Tudalen:Holl Waith Barddonol Goronwy Owen.djvu/145

Prawfddarllenwyd y dudalen hon

Ddwyn clwyf fel lle bwyf y bo'ch,
Mewn ffawd didor, a gorhoen,
Mewn byd heb na phyd na phoen."

Gan y diafl ydd â'r aflan,
A dieifl^[1] a'u teifl yn y tân.

↑ The Devil, this Diafl, as well as Diafol and Diafwl, are probably provincial words, framed from the Latin Diabolus. But the original Celtic name is Diawl, and which is compounded of the negative di and iawl, a prayer, request, or thanksgiving; a fit name for the enemy of mankind, i.e., void of prayer or thanks to God.
Aed i Ddiawl dragwyddawl dro.—GR. GRYG.
And though many nations use the same word for the same idea, yet it may be doubted whether there is one of them that can give it a rational derivation from its own language, as we do from the Celtic. Here it may not be amiss to inform persons who are not acquainted with the rigid rules of our Cambro—British Poetry, of the surprising fetters imposed upon it by the Ancients, for the security of their language, that it might not dance beyond its bounds. These strict rules, it is certain, have cramped our geniuses, though they have preserved our language in such a manner that it is almost impossible that it should change a single letter, while the works of the poets are read. As for example, in the word Diafl, from the nature of the verse before us:—
Gan y Diafol ydd a'r aflan.
The three last letters of the word must be the same with the three first in the word aflan; and as the word aflan cannot possibly alter because compounded of af and glan, i.e., un and clean; so you cannot alter a word that the Poets have used without altering the whole language. The kind of verses quoted here is the loosest of any of the four different kinds used in composing this kind of poem, though, one would think, this hath difficulties enough; yet the last verse save two,
A melysed mawl Iesu.
hath far greater difficulties, m ls in the word melysed, on one side of the accent must answer to m ls in the words mawl Iesu, on the other side; and all the vowels on each side the accent must differ, in order to make the sound various and musical.

[1] The Devil, this Diafl, as well as Diafol and Diafwl, are probably provincial words, framed from the Latin Diabolus. But the original Celtic name is Diawl, and which is compounded of the negative di and iawl, a prayer, request, or thanksgiving; a fit name for the enemy of mankind, i.e., void of prayer or thanks to God.
Aed i Ddiawl dragwyddawl dro.—GR. GRYG.
And though many nations use the same word for the same idea, yet it may be doubted whether there is one of them that can give it a rational derivation from its own language, as we do from the Celtic. Here it may not be amiss to inform persons who are not acquainted with the rigid rules of our Cambro—British Poetry, of the surprising fetters imposed upon it by the Ancients, for the security of their language, that it might not dance beyond its bounds. These strict rules, it is certain, have cramped our geniuses, though they have preserved our language in such a manner that it is almost impossible that it should change a single letter, while the works of the poets are read. As for example, in the word Diafl, from the nature of the verse before us:—
Gan y Diafol ydd a'r aflan.
The three last letters of the word must be the same with the three first in the word aflan; and as the word aflan cannot possibly alter because compounded of af and glan, i.e., un and clean; so you cannot alter a word that the Poets have used without altering the whole language. The kind of verses quoted here is the loosest of any of the four different kinds used in composing this kind of poem, though, one would think, this hath difficulties enough; yet the last verse save two,
A melysed mawl Iesu.
hath far greater difficulties, m ls in the word melysed, on one side of the accent must answer to m ls in the words mawl Iesu, on the other side; and all the vowels on each side the accent must differ, in order to make the sound various and musical.

[1]