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This is an online
version of a 30-page booklet which
sought to explain the main characteristics of the dialect of south-east Wales
by John Griffith (pen name: Pentrevor). Although slightly confused or eccentric
in places, and with a few disputable statements, it is an interesting booklet
in that it recognised the importance of the Gwentian dialect in teaching, as
well as being the first booklet to attempt to explain its most common features.
(1) Mentioned in the text are:
(a) Dafydd Benwyn - a poet from Tir Iarll, c1550-1600
(b) Iolo Morganwg (1747-1826) - poet, anitquarian (and forger of antiquarian
manuscripts! But all in a good cause.)
(2) Our comments are in orange italic
text in braces {like this}
_____________________________________________________
Y
WENHWYSEG
______
A KEY TO THE PHONOLOGY OF THE GWENTIAN DIALECT
______
FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS OF WELSH IN GLAMORGAN AND MONMOUTH SCHOOLS
______
BY JOHN GRIFFITH .
______
NEWPORT, MON.:
J. E. SOUTHALL, PRINTER AND PUBLISHER.
LONDON:
W.H. ROBERTS, CECIL COURT, CHARING CROSS ROAD.
______
1902
______
INTRODUCTION
______
I have put together a few notes on the phonology of the speech of some half a
million of Welshmen, and a dialect which influences largely the speech of
another half million. Scrappy and incomplete as I know the notes are, I have
been moved to print them as a small measure of relief to some teachers in our
schools, who, when they undertake to teach what is passing as literary Welsh,
are confronted in the schools of Gwent and Morgannwg with a dialect of
over-whelming strength, which presents regular features like any civilised
speech, but which, to the novice, appears to differ as much from common Welsh,
as, say, the Breton language. Knowledge of the local dialect is indispensable
to the proper teaching of Welsh. The Gwentian dialect, moreover, deserves study
on its own account. Of the three leading dialects of Wales, it has now the
largest sphere of influence.
A large portion of ancient Welsh literature is in Y Wenhwyseg or Gwentian. Its
influence in forming the literary Welsh of the future will doubtless br very
great. While, at present, all the dialects of Wales, and possibly of England
too, contribute their share towards forming a new, or modifying an old speech
in Gwent and Morgannwg, the product eventually will be overwhelmingly Gwentian.
The children of English or Irish settlers acquire a Gwentian accent, even when
they have not learnt much of Gwentian. In the Monmouthshire valleys, the
linguist finds no difficulty in recognising, in an English guise, the sounds
which struck terror into the hearts of the Roman soldiers, when for years they
sought a place in the land of the Silures to plant their eagles.
All the peculiarties of Gwentian I have noted may not be found in one locality,
and all Gwentians may not be prepared to recognise them all. Many of them may
be found outside Gwent and Morgannwg. Neither is it strictly proper to regard
the speech of that large dialect as one dialect. There are commot {NOTE: Englished form of the Welsh word “cwmwd” – a
medieval territorial division} and parochial peculiarities of speech
forming, if not distinct dialects, useful linguistic boundaries. No small
object will be attained by publishing these notes if a more general interest
will be created in dialect studies, if teachers of Welsh will be induced to
record any peculiarities of spech that may come under their notice, and if the
materials and the demand for a more elaborate and scholarly work on the subject
by abler hands will be forthcoming.
JOHN GRIFFITH.
Y WENHWYSEG.
______
(The examples from the Gwentian are printed in italics. In a few cases,
examples from printed works only, chiefly those of Iolo Morganwg, are known to
the writer.)
______
1. â > eâ.
In words of one syllable, long â is pronounced as if an e preceded it,
though the e is not pronounced as fully as in deall, ‘understanding’.
Tâd - teâd, ‘father’.
Bâch - beâch, ‘little’.
2. a > o.
(a) Final. Gwrando - grondo, ‘to
listen’
(b) Final. Angladd - anglodd, ‘funeral’
Arnaf fi -
(c) Prep. A llaw - o law, (No. 61),
‘with, or by hand’. (This o is the efo of
(d) Adv. and conj. Na, nag - no, nog,
(Iolo M), ‘nor, than’.
3. ae > â.
(a) Monosyllables. Aeth - âth, ‘he
went’
(b) Words of two syllables contracted into one.
