Index page to material on the Gwentian
dialect. Y Wenhwÿseg - literally 'the language of the men of Gwent' is the name
given to the dialect of south-east
http://www.kimkat.org/amryw/1_gwenhwyseg/gwenhwyseg_cyfeirddalen_1004e.htm
0001z Yr Hafan / Home Page
..........2659e Y Fynedfa yn Saesneg /
The Gateway in English
....................0010e Y Barthlen / Siteplan
............................0223e Y Gymraeg / The Welsh
Language
.........................................Y
Tudalen Hwn / This Page
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Gwefan
Cymru-Catalonia Cyflwyniad |
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0934k Y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg -
cyfeirddalen adran y Wenhwyseg
2184c Aquesta pàgina en català - contingut de la secció sobre el dialecte del
sud-est
(1) INTRODUCTION TO GWENTIAN
The Welsh language has two basic regional variants - Northern Welsh
and Southern Welsh. Traditionally, these are perceived both to have a western
and eastern form. If Wales is imagined as a square, then the dialects of Wales
occupy the top-left (the Gwynedd dialect, Y Wyndodeg), top-right (the Powÿs
dialect, Y Bowÿseg), the bottom left (the Dyfed dialect, y Ddyfedeg), and the
bottom right (the Gwent dialect, Y Wenhwÿseg). This division and the number of
actual dialects can be disputed (what exactly makes a regional form distinct
from another? Is it possible to draw a boundary at some point?). However it
remains a useful framework for understanding the basic distribution of Welsh
dialects.
(delw 0082)
In the south-eastern corner of Wales was the old territory of Gwent. The
inhabitants were called the Gwennwÿs (the
people of Gwent, from Gwent + a
suffix -wÿs. From this came the
adjective and the noun 'Gwenhwÿseg'
(Gwenhwÿs-, the penult form of
Gwennwÿs + the suffix -eg, used to
indicate a language or dialect).
(At the other end of the country, the inhabitants of Môn / Anglesey have a similar name in literary Welsh: the Monwÿs 'people of Môn', singular form: Monwÿsÿn 'man from Môn').
The Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru / Dictionary of the University of Wales
notes that Gwenhwyseg first occurs in the 1300s - "mor didlawt ynggwawt yggwennhwyssec" (mor
ddi-dlawd yng ngwawd yng Ngwenhwÿseg). (di-dlawd - obsolete word = rich,
splendid; gwawd in modern Welsh = derision, scorn, mockery, but originally =
praise, exaltation; song of praise) 'so splendid in praise in Gwentian'
In 1632 it is defined as 'iaith went, Dialectus Ventae prouincie', and
in 1688 as 'Iaith-gwent; the Dialect of Chepstow formerly, and now of all South
Wales'.
The dictionary definition (Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru – University of Wales
Dictionary) is - Tafodiaith Gwent, iaith y Gwennwÿs yn wreiddiol, ond
bellach y mae'n cynnwÿs iaith Morgannwg hefÿd / The dialect of Gwent.
the language of the Gwentians originally, but now embracing the Glamorgan
dialect.
One hundred years ago this was the majority dialect of Wales - the language of
the industrial valleys. In the 1800s, n addition to immigration from the rest
of the south-east, there had been large-scale immigration from west Wales and
to a lesser extent emigration from the north-west. Most non-Welsh speaking
immigrants to south-east Wales (from England, Ireland or wherever) assimilated
to their host communities. The children of the incomers – whether from other
parts of Wales or outside Wales – would almost all have spoken Welsh, and
naturally they would have spoken Gwentian.
In the 1900s for various reasons (but basically because Wales had no political
power to protect its own language, unlike many peoples in mainland Europe in
the 1800s who had been able to gain political independence and resist language
substitution - Czechs, Slovenes, etc) most people in south-east Wales turned
their back on their language. Within a century the major dialect of Wales has
all but disappeared. Although the Welsh language is familiar to a small
proportion of the south-easterners, it is generally learned as a second
language and is quite unlike the traditional form of the language.
