Llythyrau Goronwy Owen/Llythyr 14
| ← Llythyr 13 | Llythyrau Goronwy Owen golygwyd gan John Morris-Jones |
Llythyr 15 |
𝔏𝔩𝔶𝔱𝔥𝔶𝔯 14.
At WILLIAM MORRIS.
ANWYL GYDWLADWR,
LLYMA'CH caredig lythyrau o'm blaen o fesur y cwpl. Digrif iawn oedd cael ail afael yn yr hen gydymaith diofal gan. Walchmai, aiê, aiê?
Gorloes rydiau a gorddyar caws? O'r goreu, gadewch iddo. Yn wir hen gorph go anhawdd ei ddeall yw Gwalchmai. Yet I doubt not, if I had the advantage of perusing him and some others, but I could find out the meaning of every word in him. As I have neither Dictionary nor any other help by me at present, I can't pretend to understand one half of what you sent me; I do, however understand too much [of it to think it has no beauties, and too little] to be able to point 'em all out. This I may say, that the part of Gorhoffedd which you now sent me, has fully confirmed me in the opinion I had of "Mochddwyreawg huan haf," &c. I observe that the word gorhoffedd itself signifies the same thing as we now call cynsêt, i.e. conceit, as cynset yr Arglwyddes Owen (hen gainc ar y delyn) &c. And certainly this was Gwalchmai's conceit, i.e. a liberty he indulg'd himself of making a poetical gasconade, or brag of his feats. Dyffestin is certainly the same as the Latian festino, perhaps derived from it, or rather festino from dyffestin, and that again from ffèst, which is the more simple word, and therefore to be look'd upon as the original. You know Monsieur Pezron's Rule. I wish some able hand would endeavour to improve the etymological knowledge of our language, by reducing the compound words into their simples, and derivatives into their primitives; it would open a wide door to the thorough understanding of our language, and the establishing of the critical parts of ancient and modern orthography. Edward Llwyd in displaying his vast treasure of European languages, has rather confounded than settled the etymology of ours. If the thing was once judiciously done we should view our fine language in a quite different light, and find it to be (as I am persuaded it is) more independent of all European languages than has been hitherto ever imagined. I question whether we have one single word in the language, but what may be fairly derived of some monosyllable of our own. Dyffestin from ffest I have mentioned. I never saw any etymon offered of the word dechreu, yet I think it is as visible as the summer's sun, that it is compounded of dy and creu (to create,) e & y being promiscuously used by the antients, and what can more properly signify to begin, than a verb derived of another that denotes the beginning of the universe? And what is diweddu but a metaphor taken from unyoking a team, and compound of di and gwedd? But more of this by and by. I know no better way of conveying to you my notion of this piece of poetry than by rendering it into modern Welsh, without any regard to metre, or writing down the original, which you have by you:—
Haul haf boreu ei godiad, brysia,
Peraidd (yw) pynciau adar, teg (yw'r) araul hin dawel;
Myfi sydd wych fy nghynnedfau, yn ddiarswyd mewn brwydr;
Myfi sydd (megys) Hew rhag (y) llu a ruthrasant ar fy nghaerau;
Ie'n siwr. Dyn gwych o Gwalchmai, medd Goronwy.
Bu'm yn effro drwy'r nos yn cadw (y) terfyn
(Wrth) rydau wedi eu harloesi, dŵr a dyn y cèn (the covering)
oddiar wreiddyn;
Glas (yw) gwellt (y) lle anghyfanedd, diau mai hyfryd y dŵr,
Trydar eos (sydd) ganiad gynhefin,
Gwylanod yn chwareu ar wely o lifeiriant
Lleithion eu plu, pleidiau hydrin, i. e. ciwed ymladdgar, or hawdd
eu trin. q. which of the two?
