Tudalen:Llythyrau Goronwy Owen.djvu/50

ation,) hence cyffin, &c.; it signifies the border of a country, and is near a kin to min, whence the Latin terminus and our terfyn, which is no more than tir min and tir fin. Gorloes I take to be compound of gor and lloes (not gloes,) or put contractedly for go—ar—lloes. There was certainly sometime in use such a monosyllable as lloes, whence our modern arlloesi, or arloesi. Now if this conjecture of mine be allowed to be right, we may easily understand what he means by gorloes rydiau or rydau as we call fords now. Then because of the gor, they should be very clear fords. Dygen, I own, is one of the hardest words in the piece to me, but I take it to be compounded of di and cenn, if not, I know not what it is. Gorlas gwellt didryf, I think is so easy as to need no explanation, only didryf is (according to Dr. Davies,) compounded of di and tref, and signifies an unfrequented or uninhabited place. Dwfr neud iesin, neud is the same as diau, truly. The next thing worth notice is gwylein, which is a plural formed in the same manner as cigfran, plural cigfrain. In Llŷn they call them at this day gwylyn; and certainly ei and y were of equal use with the antients; witness the plural eirf and yrf, from the sing. arf. As the transcribers of these pieces from age to age did not pretend to an infallibility, I am inclined to think that lleithyryon is no less than a mistake of theirs for lleithion, which was perhaps written lleithyyon (the antients being frequently too liberal of their 's and y's in their orthography,) and so the r might possibly creep in between the y—y thro' their oscitancy. As to pluawr I can't think it to be the same as pluor (dust), which indeed is itself but a corruption of pylor, which is a derivative or rather the primitive of the Latin pulver; but I take pluawr to be whimsically put for plu; and my reason for so thinking you'll see in the following rhyme, "Haul yn Ionawr ni mad welawr, Mawrth a Chwefrawr a'i dialawr."—Prov. What can be more whimsical than welawr and dialawr? And why may not pluawr be of the same stamp? You'll undoubtedly think it high time for me to conclude this insignificant piece of criticism, and truly I think so too, but can't do it without observing in general that the whole piece turns upon feats of arms, as the first two verses plainly shew, and llachar fy nghleddau, llewychedig