Cyfaill Y Llyfrgell / Friend of the Library (Haf/Summer 2003)
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37434_CyfaillHaf03 29/7/03 10:14 am Page 1 CYFAILL Y LLYFRGELL FRIEND OF THE LIBRARY Llythyren gyntaf yn / An initial in Peniarth 540 llun / picture Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales CYLCHLYTHYR CYFEILLION LLYFRGELL GENEDLAETHOL CYMRU NEWSLETTER OF THE FRIENDS OF THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF WALES Haf 2003 Summer 37434_CyfaillHaf03 29/7/03 10:14 am Page 2 CYFAILL Y LLYFRGELL HAF 2003 SUMMER FRIEND OF THE LIBRARY GEIRIADUR PRIFYSGOL CYMRU: A DICTIONARY OF THE WELSH LANGUAGE Mary Burdett-Jones Goln. Gareth A. Bevan a Patrick J. Donovan, Gwasg Eds. Gareth A. Bevan and Patrick J. Donovan, University of Prifysgol Cymru, rhannau 64 tt., £9.99 (£6.66 i Wales Press, 64 pp. fascicles, £9.99 (£6.66 to subscribers), danysgrifwyr), ISSN 0072-0542 ISSN 0072-0542 Mae’r geiriadur hanesyddol hwn o’r This historical dictionary of the iaith Gymraeg (GPC) yn brosiect Welsh language (GPC) is a project sydd wedi gwneud defnydd helaeth o which has made extensive use of the adnoddau Llyfrgell Genedlaethol resources of the National Library of Cymru. Mae hyn yn briodol Wales. This is appropriate since the oherwydd bod y Geiriadur, fel y Dictionary, like the National Library, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol, Prifysgol the University of Wales itself, and the Cymru ei hun, ac Amgueddfeydd ac National Museums and Galleries of Orielau Cenedlaethol Cymru Wales are the product of nineteenth- yn ffrwyth cenedlaetholdeb century cultural nationalism. diwylliannol y bedwaredd ganrif ar Shortly after the University of bymtheg. Wales founded the Board of Celtic Yn fuan ar ôl i Brifysgol Cymru Studies to promote research in 1919, sefydlu’r Bwrdd Gwybodaeth it was decided to start reading for Celtaidd i hyrwyddo ymchwil yn GPC. The National Library made a 1919, penderfynwyd dechrau darllen tremendous contribution by giving ar gyfer GPC. Gwnaeth y Llyfrgell the staff shelter in a variety of rooms Genedlaethol gyfraniad aruthrol from 1919 to 1993, when the team moved to the University Building, drwy roi lloches i’r staff mewn which is connected to the Library by amrywiol stafelloedd o 1919 tan a corridor. Staff can thus still gain 1993, pan symudodd y tîm i Adeilad access to the stacks, which makes y Brifysgol, sy’n gysylltiedig â’r their work much easier as all the Llyfrgell â choridor. Felly mae staff quotations given are checked against yn dal i gael mynediad i’r staciau, sy’n Darllenwyr haf 1928 yn Ystafell Summers Summer readers 1928 in the Summers Room the original sources or reproductions hwyluso eu gwaith yn ddirfawr of them such as microfilms. In return oherwydd bod yr holl enghreifftiau a ail o’r chwith / second from left W.Beynon the staff assist the Library with the ddyfynnir yn cael eu siecio yn erbyn Davies, ail o’r dde / second from right E. D. occasional query. y ffynonellau gwreiddiol neu Jones The aim at the beginning was to atgynhyrchiadau ohonynt megis trace the course of Welsh from the meicroffilmiau. Yn gyfnewid mae’r llun / picture Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / remnants of Old Welsh in glosses of staff yn cynorthwyo’r Llyfrgell gydag National Library of Wales the ninth century onwards, by ambell ymholiad. reading as many printed books as Y nod ar y dechrau oedd olrhain hynt y Gymraeg o possible and the most important manuscripts up to 1800.At weddillion Hen Gymraeg mewn glosau o’r nawfed ganrif that period the nineteenth century seemed like yesterday! It ymlaen, drwy ddarllen cymaint o lyfrau printiedig ag oedd was not possible to do more than sample the products of the yn bosibl a’r llawysgrifau pwysicaf hyd at 1800. Yr adeg century named the ‘oes aur’ (golden age) of Welsh publishing hynny roedd y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg yn ymddangos by Professor G. J.Williams. Since then a number of works of fel ddoe! Ni ellid ond cymryd samplau o gynnyrch y ganrif the twentieth century have been read in order to keep up a elwid yn ‘oes aur’ cyhoeddi yn Gymraeg gan yr Athro G. with developments in the language.The collection of slips, J. Williams. Darllenwyd erbyn hyn nifer o weithiau o’r which contain the supposed headword, the word in ugeinfed ganrif er mwyn ceisio cadw i fyny â datblygiadau question in a certain amount of context, the date, and a yn yr iaith. Mae’r casgliad slipiau, sy’n cynnwys y dangosair reference to the source, now contains over two million slips. tybiedig, y gair dan sylw mewn rhywfaint o gyd-destun, y Unlike the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), on which dyddiad, a chyfeiriad at y ffynhonnell, bellach yn cynnwys GPC was modelled, it was necessary to draw upon mwy na dwy filiwn o slipiau. manuscripts and