been hitherto ever imagined. I question whether we have one single word in the language, but what may be fairly derived of some monosyllable of our own. Dyffestin from ffest I have mentioned. I never saw any etymon offered of the word dechreu, yet I think it is as visible as the summer's sun, that it is compounded of dy and creu (to create,) e & y being promiscuously used by the antients, and what can more properly signify to begin, than a verb derived of another that denotes the beginning of the universe? And what is diweddu but a metaphor taken from unyoking a team, and compound of di and gwedd? But more of this by and by. I know no better way of conveying to you my notion of this piece of poetry than by rendering it into modern Welsh, without any regard to metre, or writing down the original, which you have by you:—
Haul haf boreu ei godiad, brysia,
Peraidd (yw) pynciau adar, teg (yw'r) araul hin dawel;
Myfi sydd wych fy nghynnedfau, yn ddiarswyd mewn brwydr;
Myfi sydd (megys) Hew rhag (y) llu a ruthrasant ar fy nghaerau;
Ie'n siwr. Dyn gwych o Gwalchmai, medd Goronwy.
Bu'm yn effro drwy'r nos yn cadw (y) terfyn
(Wrth) rydau wedi eu harloesi, dŵr a dyn y cèn (the covering)
oddiar wreiddyn;
Glas (yw) gwellt (y) lle anghyfanedd, diau mai hyfryd y dŵr,
Trydar eos (sydd) ganiad gynhefin,
Gwylanod yn chwareu ar wely o lifeiriant
Lleithion eu plu, pleidiau hydrin, i. e. ciwed ymladdgar, or hawdd
eu trin. q. which of the two?
N. B. The words within parentheses are what I myself put in to explain the original sense.
I doubt not but you'll think this explanation very odd, therefore I think I had best give my reasons for it, without meddling with the other parts of the Awdl at present. First then I observe that every compound word has it's beauty, expressing something more, or else expressing it otherwise than the simple word does. Thus gorwylais y nôs, is equivalent to gwiliais trwy'r nôs, and enhances the sense; as pervigilo in Latin does that of vigilo taken simply. Achadw likewise signifies more than the bare word cadw, it means to keep diligently, to be a good centinel, and is equivalent to our go—ar—chadw or gwarchod. Ffin is the same with the Latin finis, (which is but a derivative from it with a Latin termin—