Daear - dâr, (through an intermediate daer) ‘earth’
Dâr is used in the
For further remarks on dâr, see Appendix at the end of the book.
Baraen (old form) - Brân, name of brook.
Cair (old form), caer - câr, ‘an
encampment’.
4. ae > a
Haearn - harn, (through an
intermediate haern) ‘iron’
5. ae > a final.
Athrawiaeth - athrawiath, ‘doctrine’
6. ae > ai initial.
Traethawd - traithawd, ‘an essay’
7. ae > i.
Gwaeddu - gwîddu, (through the
Dimetian gweiddu) ‘to shout’
Ffaelu - ffîli, (through the Dimetian ffeilu) ‘to fail’
8. ai > a final.
Boneddigaidd - boneddicadd,
‘gentlemanly’
Ugain - ucan, ‘twenty’
9. ai > i.
(a) Initial. ae, ai (No. 6), i.
Traethodau - trithota, ‘essays’
(b) Final. Cywain - cŵin, (No. 97
[a]) and cwîn, ‘to gather crops’
Tonyrefail - Tonyrefil,
Tamaid - tamid, and tamad (No. 31 [b]), ‘a morsel’.
(c) The plural form - aid, from the singular -ad, is id
Llygaid - llycid, and llicid, (No. 92) ‘eyes’.
Defaid - defid, ‘sheep’.
(d) The spelling daiar for daear, through the Demetian deair, becomes dîar, ‘earth; and haiarn for haearn, through the
Dimetian heiarn becomes hîarn, ‘iron’
(Nos. 3, 4, 32 [b]). The latter form hîarn,
is hardly ever used, though dîar is
common.
10. au > a plural.
Tadau (Dimetian tadeu = tade) - tada,
‘fathers’
11. au > ach plural.
Pethau (Dimetian petheu = pethe) - pethach,
‘things’
12. au > ou in monosyllables.
Dau - dou, ‘two’
Cnau - cnou, ‘nuts’
13. aw > o
Awdurdod - odirdod, ‘authority’.
14. aw > ow
Awdwr - owdwr, ‘an author’
Awdl - owdwl, ‘an ode’
15. b > f
Hyd byth - Hyd fyth (Iolo M.), ‘for ever’.
16. b > p
Accented b is always p. Y bobl - y bopol, ‘the
people’.
abl - apal, ‘able’.
17. b > th
O bobtu - o bothtu, ‘on every side,
about’.
18. c > g
Ac - ag, ‘and’. ‘Anghof ag anneall’
(Iolo M.)
19. c > ci initial.
Cant - ciant, ‘hundred’.
This peculiarity is not so marked as No. 1, and it occurs with a short a/.
20. ch > hw or wh, ch > w.
Chwiban - hwipan, and wipan, ‘to whistle’.
Chwech - hwech, and wech, ‘six’.
21. cr > cyr
Crynhoi - cyrnhoi, ‘to gather
together’.
Crychell, a brook near Cwm Hir, Radnorshire, is written Cyrchell in the
Gwentian code of Howel Dda’s Laws.
22. d dropped.
Tadcu - tacű, (or î) ‘grandfather’.
23. d > dd final.
Gormod - gormodd, ‘too much’.
Gorfod - gorfodd, ‘to be compelled’.
24. d > dz or j, when followed by i.
Diofal - dziofal, jďofal, jimofal, and dimofal, ‘careless, jocular’.
Gorfod - gorfodd, ‘to be compelled’.
25. d > t
Accented d is always t
Cadw - catw, ‘to keep’.
Cawodydd - cawotydd,
‘showers’.
Adgof - atgof, ‘remembrance’.
26. dchr > drch
Dychrynllyd - drychynllyd,
‘fearful’.
This epithet is often applied, as da
drychynllyd, ‘fearfully or horribly good’, like da ofnatw, ‘awfully good’
Dechreuoddf - drychďws, ‘he began’.
“Pwy ôdd y bachan iefangc ‘na ddrychďws y cwrdd?”
27. dd
(a) Final, retained in -
Rhoi fyny - rhoi fynydd, ‘to give up’.
I fyny - i fynydd, ‘up’.
(b) Inserted.
Ydyw, y mae hi - otii, maedd (h)i, ‘yes,
she is’.
28. dd hardened into th
Ganddynt - genthyn, ‘with or by
them’.