unpublished theses on a large scale since Yn wahanol i’r Oxford English Dictionary (OED), y many of the texts quoted had not been edited in scholarly modelwyd GPC arno, bu’n rhaid tynnu ar lawysgrifau a editions.Where the OED could use the work of the Early thraethodau anghyhoeddedig ar raddfa fawr oherwydd nad English Text Society, for example, it is only recently that we 2 37434_CyfaillHaf03 29/7/03 10:14 am Page 3 CYFAILL Y LLYFRGELL HAF 2003 SUMMER FRIEND OF THE LIBRARY oedd llawer o’r testunau y dyfynnir ohonynt wedi eu golygu have a standard edition of the work of the Gogynfeirdd (Poets mewn argraffiadau ysgolheigaidd. Lle’r oedd yr OED yn of the Princes), and the Centre for Advanced Welsh and medru defnyddio cynnyrch yr Early English Text Society,er Celtic Studies is still at work editing the poetry of the enghraifft, dim ond yn ddiweddar y cafwyd golygiad safonol Uchelwyr (Gentry), who continued the tradition of the o waith y Gogynfeirdd, ac mae’r Ganolfan Uwchefrydiau patronage of the poets after Wales was conquered by the Cymreig a Cheltaidd yn dal wrthi yn golygu barddoniaeth English in 1282. yr Uchelwyr, a barhâi’r traddodiad o noddi’r beirdd ar ôl i’r Until recently co-operative works did not have the status Saeson oresgyn Cymru yn 1282. which they deserved – the New English Dictionary (which Tan yn ddiweddar nid oedd cyweithiau yn cael cymaint o became the OED) suffered in the same way, as can be seen statws ag yr oeddent yn ei haeddu – fe ddioddefodd y New in K. M. E. Murray’s book, Caught in the web of words: James English Dictionary (a ddaeth yn OED) yn yr un ffordd, fel y Murray and the Oxford English Dictionary (1979) – but despite gwelir yn llyfr K. M. E. Murray, Caught in the web of words: that the services of a number of good scholars were secured James Murray and the Oxford English Dictionary (1979) – ond for the Dictionary over the years. One who went on to serch hynny llwyddwyd i gael gwasanaeth nifer o become Librarian of the National Library of Wales was ysgolheigion da dros y blynyddoedd ar y Geiriadur. Un a Professor R. Geraint Gruffydd, who has taken the place of aeth ymlaen i fod yn Llyfrgellydd y Llyfrgell Genedlaethol the late Professor J. E. Caerwyn Williams, the great Celtic oedd yr Athro R. Geraint Gruffydd, sydd wedi cymryd lle’r scholar, as Consultative Editor of the Dictionary. E. D. Jones, diweddar Athro J. E. Caerwyn Williams, yr ysgolhaig who read for GPC as a student, also became Librarian of the Celtaidd mawr, fel Golygydd Ymgynghorol y Geiriadur. National Library,having been before that Keeper of the old Daeth E. D. Jones, a ddarllenodd i GPC fel myfyriwr, hefyd Department of Manuscripts of the Library. It was necessary yn Llyfrgellydd y Llyfrgell Genedlaethol, wedi bod cyn to employ readers such as this since, as T. Gwynn Jones said hynny yn Geidwad hen Adran Llawysgrifau’r Llyfrgell. in a report in 1926 discussing the possiblity of using volunteers,‘In a country like ours, where the language & the Roedd angen cyflogi darllenwyr fel hyn oherwydd, fel y native culture has been for generations studiedly shut out dywedodd T. Gwynn Jones mewn adroddiad yn 1926 wrth from schools & colleges, a scholarly dictionary cannot be sôn am y posibilrwydd o ddefnyddio gwirfoddolwyr, ‘In a produced without such assistance’. Students are still country like ours, where the language & the native culture employed during the summer, and over the years some has been for generations studiedly shut out from schools & voluntary readers such as the late Stephen Stephens have colleges, a scholarly dictionary cannot be produced with made a considerable contribution. such assistance’. Mae myfyrwyr yn dal i gael eu cyflogi yn The first head of the team was the Rev. J. Bodvan Anwyl, ystod yr haf, a dros y blynyddoedd mae rhai darllenwyr who had edited a number of editions of Spurrell’s gwirfoddol megis y diweddar Stephen Stephens wedi dictionary.After the Second World War there was a shortage gwneud cryn gyfraniad. of dictionaries, and it was decided that there was sufficient Pennaeth cyntaf y tîm oedd y Parch. J. Bodvan Anwyl, a material to start editing and publishing. The first number oedd wedi golygu argraffiadau o eiriadur Spurrell. Ar ôl yr appeared in 1950 under the editorship of R. J.Thomas, the Ail Ryfel Byd roedd prinder geiriaduron, a phenderfynwyd author of Enwau afonydd a nentydd Cymru (The names of the bod digon o ddeunydd i ddechrau golygu a chyhoeddi. rivers and streams of Wales). The etymology of words is Ymddangosodd y rhifyn cyntaf ym 1950 dan olygyddiaeth discussed, with comparisons of course with forms in other R. J. Thomas, awdur Enwau Afonydd a Nentydd Celtic languages and a number of other languages, as well as Cymru.Trafodir tarddiad geiriau, gan gymharu wrth gwrs â exemplifying their use over the centuries by quotations.