative examples are quoted from both the written and the spoken language, and from sources which demonstrate the variant and changing significance of words, from their earliest to their latest occurrences. Both manuscripts and printed texts are drawn upon up to c.1800, and are followed by selected examples indicative of the intensive growth of the Welsh language during the last and the present century, including new additions drawn from the vocabulary of the arts and sciences, the media and administration. Material prepared by J. Lloyd Jones, but left unpublished in his Geirfa at the time of his death, has been incorporated in the entries following the letter h-. Under the current editorship of Gareth A. Bevan and his team of assistants, it is envisaged that the third of the four large volumes comprising Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru will be completed before the end of the century.

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