Indeed, in Rhymni in the 1980s (source: - fieldwork for a PhD which I never finished!) there was a curious generational split in many families - bilingual Welsh-speaking grandparents, monolingual English-speaking parents, and children educated at the Welsh-language primary school. The grandparents often did not speak in Welsh to the grandchildren because the dialect (a typical form of Gwentian) was perceived to be 'mongrel Welsh' and they didn't want to adversely influence the 'correct' Welsh or 'book Welsh' of the young children. Those who had attended the Welsh schools generally had little idea of local forms of the language
Here we hope to develop a section dedicated to the language of the south-east for learners of Welsh. There is a great deal of interest in Welsh in all parts of Wales at the moment - we hope that learners in the south-east will become aware of their neglected dialect, and maybe incorporate some of its features into their own Welsh. (There is nothing stranger than learners in the south-east who speak Northern Welsh, often believing it to be 'purer' or 'more elegant' or 'more authentic', etc. Northern Welsh is none of these - it is just more northern than southern Welsh!)
Here we indicate the approximate Gwentian speech area:
(delw 6977)
Place
names with an English form:
Aber-dâr
/ Aberdare
Aberhonddu / Brecon
Abertawe / Swansea
Caer-dydd / Cardiff
Cas-gwent / Chepstow
Casnewydd ar Wysg / Newport
Castellnedd / Neath
Henffordd / Hereford
Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr / Bridgend
Trefynwy / Monmouth
Y Fenni / Abergavenny
The
Welsh language in the Gw^yr peninsula west of Abertawe / Swansea was lost in
the 1100s after the Earl of Warwick was granted the territory by the English
king Henry 1. He built a castle in Abertawe and settled the peninsula with
English people.
In
the east, in the former county of Trefynwy / Monmouth, the Welsh language was
lost in the 1800s
(2) INDEX TO OUR SECTIONS ON GWENTIAN
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Texts in this
website written in Gwentian; texts in Welsh and English about Gwentian |
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Bibliography -
references to books and articles written in Gwentian; or books and articles
in Welsh and English about Gwentian |
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An expanding
dictionary of Gwentian and English |
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Features of the
Gwentian dialect - explains how the Gwentian dialect differs from standard
Welsh: "cadair" (= chair), Gwentian "catar", etc |
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DOLENNAU ALLANOL / OUTSIDE LINKS
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cymru/eisteddfod2004/cefndir/geiriau.shtml
Tudalen y BBC ar y Wenhwyseg / A BBC
page on the Gwentian dialect (page in Welsh)
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http://www.cyfieithwyrcymru.org.uk/cymraeg/adnodd/word/cymraegllafargwent.doc
(word document)
http://www.cyfieithwyrcymru.org.uk/cymraeg/adnodd/pdf/cymraegllafargwent.pdf
(pdf document)
Cymdeithas Cyfieithwyr Cymru / Tramslators’ Society of Wales
Cymraeg Llafar
Gwent / Mary Wiliam, Darlith Goffa
Hedley Gibbard 3/08/04
The spoken Welsh of Gwent / Mary Wiliam. Hedley Gibbard Commemorative Lecture 3
August 2004 (page in Welsh)
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http://ead.llgc.org.uk/arddangos.php?math=manylion&iaith=eng&xmlfile=297664.xml&proto=&sec=intro
Ffurflen gais ar gyfer gweld Llawysgrif Llyfrgell Gendlaethol Cymru NLW
MS 1148E / Application form for the
National Library of Wales Manuscript NLW MS 1148E
(Fe welir fod yn well gan ein Llyfrgell Genedlaethol ddefnyddio talfyriadau o’r
Saesneg ar gyfer eu cyfeirnodau - NLW
MS. Rhag cywilydd).
(You can see that our National Library prefers to use abbreviations form
English for its reference codes - NLW MS. Shame on them.)
“The Gwentian Dialect” -
Awdur / Author: Isaac Craigfryn Hughes
Diwedd y ddeunawfed ganrif / Late 19th century.
Geirfa o’r Wenhwyseg a siaredid ym Morgannwg. Mae iddo gyflwyniad yn Saesneg.
A glossary of the Gwentian dialect as spoken in Morganneg / Glamorgan. There is
an introduction in English.
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