A dissertation on the Welsh language, pointing out it's antiquity, copiousness, grammatical perfection, ... By John Walters, ... 1771
Walters, John
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E S CIRE quid antequam natus is acciderit, id elt, séper eſſe puerum, ſays Cicero; and it is a saying that, if duly attended to, and 15 ſuffered to have its natural influence upon the mind, it will awaken a man's curiosity, TTY ſpur him on in his researches into Antiquity, while either History leads the way, or probably heh Hh Conjefture len! it's a clue. And since we find that the way to generally by words, our first object in the pursuit ought to be the acquisition of Language, which to Britons especially must be the ancient English or Welsh, as being not only the original Language of this Island, but also the oldest, or, at least, one of the oldest living Languages in the World. But let what I have thus curiously advanced — 8 "ING" should be contested by any one; on be - looked upon as a groundwork a subject, I shall proceed by regular steps to investigate the Antiquity of the Combro-British or Welsh Language, 2 and not absurdly expect that an Tþſe dixit — 8 "ING" should be contested by any one; on be - looked upon as a groundwork a subject, I shall proceed by regular steps to investigate the Antiquity of the Combro-British or Welsh Language, 2 and not absurdly expect that an Tþſe dixit Should any where pass for a proof or demonstration. And the first step in this investigation shall be a critical enquiry into the Etymology of the term, name or appellation, whereby this Language is expressed or denoted, first, by its original Proprietors the Cambro-Britons; and, second, by the English at this day, as transmitted to them from their Saxon Ancestors. The Laces, the Name of Wales, call their Language Cymric, i.e. the Language of the Cymric. Now Cymric, or (as it ought to be written according to the most approved-Orthography) Cymric is the plural of Cymric, a word compounded of the Cambro-Britons; (signifying g. first, primitive, original, &c.) and (4.8... region or country). And lest anyone should think this a forced derivation on account of the change of the letters n-b into M-M, let it be observed that, according to the genius of this Language, I Cyn in composition change into the Liquid of the word following; thus, (the original matrix or producer, 2. e. native country) from Cyn and Bru; Cym-mrodorion (the Aborigines or first inhabitants of a country) from Cyn and Brodorion, sing. Brodo? Yet it must not be diminished that Cym-mrodorion might with (at least) equal propriety be written, as from; and Cym-mrodorion, Cyn-frodorion (the English in both being sound like the English); and probably the ancient pronunciation corresponded with the last mode of spelling: but what gave rise to this Orthography, that presents at present, might be this; namely, that our Ancestors the Cambro-Britons made use of it and promiscuously to express the modern sound of Welsh, or English, as has been incorrectly shown by the learned and ingenious Mr. Edward Lud in his Archeologia Britannica, p. 226, and 228; so that those letters had then two sounds each allotted them, viz, their present universal sound, and that particular one above-mentioned. Thus, Cym-mrodorion, it is evident, or rather, as 13 uritten, according to the present mode of spelling, For; but when, by the improvement of Orthography, many came to be used only to express. Their modern, universal, and unvaried system of words, the new and universal, was changed, Euphonic gratia, into a new or modern form, and on the other hand, Cyn-bru came to be spelled, as at present, Cyn-bru (Cyn-bru), or Cymbru, the traces of which last mode is not obscure, discovered in Cambria (the Latin name of Wales); in Cumbria (the Latin name of Cumberland), where a branch of the Anrient, Britons maintain their ground, and were governed by Princes of their own till the 8th century; in Cimbria, the ancient inhabitants of Jutland and Ho Mein; in Cantabria (Cynta-bru), the country of the Cantabria, an ancient people of all bordering on the coast of Biscay; and Cym-mry then as it is written at present, can signify nothing else, at least in my opinion, but the Aborigines or Indians (first inhabitants or natives) of a country; which meaning of the word seems to be implied, and allud-el to, in Cæſ. Ar's description of Britain, when he 196 Britannic pars interior ab iis incolitur, | Tes 'natos in Tnfula ibſa, 4 550 "FIG = dicunt: J. 60 The inner part of ww. Britain is inhabited by such As are recorded by tradition to be originally produced in the Isthmus. The above-given (which, I think, will admit of no dispute) be admitted as the true meaning of the word Con Ty, the inference will be obvious; namely, that Cymra-eg (the ancient British) is the seat of this Isthmus. Now proceed to trace out the origin and enquire into the signification, of the word