N. B. The words within parentheses are what I myself put in to explain the original sense.
I doubt not but you'll think this explanation very odd, therefore I think I had best give my reasons for it, without meddling with the other parts of the Awdl at present. First then I observe that every compound word has it's beauty, expressing something more, or else expressing it otherwise than the simple word does. Thus gorwylais y nôs, is equivalent to gwiliais trwy'r nôs, and enhances the sense; as pervigilo in Latin does that of vigilo taken simply. Achadw likewise signifies more than the bare word cadw, it means to keep diligently, to be a good centinel, and is equivalent to our go—ar—chadw or gwarchod. Ffin is the same with the Latin finis, (which is but a derivative from it with a Latin termin— ation,) hence cyffin, &c.; it signifies the border of a country, and is near a kin to min, whence the Latin terminus and our terfyn, which is no more than tir min and tir fin. Gorloes I take to be compound of gor and lloes (not gloes,) or put contractedly for go—ar—lloes. There was certainly sometime in use such a monosyllable as lloes, whence our modern arlloesi, or arloesi. Now if this conjecture of mine be allowed to be right, we may easily understand what he means by gorloes rydiau or rydau as we call fords now. Then because of the gor, they should be very clear fords. Dygen, I own, is one of the hardest words in the piece to me, but I take it to be compounded of di and cenn, if not, I know not what it is. Gorlas gwellt didryf, I think is so easy as to need no explanation, only didryf is (according to Dr. Davies,) compounded of di and tref, and signifies an unfrequented or uninhabited place. Dwfr neud iesin, neud is the same as diau, truly. The next thing worth notice is gwylein, which is a plural formed in the same manner as cigfran, plural cigfrain. In Llŷn they call them at this day gwylyn; and certainly ei and y were of equal use with the antients; witness the plural eirf and yrf, from the sing. arf. As the transcribers of these pieces from age to age did not pretend to an infallibility, I am inclined to think that lleithyryon is no less than a mistake of theirs for lleithion, which was perhaps written lleithyyon (the antients being frequently too liberal of their 's and y's in their orthography,) and so the r might possibly creep in between the y—y thro' their oscitancy. As to pluawr I can't think it to be the same as pluor (dust), which indeed is itself but a corruption of pylor, which is a derivative or rather the primitive of the Latin pulver; but I take pluawr to be whimsically put for plu; and my reason for so thinking you'll see in the following rhyme, "Haul yn Ionawr ni mad welawr, Mawrth a Chwefrawr a'i dialawr."—Prov. What can be more whimsical than welawr and dialawr? And why may not pluawr be of the same stamp? You'll undoubtedly think it high time for me to conclude this insignificant piece of criticism, and truly I think so too, but can't do it without observing in general that the whole piece turns upon feats of arms, as the first two verses plainly shew, and llachar fy nghleddau, llewychedig our ar fy nghylchwy, and in the subsequent parts, and I can't help thinking the scene to be in Montgomeryshire or Shropshire (rather the latter), which was for many centuries the seat of War, the ffin (barrier or frontier) of the Cambrian dominions. What leads me to this opinion is, I find mention made of Evernwy (a River that I very well know,) which, a little above Llan y Myneich in Shropshire, divides Shropshire from Montgomeryshire, and falls into the Severn between Llan y Myneich and Melverly. This river is (to this day) called by the Welsh Y Fernwy, and writ by the English Vernaise (after the French fashion,) but pronounced the Verny. Add to this, that says to Owain, "Pell o fon fain wyt ti, dwythwal werin," &c. And truly, if he was on the banks of the Verny, he was a pretty distance from Anglesey, no less than the whole breadth of Wales. And as the scene is the Banks of the Vernwy, so the time is a Summer's morning before sunrising, to which the Poet addresses himself, and wishes his speedy appearance after his fatigue of lying under arms all night in the camp, yn achadw fin, guarding the pass. of the Fernwy against the English. There is something very beautiful and extraordinary in the pleasant description he gives of the place and the objects of delight that presented themselves to him, as gorddyar eos, &c., which none but a poet could have received any delight from in such a dangerous situation as that of lying under arms to wait the approach of powerful and bloody enemy, But it seems that our ancestors (noble souls) were so far diofn yn nhrin as to be able to attend equally to the warbling of the nightingale and the motion of an enemy, and that even the danger of life itself could make them lose their relish of the pleasures of it. What can be a greater argument of an