Trosglwyddo Gwybodaeth a Rhwydweithiau Cymdeithasol: Dysg Ewropeaidd a’r Chwyldro yn Ysgolheictod Cymru Oes Fictoria Trawsysgrifiadau o Lythyrau at Thomas Stephens (1821–1875) o Lawysgrif Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru 964E i–ii Knowledge Transfer and Social Networks: European Learning and the Revolution in Welsh Victorian Scholarship Transcripts of Letters to Thomas Stephens (1821–1875) from National Library of Wales Manuscript 964E i–ii https://archives.library.wales/index.php/letters-534 INTRODUCTION CYFLWYNIAD The main aims of this Leverhulme Prif amcanion y prosiect hwn, a Trust-funded project were an noddwyd gan Ymddiriedolaeth exhibition on the life and works of Leverhulme, oedd cynnal Thomas Stephens, a monograph arddangosfa ar fywyd a gwaith charting his contributions to local Thomas Stephens, cyhoeddi cyfrol community, Welsh culture and am ei gyfraniad yn ei gymuned leol, European scholarship, and a critical at ddiwylliant Cymru ac ysgolheictod edition of the most important letters Ewrop, a chywain a golygu detholiad which connected him with the world o’i lythyrau pwysicaf, a oedd yn ei of European learning. gysylltu â byd dysgedig Ewrop. In 2017, the project decided to make Yn 2017, penderfynodd y prosiect its transcripts of letters addressed to wneud eu trawsysgrifiadau o’r Thomas Stephens found in four llythyrau at Stephens a geir mewn volumes at the National Library of pedair cyfrol yn Llyfrgell Wales available to the public. Genedlaethol Cymru ar gael i’r cyhoedd. National Library of Wales Ceir yn Llawysgrifau Llyfrgell Manuscripts 964E i–ii and 965E i–ii Genedlaethol Cymru 964E i–ii a contain over 400 letters donated in 965E i–ii dros 400 o lythyrau a 1916. Between 2013 and 2016, Dr roddwyd i’r llyfrgell ym 1916. Rhwng Adam Coward transcribed and edited 2013 a 2016, trawsysgrifiwyd a most of the material and Dr Marion olygwyd y rhan fwyaf o’r deunydd Löffler revised the collection, gan Dr Adam Coward, ac adolygwyd y especially the Welsh letters. We are cyfan, yn enwedig y llythyrau grateful to Dr Ceridwen Lloyd- Cymraeg, gan Dr Marion Löffler. Morgan for her help with the letters Mae’r prosiect yn ddyledus i Dr in French. Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan am ei chymorth gyda’r llythyrau Ffrangeg. In the four volumes, the letters, Yn y pedair cyfrol, rhifir y llythyrau o numbered through from 1 to 385B, 1 hyd at 385B, gan gadw yn fras at are mainly in alphabetical order, drefn yr wyddor, o’r llythyr cyntaf a from the first, written by Scotsman ysgrifennwyd gan yr Albanwr Alex Alex Anderson, to number 385B in Anderson, hyd at rif 385B a the fourth volume, which had been anfonwyd at Stephens gan William sent to Stephens by William Wilde, Wilde, tad Oscar Wilde. Ceir ar father of Oscar Wilde. The remainder ddiwedd 965E ii ddeunydd amrywiol, of 965E ii is taken up with megis visa, amlenni, beirniadaethau miscellaneous material, such as visa, eisteddfodol, ac ambell gerdd. Mae’r envelopes, some eisteddfod trawsysgrifiadau yn dilyn trefn y adjudications, and poetry. The deunydd yn cyfrolau. transcripts have kept to the order of the material in the volumes. EDITORIAL PRINCIPLES EGWYDDORION GOLYGYDDOL Presented here are transcripts made Ceir yma drawsysgrifiadau o gynnwys for the project from volumes NLW cyfrolau Llsgr. LlGC964E i–ii a MS 964E i–ii. They do not include wnaethpwyd ar gyfer y prosiect. Nid background information on ydynt yn cynnwys gwybodaeth Stephens’s correspondents, on gefndir ar y sawl oedd yn gohebu â subject areas discussed, or on the Stephens, ar y pynciau a drafodir, nac importance of certain letters and ar bwysigrwydd llythyrau a documents in Stephens’s private and dogfennau penodol ym mywyd public life. This additional preifat a chyhoeddus Stephens. Ceir information will be available in the yr wybodaeth ychwanegol hon yn y anthology and in the monograph. detholiad o lythyrau ac yn y gyfrol ar Here, the project reproduces our Thomas Stephens. Yma, atgynhyrchir transcripts only, organized by trawsysgrifiadau’r prosiect yn unig, correspondent and from A to Z of wedi eu trefnu yn ôl cyfenwau their surname. gohebwyr ac o A i Z. Editorial input has been kept to a Golygiad ysgafn o’r testun a geir yma, minimum. Obvious mistakes have gyda chamgymeriadau amlwg wedi been quietly corrected or more rarely eu cywiro’n dawel, neu, yn llai aml, been marked with [sic]. eu hamlygu â [sic]. Proper names mentioned by Cadwyd enwau priod, yn cynnwys correspondents, including historical enwau ffigyrau hanesyddol a and mythical figures, place names, chwedlonol, enwau afonydd, ac and river names, have been left as enwau lleoedd, fel y maent yn they appear in the letters. This ymddangos yn y gwreiddiol. Golyga means that the Irish hero now known hyn fod yr arwr Gwyddelig a as Cu Chullain, a river name like adwaenir fel Cu