Welsh, the term whereby the English of our days, as also their Saxon Ancestors did before them, express the Cambro-British Language. We will now derive an old story quoted by Sir Henry Spelman from Guala, daughter to Cadwalader the king of the Britons, and wife to Ina king of the Saxons, who began his reign A.D. 689. No, says Dr. Brady (who quotes this story in order to confute it), Wales never had its name from her, but from the Saxon, Welsh, which signifies Stranger; and both the Britons and their language being strange to the My: called them Welsh, or ach &. The Doctor, it must be so, hath sufficiently disauthorized the story of Gaul, and consequently, deistroy d the foundation of the Etymology of ales founded thereupon; nor, indeed, did it require any uncommon abilities to discover the falsehood, and expose the futility of a Legend, that had in it so many evident marks of fiction. But let us examine whether he has been equally successful in establishing what he hath thought proper to substitute in its stead, is it at all probable that the Saxons should be so little acquainted with, should have so forgotten the Britons, by whom they had at first called in as auxiliaries, and with whom they had afterwards had daily struggles for victory and empire for centuries together; is it at all probable, I say, that the Saxons should have so forgotten them after all this, as to call them strangers in their own country? As to call them aliens, as it were, in their own houses? It cannot be. It is true, Dr. Brady is not singular in his Derivation of Wales; for the learned Wordsworth hath, in effect, advanced the same doctrine. His words are these: "Populus Hic, cujus leges." hibemus, feipfos Wallos nunguam appellabant. Cambros (Cymry) fe ab omni memoria vocabant et etiamnum vocant. Lingua ſua Cymraeg (Cambridge) ab incolis appellatur. Nos Seiſon (Saxones) vocant, et Linguam Anglicanam Seiſneg (Saxoni-cam). Anglicanam illos Wyliſce (Wallos) i. e. Peregrinos vocabant ab Ina regis lenporibus ad noftra uſſue. Seque ipſes indigenas regionis s fuſe ex Uh 1 timabant, feftquam Britannos veteres in regionem, que à nobis Wallia vocatur, detruſiſent. In English thus „This People, whose laws we offer to public view, never called themselves Welſh. They always did, and sall do, call themselves Cymry. Their language the inhabitants ayle Cymraeg. They call us Seiſon (Saxons), and the English Tongue Seiſneg (the Saxon). The English is ever since the time of king Ina have called them Wyliſce (Welſh) i. e. Strangers; and reckoned themselves the natives of their country, after they drove the ancient Britons into the country, which is by us called ales. Yet neither of these learned men were the original Authors of this. etymological structure of Criticism, for we find Sir Ed. Cole, in his Comment upon Littleton, displaying his skill in Etymology as follows; Wallin cometh of the Saxon word Wealth, which signifies Peregrinus or Exterus, for the Saxons so called them; because, in truth, they were Strangers to them. Being the remains of the old and ancient Britons, 2 wite and warlike. When an Author of note happens to advance anything plausible and superfluous upon an intricate subject, we may often observe the same copied even by the learned and ingenious; and thus suffered to pass unexamined, without either doubt or contradiction for years, nay sometimes for ages; till some hardy Critic arises, who, distinguishing servilely to tread in the steps of others, and to be led blindfold in the trammels of Authority, examines with his own eyes every step he takes, and at last discovers, and daringly strikes out into a new and better path; then everyone is amazed at it's not having been discovered sooner. And with this, and no other remark I was once more chan half-refused to dismiss the Great Names quoted above. But it occurring to me at the very instant that the celebrated Tuliefin hath Wallia in a Poem of a prophetic cast, written about 150 years before the beginning of the reign of king. Translated into 1 by Dr. W Uſque laudabunt Dominum creantem, Uſque ſervabunt idioma linguæ, Arvaque amittent ſua cuntta, preter | Wallicar rura. And thus puraphratically OY in E by J. N.. Still mail they chant their great Creator's praise; Still, still retain their language and their lays; But nought preserve of all their wide. Save Wallig's wild uncultivated plains. Hence, N a i { *E 1 i. N p lengu Wit 7 f 3 1 E "i. 3 1 1 41 | i bh } 1 — —— _ « — — — — —— | E: 14 F > Hence, I presume, it is evident that Wales 0 Latin, Walka) was not so named from G uala; for it is not pretended that she was born till many years after this Poem was written, Nor is it less clear that it is not derived from Wealk; (a Stranger); for, not to insist upon what Ver- _ _ fiegan lays, namely, that F remetling in the old Z Saxon tongue is the only word for Stranger; not to insist upon this, I say, it is entirely incredible that the