unrestrained and resolute courage, of an extraordinary firmness and constancy of mind? Wele bellach ddigon ar y lol bottes yma, ac weithian am hanes y llew. Y mae'r hen deigr a minnau yn dygymmod yn burion hyd yn hyn, a pha raid amgen o hyn allan? Ni thybia'r hen lew ddim yn rhy dda i mi am fy mod yn medru ymddwyn mewn cwmni yn beth amgenach na'r lleill, ac am fy mod yn ddyn go led sobr, heb arfer llymeitian hyd y sucandai mân bryntion yma. Os chwennychwn bot a phibell, y mae i mi groeso y prydnhawn a fynwyf, gyda'r hen lew ei hun, lle cawn botio yn rhad, ac ysmocio cetyn lawlaw, ac yno hwre bawb a'i chwedl digrif, a dwndro wrth ein pwys oni flinom. Dyn garw ydoedd y Curad diweddaf! Nid âi un amser ond prin i olwg yr hên gorph, ac os âi ni ddywedai bwmp onda ofynid iddo, ac fyth ar y drain am ddiane i ffordd, oblegyd hoffach oedd ganddo gwmni rhyw garpiau budron o gryddionach, cigyddion, &c., ac yn nghwmni y cyfryw ffardial yr arhosai o Sul i Sul yn cnocio'r gareg, a chwareu pitch and toss, ysgwyd yr het, meddwi, chwareu cardiau, a chwffio, rhedeg yn noeth lymmyn hyd ystrydoedd Le'rpwl i ymbaffio. A'r cigyddion, a'r rheiny a'u cleavers, a'u marrow bones yn soundio alarm o'i ddeutu, myned i'r Eglwys ar fore Sul yn chwilgorn feddw, &c. Unwaith y gwnaeth gast y ci (fel y dywedant,) fe gymmerth het un o'r gwŷr penna'r plwy ac a bisodd ynddi, ac yno fe'i llanwodd â marwor tanllyd, ac a'i taflodd yn nannedd ei pherchenog; fe fu agos i hynny a gwneud i mi y mawr—ddrwg, oblegyd y gwr hwnnw a gawsai'r anmharch gan y curate a wnaeth ei achwyn ar holl wyrda y plwyf, ac a gafodd ganddynt gyttuno na chai curate byth rhag llaw mo'r Ysgol, na dim arall arall a allont hwy eu llestair. This was a mad resolution of his (for theirs[1]) for a man is not accountable or answerable for the miscarriage and folly of another; but however, it cost me a great deal of trouble and arguing to bring them to a better temper, which by a little art and winning behaviour, I've at last effected. Yr ydwyf wedi cael myned yn ben Meistr i'r Ysgol, ond nad rhaid i mi wneuthur dim yn y byd oni ddigwydd i rai ddyfod i ddysgu Lladin. Y mae gennyf un arall danaf i ddysgu Saesneg, i'r hwn yr ydwyf yn rhoddi wyth bunt yn y flwyddyn am ei boen. Ac felly y cwbl wyf fi yn ei gael ydyw yn nghylch chwe' phunt neu saith yn y flwyddyn heblaw'r Ty'n y fynwent. Ac y mae hynny yn ddigon am wnenthur dim.—Y mae'r fargen wedi ei chloi, canys y mae'r articlau cytundeb wedi eu tynu a'u seinio rhyngof fi ac Edward Stockley (fy Usher a'm Clochydd) i'r hwn y rhoesai'r plwyfolion yr Ysgol o'r blaen. Felly, fy holl gyflog i sydd yn nghylch £44 yn y flwyddyn rhwng y ty a'r cwbl. Wel dyna i chwi fy hanes i, hanes go dda ydyw i Duw a chwithau bo'r diolch. Mae'r wraig a'r plant wedi dyfod yma er's pythefnos, ac yr ydym oll wrth ein bodd, onid eisiau dodrefn i fyned i fyw i'r Ty'n y fynwent. Fe orfu arnaf werthu pob peth yn Dennington, i dalu i bawb yr eiddo, ac i gael arian i ddwyn ein cost yma; felly llwm iawn a fydd arnom y chwarter cyntaf. Nid oes arnom eisiau dim yn fawr ond gwely neu ddau; am gypyrddau, silffiau, &c., mae y rhai'n yn perthyn i'r tŷ. Mae genym ddigonedd o burion llenlleiniau, lleiniau bwyd, &c., heb eu gwerthu. Yn nghylch pum' punt a'm gosodai i fyny yn bin yrwan. Ac o'r pum' punt (y welwch. chwi!) dyma Dduw a haelioni Llewelyn wedi taflu i mi ddwy heb eu disgwyl. Duw a dalo iddo'n ganplyg.—Anrheg i'm dau lanc ydynt.—Ni welais mo'r Captain Foulkes eto, ni che's mo'r amser gan bensyfrdanu yn nghylch yr Ysgol yma. Mi glywais son ei fod yn myned i voyage i Guinea yr haf yma. Ni's gwn pe crogid fi pa fodd i gael rhodd Mr. L Morris yma; os medrwch chwi ddyfeisio rhyw ffordd, da fydd eich gwaith. Rhowch fy annerch yn garedig at Mr. Ellis, a gobeithio ar Dduw ei fod yn dechreu myned yn gefnog. Mi gefais ddau lythyr oddiwrth Mr. L. Morris o Lundain er pan ddaethym yma, ac yr oedd yn dywedyd ei fod wedi gorchfygu ei elynion yn lew. Mi ges un oddiwrth Mr. R. Morris i ddywedyd y cawn fod yn un o'r Corresponding Members o'r Cymmrodorion. As to Mr. Owen of Prysaddfed if he should happen to write to me, (as I suppose he never will) I'll thank him in the most thankful manner imaginable, but will decline his intended favours, as I may very well do, for I can hardly throw up £40 to accept £20.—The Lord be with you and bless you.—My service to your father. I am, dear sir, your most obliged servant, GORONWY OWEN. P.S.—I have not the Cywydd Sior by me, therefore I beg you would send it Coch Twrkelyn, with my compliments, and let him know he should have had it long ago if it had not been for my hurry in removing. Tell him I send it to you in a frank, and desired you to send it him, without the needless expence of a letter.
Mawl i Dduw, nid oes arnaf un ffyrling o ddyled i neb, fel y bu o fewn ychydig flynyddoedd.
Nodiadau
[golygu]- ↑ Yn arg. Llundain, "of theirs; " yn arg. Llanrwst, "of (his fortheirs). Tebyg felly mai "of his " ysgrifenwyd gan Oronwy.