29. dn > ndd
Cadno - canddo, also catno, ‘a fox’.
There seems to be the plural cendi also
in use.
“Chwareu’r ieir a’r cendi” (A triban quoted by “Cadrawd”).
30. ddn > ndd.
‘Rotheni’ (1202, ‘Rodne’ (RED BOOK OF HERGEST), representing Rhoddni,
Rhoddnei, or Rhoddne, has become
31. e > a.
(a) Initial. Erioed - ariôd, (No.
67), ‘ever, from the beginning’.
(b) Final. Teisen - tishan,
(No. 32 [b]), ‘cake’.
Chweugen - whîgan, (No. 20), ‘ten
shillings’.
(c) Fel - fal, ‘as, like’.
Fal and mal are common in Welsh literature, especially poetry.
32. (a) ei > ai.
Dei, Deio (Dafydd) - Dai, ‘David’.
(b) ei > î.
Gweithio - gwîtho, ‘to work’.
Ei - î, ‘his’.
33. eu > a.
The plural form -eu, as well as -au, is a in
Gwentian.
Esgidieu - scitsha, (No. 90), ‘shoes’.
Eisiau - îsha, (No. 74), ‘want, need’.
34. eu > î.
Gwneuthur - gnîthur, ‘to make’.
Creulon - crîlon, ‘cruel’.
35. ew > w and iw.
Mewn - mwn, ‘in’, and, as in
Dimetian, miwn, ‘into, within’.
36. f final dropped.
Cynhwrf - cynnwr, ‘commotion’.
37. fe > ef.
Fe a - ef. “Ef a ddigwyddws coll ar
lawer o wybodaeth” (Iolo M.)
38. fe > fa.
Onide fe? - ontefa? ‘is it not?’
Do fe? - dofa? ‘did it? was
it?’
“Enclitic fe becomes fa in the
39. f > m.
Mi a wnaf - fi’ na ‘I will do or
make’
A fi âf i a fe i fyw i Fro Fiscin (and
he and I will go to live to Bro Fiscin = Miskin).
40. f > w.
Fel yna - wel’na, ‘in that way’.
(Wel for fel is very common. No. 31 [c]).
41. fh > ff.
Cryfhâu - crýffa, (No. 48 [b] 2),
‘to become strong’.
42. fn > nf. (See No. 29).
Trefnu - trenfu, ‘to arrange’.
Cefnu - cenfu, ‘to turn one’s back to’.
Llyfni - Llynfi and Llwyni,a tributary of the Ogwr river.
43. fy > ym.
Poss. pron., ‘my’ (No. 48 [a])
Fy
Fy stori - ym stori, ‘my story’.
44. g dropped..
Arglwydd - arlwydd, ‘lord’.
But the g is always pronounced in the Scriptural Arglwydd, LORD.
Bachgen - bachan, ‘boy’.
45. g > c
Accented g is always c.
Magu - macu, ‘to nurse’.
“Cas gwr na charo’r wlad a’i maco.’
46. gl > cl
Casglu - clascu, ‘to collect’.
47. gyf > godd
Gyferbyn - godderbyn, and godderab, (goddereb in N. Pemb), from gwydderbyn,
‘over against’
48. h
Use very uncertain and capricious.
Anhap - anap ‘an accident’
Anrhaith - anraith (Iolo M.),
‘pillage’
Hysbysywydd - ysbysrwydd (Iolo M.),
‘information’
The liberty taken with the aspirate in Gwent and Morgannwg may be due to the
long prevalence in the district of the English of Tennyson’s ‘Churchwarden’,
‘An’ saw by the Graäce o’ the Lord, Mr. Harry, I ham wot I ham’.
The line quoted supplies the key to one pretty regular use of the aspirate in
Gwentian. It is inserted as a welcome relief between two weak vocables. How
otherwise could the ‘churchwarden’ express emphatically his intense
satisfaction with himself, by the weak vocables, I am?
(a) h is inserted between the poss. pron. ym,
‘my’, and a noun beginning with a vowel
Fy eglwys - ym (h) eglwys ‘my church’.
Fy arian - ym (h) arian ‘my
money’.
Fy achos - ym (h) achos ‘my
cause’.
(b) There are two ways of disposing of the aspirate in the -hau
verbs.