Saxons should become so totally un- acquainted with the Britons in the space of 90 years, as to have no other name but Strangers to express them by, though they had fought under their banners, and received pay from them for the first ten of the ninety; and, after they had projected the design of becoming their masters, had been obliged to measure words with them every day. | "Having advanced thus far in shaping the foundation of the air-built opinions of others, I shall now practice to establish my own; nor is it I confess, altogether my own, for Verjegan and Rapin have espoused the same in subjection before. And it is this, That Walla is derived from Gallia, and the English Wales from the French Calles or Gauls (a people or nation of the ancient Celtæ called by the Romans) by Cornugaules. Whence, I think, it may be fairly inferred that Walla and Gallih, otherwise mentaries, where we are told that the Britons gave the Britons the name of Walla or Walla (by contraction Walla or Walla), i i. e. This difference consisted in dialect only, I suppose; and this, probably, was no more than what there is at this day between the acts of Arlt. ales and South-Wales, Tay 4. It is evident from the critical observations of our learned Camden, and of the great Bookart among the French, that the most ancient names of cities, towns, rivers, mountains, etc., in Europe, are naturally, and without the least training, resolved or analyzed into Cant! British (i. e. Welsh) etymons that are admirably expressive of the reason of the appellation; which to me is a conclusive argument that they received their names from this Language. For instance: Uxellodunum (a town of Guyenne in France), from the Celtic or Ancient British Ucheti i. e. High, and Din or dun i. e. a city or town; and the situation of the town, which is upon an eminence; affords the strongest presumption that the given etymology is the true one. Aelodunum (now known as the same derivation, or as it is found in some copies of Antonine's Itinerary). Muridunum (in Welf) is derived from Myr and Din, 4 · d. Sea-ton. cebennæ (high-ridged mountains in France, now Cevennes), from the Cambro-Brit-ish, Cefn (pl. cebennæ), the ridge of a mountain. Arar (a river of France, now in Saone), from the Cambro-Bril (ifh, Araf, Slow; and nothing can be more expressive of its property, for it's course is so slow that it can hardly be discerned; which has given it the epithets, lentus, egnis. Pigerrimus, dubitans quo curus agat, &c. which we meet with in reading the Latin poets. Let these few suffice at present; though, if it was necessary, a great many similar examples might be envious. I flatter myself that enough has been said to convince all that are open to conviction, that the ancient British language (now called Welsh) was one and the same in the main with that of ancient Gaul, now France. My Business now calls be to trace it higher still; and that may be easily done, if the extensive learning and critical she of Bishop Walton, who quotes Bosworth for his authority, will be allowed to have sufficient weight, and to be decisive in the difference. Writing of languages in his Proleg. in Bibl. Polyglot. I. S. 14. the Bishop hath these words, Quedam tamen inter. linguas nobis cognitas quam. Aſe cardinales, e quibus multe alice pullularunt, a doclas recenÿentur; 3 — Tartarica que longe per Septentrionem vagatur, ad quam mullæ Europæorum el Aſiaticorum lingua antique referende, fr Box-hornio credendum, ut antiqua Gallica, et Britannica, cujus reliquie adhuc in Wallia manent. Which may be English thus; Some however of the languages that we are acquainted with are reckoned by the learned as cardinal, out of which many others are sprung; for instance, the Tartarian which is of vast extent in the North, to which many of the ancient languages of Europe and Asia are to be referred, if we may believe Boxhornius, as the ancient Gaulish, and the British, the remains of which are still extant in Wales. But I am by no means disposed to acquiesce in anything vague and indefatigable upon the point, and therefore shall. proceed in the purſuit till I meet with ſome- thing explicit and condhubye, It would be an INES & argument DOTS os en; bw, 0 es argument of inſenſibility to the merit, as well as ingratitude to the memory, of that Oracle of the Britiſh language the learned Dr. Davies, not to pay a reſpettful attention to his ſenti- ments on this article. And they are theſe, as delivered by him in his Ad Leflorem Prefatio before his Dictionary: « Nos noſtram inter matrices Europa „ multis fuſfraguntibus, _ » Tefragante nemine, numeramus; j longe antiquiſ- ſimam eſe dicimus, ut et Camdenus; Aboriginum Fujus Infule linguam fuiſſe non dubitamus, &c.” Engliſhed as follows, Our language we reckon 1 among the mother - tongues of Europe, having | many ſuffrages for this our opinion, without a 5 ſingle one againſt it ; we affirm it to be by far the moſt ancient, as Camden alſo does ; we make no doubt of it's having been the language of bhe firſt inhabitants of this Iſland, &c.” Here we may oblerve, that Dr. Dawes pretends not to any further diſcovery, than that the ancient Britiſh language belonged to the claſs of Euro- pean mother-tongues. But Ari iftarclus non videt omnia. The great Luminaries, that have ſince ſhined upon the antiquarian world, were not then riſen. Llwyd and Pezron, thoſe *  $ n V. 4 1444. 