Chullain, enwau Crafnant, or the title of a manuscript afonydd megis Crafnant, a theitlau may appear in various forms and llawysgrifau yn ymddangos mewn spellings. amrywiol sillafiadau. The orthography has been Cadwyd orgraff adeg yr ysgrifennu, a transcribed as written at the time, fydd yn effeithio’n benodol ar which will especially affect searches chwiliadau am y geiriau Cymraeg for those Welsh words whose hynny y bu Thomas Stephens ac eraill spelling Stephens and others yn ceisio sefydlu eu sillafiadau yn attempted to settle after the dilyn Eisteddfod Llangollen 1858. Dim Llangollen Eisteddfod of 1858. Only ond mewn achosion pan fyddai’r in cases where a different spelling ystyr yn dywyll fel arall y cywirwyd would impede understanding have geiriau’n dawel neu y nodwyd words been quietly corrected or camgymeriadau â [sic]. marked by [sic]. All matter inserted by the editors, Ymddengys popeth a fewnosodwyd such as [illegible], appears in square gan y golygyddion, megis [illegible], brackets. rhwng bachau sgwâr. When citing from the transcripts use the format shown in this example: NLW MS 964E, no. 1, Alex Anderson to Thomas Stephens, 4 October 1873, in Knowledge Transfer and Social Networks Transcript <https://archives.library.wales/index.php/letters- 534> Wrth ddyfynnu o’r trawsysgrifiadau, defnyddiwch ffurf yr enghraifft isod: Llsgr. LlGC 964E, rhif 1, Alex Anderson at Thomas Stephens, 4 Hydref 1873, yn Trosglwyddo Gwybodaeth a Rhwydweithiau Cymdeithasol Trawsysgrifiad, <https://archives.library.wales/index.php/letters-889> To learn more about Thomas Stephens of Merthyr Tydfil, go to: http://www.wales.ac.uk/en/CentreforAdvancedWelshCelticStudies/Rese archProjects/CurrentProjects/Knowledge-Transfer-and-Social- Networks/IntroductiontotheProject.aspx I ddysgu rhagor am Thomas Stephens o Ferthyr Tudful, ewch i: http://www.wales.ac.uk/cy/YGanolfanGeltaidd/ResearchProjects/CurrentPr ojects/TrosglwyddoGwybodaeth/IntroductiontotheProject.aspx NATIONAL LIBRARY OF WALES MS 964E, I and 964E, II Volume I 1 Chancery - Old Aberdeen 4th October, 73 Dear Sir, A reference to your name as the highest living authority in Welsh Antiquities induces me to take the liberty of requesting you to do me the great honour of giving me any information which you think fitted to throw light on the question of the origin of some topographical names familiar to us in this neighbourhood – The vast majority of old names of places throughout the north east of Scotland in which the Gaelic language has been, for seven hundred years, extinct, are Gaelic. The river names are generally often very obscure and evidently are of more ancient origin. And it has been often maintained that there are traces of a Cymric population having been settled here anterior probably to the Gaelic epoch. I am anxious to ascertain through your kind assistance whether the Welsh throws any light on the origin of several of these river names in which I am interested. 1st Dee. You have an important river on your border of the same name. Our Dee is always named by the Gaelic speaking people at its source “Uisge De” The only suggestion which I have heard from a Gaelic scholar which I have heard is that it may be “The river of God”. I do not find here any other instance in which any great mountain or river is so described by its name— In Ptolemy it is “Deva” the presence of the “v” leads me to enquire whether it may not have been the Welsh “Gwy” water Do you find any other instance in which G passes to D in the Roman or English form of Welsh names? We find in Greek γη then passing into the Doric ðâ Then probably γλυκυs 2 Don- The Gaelic name for the Don is Dean, supposed by my Gaelic friend to be “De. abhuinn[”] the river of God. But if “Dee” be “Gwy” then the abhainn river would naturally arise from the ignorance of the Gaelic inhabitants of the meaning of the older Cymric name. Both rivers having been named Dee or Gwy. They would still bear names of nearly identical meaning, “Uisge Dee” = “Water Water” & Dean “Water River” There is an interesting theory concerning the origin of the name of our city Aberdeen in which I am a believer & which is connected with the Gaelic name of the River Don. Dean- Aberdeen stands on the River Dee, at the distance of about 2 miles from the Don But there is evidence that the Don anciently flowed southward of its present mouth (which is artificial) and flowed into the Estuary of the Dee at the point which the town of Aberdeen anciently stood & still partially stands. Aberdeen then appears evidently to be Aberdean - describing its situation as at the embouchure of the Don. Hence its Latin name. Aberdonia and the modern “Aberdonian” In the Norse Heimskringla it is “Appardion” and in other ancient documents “Aberdion”. And the Highlanders call it “Aberrayn” which, I believe, is the permutation of the Genitive “Aberdhean”.