1. Mwynhau - mwynäu ‘to enjoy’.
“Islwyn”, the great Gwentian bard, adopted this way.
2. With some -hau verbs, that syllable is shortened, and the preceding syllable
is strengthened or hardened, to which the accent also is transferred.
Cwblhau - cwpla ‘to finish’.
Cryfhau - crýffa ‘to become strong’.
(c) There is a hybrid verb in which the aspirate is retained.
Ffreshâu ‘freshening’, usually applied
to the weather.
(d) h > g.
Ar eu hôl - ar i gôl, ‘after them’.
49. i
1st, 2nd and 3rd pers. plur. pres. tense, indic. mood
of the verb bod, ‘to be’.
Yr ydym ni - i ni, ‘we are’.
Ydych chwi? - i chi? ‘are you?’
Ydynt hwy? - i nhw? ‘are they?’
50. i final dropped in -
Geiriau - gîra, ‘words’.
51. i > idd, prep ‘to’.
I’w (i) (ei) dâd - idd i dâd, ‘to his
father’.
52. i > ie.
Ifan - Iefan, also Ifan, ‘Evan’.
Ieuanc - iefangc, also ifangc, ‘young’.
53. i > io.
(a) Verbs.
Peidio - pîdo or pîto, ‘to refuse, cease’.
(b) Adjectives.
Boliog - bolog, ‘protruberant’.
(c) Nouns.
Bywoliaeth - bywoliath, ‘livelihood’.
Exception: - digio - dicio, ‘to give
offence’.
54. ldd > ddl.
Gilydd - giddyl, ‘together’.
Cywilydd - cwiddyl, ‘shame’.
55. ll > cl.
Llethrddu - Cledrddu, now the name of a
cemetery in the
56. ll > l.
‘Fe gafwyd lonyddwch’ (llonyddwch) [Iolo M.]
57. llall > nâll.
Llall, ‘the other’, is hardly ever used, but nâll
for naill, ‘the one’, is used for llall.
Instead of saying y naill neu y llall, ‘the one or the other’, the expression
is nace (for nid) hwn (hwna
or hwnw), y
nâll, ‘not this (or that one), the one’ (for ‘the other’)
‘Mae i’n och, un am y naill (llall)’ [Dafydd Benwyn]
58. ll > th final.
Arall - arath, ‘other, another’.
Eraill or ereill - erith, ‘others’.
Cyllell - cillath, ‘knife’.
59. llt > tll
Cawsellti (au) - cawstelli, ‘cheese-vats’.
59a. n > m final.
Morwyn - morwm, ‘maid-servant’.
Morgan, Morgan (old forms) - Margam.
?Glan Torfaen - Llantarnam. {NOTE: In fact, “Glan Torfaen” is not a correct
explanation of this place name}
60. ng > ngt.
Rhwng y ddau - r(h)wngt and r(h)ingt y ddou, ‘between the two’.
61. o
‘Is used in the dialect of Glamorgan to denote the instrument’ (Prof. T.
Powel). It is the o of efo,
‘Codi glo o’r rhaw (â’r rhaw)’, ‘throwing
up coal with a shovel’.
62. o, prep. ‘of’, dropped.
‘Cymaint son’ (“Cadrawd”) for cymaint o
son, ‘so much talk about’.
63. o initial dropped.
Offeiriad - ffirad, ‘a priest’.
Offeiriaid - ffiraton, (from
another plural form offeiriadon), ‘priests’.
64. o > a.
(a) Initial. Ofnadwy - afnatw, ‘fearful’.
(b) Final. Briwo - briwa, ‘to crumble,
to wound’
65. o > w final.
Cadog or Catog - Catwg.
66. oe > i.
Boed (bydded) - bid, ‘let it be’.
67. oe > ô.
oes - ôs, ‘age; there is’.
68. oe > oi.
Coesau - coisa, ‘legs’.
When a Gwentian native reads Welsh in public, he is very apt to say
ois for oes.
69. oe > w final.
Eisoes - îsws, ‘already’.
“Isws a chynt”, ‘already and
before’, is a common expression.
70. o’i > oddi, prep. ‘from his’.
O’i gartref - odd i gartra, ‘from
his home’.
71. ow > ŵ.
Dowlais - Dŵlish.