4 | 24 * [ Q 1. 1 0 % " 3 is : 141 © FF th +18 AI 148 110 * "bit 5 : Z is 1 0, I | fl + 101 g 1 i} 44 f +4 4 4 © 14 " N ik 0 ue " 7 [ 1 $247 414 1 b i 9. "F 7 N 1 1 44 48 161. [MF | ib 1 *? = . « *. F Ty 4 : 4 4 £ N 1. 5 7; 1 i A? : 4318 1 ö Wh N 1 Wer of + - L — 187 1 $ : « 1 7 * 0 1 „ ; 1 U $ „* U t N : - : 7 _ 7 N 7 I : 115 4 1 } } j 1 8 iy AX "nn 11s. : +. [4 tt . ; 1 $88 'Þ Þ 1 1 „ ., * 8 "236 _ : 28 1 | 1 | {i i” =. MES of Celtic knowledge, and boast of British literature. Quaries, had not then appeared on the stage of Literature. The former of these, by his Comparative Etymology which makes a part of his celebrated Archæologia Britannica, has pointed out a method of, and laid down very easy rules for, reducing all the ancient and modern tongues of Europe to one general source and common origin. The latter, in his Antiguite de la Langue et de la Nation de Celtes, has proved, by his amazing skill in languages and history, that this common origin of the European tongues, was no other than the ancient Celtic; and that again derived from the Gomarian and Taonian or Tonic, the languages of Gomer and Javan the sons of Faphet after the confusion at Babel: that the Celtic was the language of the Titans, a great and warlike nation, who spread themselves of which language the Greek, Latin, Teutonic, Gaul, M. British, Irish, &c, are but different not only over all the Lower Asia, but also over the greatest part of Europe, and under the conduct of their princes, Acmon, Uranus, Salurn, Jupiter, Mars. Et. erected a vast empire, and made their language universal; From 4 - Fejewt: Gäste, somewhat disguised and altered by mutual intermixtures, by the different pronunciation of different countries, and the polishing and refinement of Grammarians. By the course of his researches, this learned American has given the etymologies of proper names, of rivers, towns, mountains, &c. in the Countries over which the Titan empire extended itself, as also those formerly inhabited by the Gauls, the descendants of the Titans. And these, most of them at least, so naturally resolve. themselves into Celtic, i. e. Exhibitions, that they seem to me to carry conviction along with them that they are derived from that alone, and from no other Language. The Authorities already will probably, be thought by all those, whose opinion is a writer on the subject ought to regard, amply sufficient to establish the point in hand; yet there is one Rule behind, which, if all the rest were entirely lost, might alone supply their place with advantage; and this is the exceptionally learned and amazingly industrious M. Bullet, who, in his Memoirs for the language of the earth, appears to have made some progress, as a professed Critic expresses it, in all the languages of the earth. This Gentleman has run in the same course with his countryman the learned Pezron, but has outstripped him in the race, and advanced so far beyond him as to make the Celtic to be a dialect of the original language communicated by the Creator to the first Parents of mankind. And admitting the primitive language to have been the Hebrew, which, I fancy, very few will dispute, he is not singular in his opinion. For a very learned person of our own Nation, in his Enquiries concerning the first Inhabitants, Language, &c. of Europe, published about the same time, supposes the Celtic a sester-diale of the Hebrew. Here also comes in effect what Dr. Davies has advanced on this head, whose words are, "Mihi, so senu meo abundare permittor, ab omni- bus Europæis et Occidentalibus linguis, saltem qua- les nunc et multis retro ſeculis fuerunt, alienior efſe videtur, quam ut ab illis derivar poſe vel somnie- tur." Eorumque arridet sententia qui Babele natu eximiamant. Orientalium matricum unam effe opinor, aut certe ab Orientalibus immediate prognacitate. 