Howel - Hŵal.
72. par > pyr initial.
Paratoi - pyrtói, ‘to prepare’.
73. pr > pyr initial.
Prynu - pyrnu, ‘to buy’.
Pregethu - pyrgethu, ‘to preach’.
74. s > sh
S before i becomes sh, the i becoming more or less indistinct.
(a) Initial. Siaradwr - sharatwr, ‘a
speaker’.
Prisio - prisho, ‘to value,
to prize, also to heed’.
Eisieu - îsha, ‘to want’.
(b) Medial. Isaf - isha, ‘lowest’.
(c) Final. Mis - mish,
‘month’.
75. sg > shc
(a) Medial. Gwisgo - gwishco, ‘to
dress’.
Disgwyl - dishcwl, ‘to look
at’, but not in the sense of ‘to expect’, which is erfyn
in Gwentian, a word which in common Welsh, means ‘to pray or beg’.
(b) Final. Y Pasg - Y Pashc, ‘Easter’.
Y Wasg - Y Washc, ‘the Press’
76. t, followed by u becomes tsh, initial.
Tua thref - tsha thre, ‘homewards’.
77. t, final, dropped in verb endings.
Ydynt - otyn, ‘they are’.
78. thg > cd
Ateb - apad, ‘to answer’. (N. Pemb.
aped)
79. thg > cd
Benthyg, menthyg - bengcyd, mengcyd,
also mentyc, ‘a loan’.
80. tl > cl
Tlawd - clawd, ‘poor’.
81. u > i, long as in Engl. deep, short as in thin..
The Venedotian u can only be acquired by a Gwentian with hard practice.
82. w initial dropped.
(a) Between g and n.
Gwneuthur - gnithur, ‘to do or make’.
(b) Between g and l.
Gwlad - glâd, ‘country’.
Gwlan - glân, ‘wool’.
(c) Between g and r.
Gwrando - grondo, ‘to listen’.
Gwraig - graig, ‘wife’. Merch ne’ raig.
83. w > o final.
Yn enw dyn - neno dyn! ‘in the name of
man’.
84. wy
This vocable is fully pronounced only in words of one syllable like Gwy,
‘Wye’, mwy, ‘more’. It is true we have such spellings as Ebwy and Ogwy, but the
one is always pronounced Ebbw, and the other Ogwr. The word wy, ‘an egg’, is
wî, like the English wee, and the French oui. Gwyr, ‘men’, is pronounced like
gwir, ‘true, truth’.
85. (a) wy > â
Awyr - âr, ‘air’.
(a) wy > a {NOTE: in the
original, with a breve over the vowel to indicate that it is short}, final
Mynwy - Mynwa, ‘Monmouth’.
86. wy > o final
Magor, Mon., is supposed to be the Welsh magwyr, ‘an enclosure or wall’.
In ancient charters of the district, the final w in -wg, as in Morgannwg, is
ok, Morgannok. But no instance of this peculiarity, in present Gwentian speech,
is known to the writer.
87. wy > w
(a) Initial. Gwybod - gwpod, ‘to know’.
Wyddest ti? - gwddot ti?, ‘knowest
thou?’.
Hwynthwy - Hwntw(?), ‘they
themselves’. {NOTE: hwntw is a nickname for a
southerner}
(b) Final. Eglwys - eclws, ‘church’.
Wyr - wrs, a plural form as in gweithwyr
- gwithwrs, ‘workmen’.
The verb ending -wys, of old Gwentian literature, is now > ws, viz: ennillwys - ennillws, ‘he, she, it earned or gained’.
88. wy >
Wy
89. y
This letter is used throughout
is fully pronounced only in words of one syllable like Gwy, ‘Wye’, mwy, ‘more’.
It is true we have such spellings as Ebwy and Ogwy, but the one is always
pronounced Ebbw, and the other Ogwr. The word wy, ‘an egg’, is wî, like the
English wee, and the French oui. Gwyr, ‘men’, is pronounced like gwir, ‘true,
truth’.
90. y initial dropped.
Y fi - fi, ‘I’
Dyna i chwi - náchi, ‘there
you’,
Wedi hynny - wetyn, wetni,
‘after that’,
It should be noted that while Welshmen generally use y before initial double
consonants beginning with s, as in ysgol, ‘school’, as the French use e in the
same connection, e.g. école, ‘school’; Gwentians, by pushing the accent on from
the initial syllable, and shortening words, dispense with that aid, as in,-
Ysgwyd - scwto, ‘shake’.
Ysgolhaig - sclaig, ‘scholar’.
Ysgolheigion - scligon, ‘scholars’.
In the following instances, a compromise has been effected, and the first of
two initial y’s is allowed.
Y dyn yna - y dyn’na, ‘that man’.
Y lle yna - y lle’na, ‘that place’.
91. y > a initial.
Ymrafaelion - amrafaelion (Iolo M.).
92. y > i initial.
Llythyr - llithir, ‘letter’.
Gyda - gita, ‘with’.
92. y > i initial.
(a) Initial. Mynwes - monwes,’bosom’.
‘Mae monwes gynes genym’ (Islwyn)
Mynwent - monwent, (Glanffrwd)
‘graveyard’.
These, however, are literary instances. Commonly, one hears mynwant and mynwas,
though monachlog for mynachlog, ‘monastery’, is both literary and
colloquial.
Ydw - otw,’I am’.
(b) Medial. Maylaf - manola,’most
exact’.
‘Manola un, mwyn ail oedd’ (Dafydd Benwyn)
94. y > w initial.
Ymladd - wmladd, ‘to fight’
Cymraeg - Cwmrâg, ‘Welsh’
Dygid (dwyn) - dwcid, ‘to take away, to
steal’
95. yr > ydd.
‘Ydd ennillwys genedl y Cymry eu braint a’u coron’ (Iolo M.)
96. yw > i final.
Ydyw - oti, ‘he, she or it is’
97. yw > w.
(a) Initial. Cywilydd - cwiddyl,
‘shame’
(b) Medial. Tragywydd - tragwydd,
‘everlasting’
(c) Final. Benyw, menyw - menw, ‘woman’
APPENDIX
______
DÂR (No. 3)
_____
The intermediate form daer for daear is given in a quotation from an ancient
MS., in Ysten Sioned, p. 80, where it is said of the lion - “A phan fo yn marw,
cnoi y ddaer a wna, a gollwng dagrau o’i lygaid.” The MS. quoted shows several
Gwentian peculiarities. “Glanffrwd” explains the place-name Darwyno, near the
Compare:-
“Gnawd nyth Eryr yn mlaen dâr”. Blaen, in Gwent and Morgannwg, is used for
“upland”. Bro a Blaena, “the Vale and the Uplands”; Blaenau Gwent, “the uplands
of Gwent”. Dafydd Benwyn, a Glamorgan bard, uses the expression - sy’ mlaen
gwlad, “which is at the head or in the upland of a district.” The line quited
(Myv. Arch., 102. 1) may, therefore, be translated - “It is usual for the Eagle
to build her nest at the very head of the land, the highest crag in the highest
part of a district.”
In Celtic Folklore, p. 259, there is a Llanfabon folktale contributed by Mr.
CraigfrynHughes, in which occurs the expression - mesen cyn derwen, a derwen
mewn dâr. Mr. Hughes also says that clâr survˇves in the district for claear,
“lukewarm”. See further, a note by Prof. Rhys on these Gwentian survivals,
Celtic Folk, p. 691.
But “several literary natives of Glamorgan” have assured Prof. Rhys that they
do not know dâr for daear, but Prof. Rhys says, “such negative evidence, though
proving the literary form daear to prevail now, is not to be opposed to the
positive statement, sent by Mr. Hughes (p. 173) to me, as to the persistence in
his neighbourhood of Dâr”, etc. As to dâr for derwen, “oak”, my references are
confusing. In a poem (Myv. Arch. p. 98), the three expressions blaen derw, “top
of the oaks”, blaen dâr, and dail deri, “leaves of oaks”, are used. Again, Brân
a gant chwedyl o vrig dâr Man ai clywai yr holl adar. (Ibid, p. 810) (The crow
sang a tale on the top of the oak-tree, where all the birds could hear it).
Again, gorwlychyd kafod
To conclude, dâr for daear is a Gwentian survival. I have no evidence that dâr
for derwen is used anywhere now.
JOHN GRIFFITH
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DOLENNAU AR GYFER GWEDDILL Y GWEFAN HWN |
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