28 ] tam. Pro qua licet opꝛnione ut pro avis et focis di- micare nolm, auſim affirmare, Linguam Britanni- cum tum vocibus, tum phrafibus et orationis contextu, tum literarum pronunciatione, manifeſtam cum Orientalibus habere congruentiam et affunitatem. In English, This language (i. e. the British) seems to me, if I am allowed to have any judgment of my own, to be of a genius so different from all the European and Western languages, at least such as they are at present and have been for many ages past, that there is not even the flenderest foundation for thinking it might be derived from them. And I am best pleased with their sentiment, who deem it to have taken its rise from Babel. It is my opinion that it is one of the Oriental mother-tongues, or at least immediately sprung from these. For which my way of thinking the I would not contend as if life and fortune depended upon it, yet I may venture to affirm that the British tongue hath an evident agreement and affinity with the Oriental languages in its words, phrases, composition or trufure, and pronunciation of its letters. Whoever well examines the character of the —. = ex" The last-quoted Author, will be apt to lay no small stress on his determination, as being one who was in every respect qualified to judge on the point. The learned Nicolson in his Historical Library, under the Article Divisionaries, expresses the pronounces Dr. Davies's to be "a book which shows it's excellent author to have been perfectly acquainted with all the learned languages, as well as his own mother tongue." And the indiscriminate Wood, in his Athenaean Oxonienae, gives us his character in these words; He was esteemed well versed in the history and antiquities of his own nation, well versed in the Greek and Hebrew languages, a most exact critic, and an indefatigable person, and well acquainted with curious and rare authors. And having remarked that, of these good Hebrew words, more than half that number answer our present British or Welsh sounds, as near as can be expected at so remote a distance both of time and place, he very naturally concludes, That the British tongue, having more of that original language in it than all the rest together, may merit the esteem of being reckoned the most ancient, and least corrupted language in this western part of the world. Considering the narrowness of the limits I at my first setting out, prescribed to myself, I find I have been already rather prolix than otherwise on this head and, therefore, would fain dismiss it, but cannot perceive how I can do this with so good a grace, and so much to my reader's satisfaction as to leave him engagated with the learned Holloway, who will not fail to entertain him with abundance of British words naturally derived from Hebrew Originals; nor doth he ever seem to be so well pleased, as when he is thus employed. His general method is, first to derive a British root or primitive from a Hebrew one; then, to trace it in its derivatives; and lastly, to consider it's metaphorical acceptations. And being struck with the naturalness and facility of the derivation, and the affinity of both sound and sense, he sometimes concludes thus: This, by the way, shows the great antiquity of the British language, with its wonderful simplicity, and close dependence on the Hebrew, of which, examples in vast numbers might be given. Sometimes, perhaps no derived language can show the like agreement with the original. And sometimes, in the strains of admiration, thus: With what pleasure and advantage might persons learned in this language (i. e. the ancient or read the Hebrew 1. 2 F 15 H odd 17 $3). Let this suffice to show the ass of the Combro-Briti's language; it's Copiousness comes next in course to be considered. Nothing can be more like a language than a paucity of words, and a science of expressions. The most vigorous parts must, soon flag under such restraints, and the living genius grow tame and languid under such perpetual checks. Aproxed writer in such a language will labor under an inconveniency. Logical to that of a man walking in fetters; and the poet in it may not unaptly be compared to a wretch attempting to run loaded with double irons. The ancient English, or more properly the Anglo-Saxon language, seems to have been originally very scanty; and as we may infer from the necessity it was under of borrowing from others, here it is that to supply its own deficiencies. The English language indeed, as appears in it's modern garb, discovers nothing of its original meaning and primitive nakeness; so far from this, that it exhibits at present a very spacious figure; but it has learned the art to make itself thus fine with the spoils of other languages, i.e. of the Greek, Latin, Italian, French, &c.; and if each of these was to resume its own, proud Master English would be much in the same predicament with the Jack-daw in the Fable, which when the birds observed strutting about in feathers not his own, they all at once fall a pluming of him, and when each of them had resumed what originally belonged to himself, the coxcomb bird was reduced to his former habitation. ſs, and rendered a truly ridiculous object. Language copious in its words, and a-bounding in variety of expression, is the delight of the Orator, and it is essential to the very existence of the Bard. It enables the former agreeably to vary his diet, and to round his periods to a charming degree of sweetness: the latter it enables ever to avoid a distinguishing name. What hath been said of the English is, with very few exceptions, affirmed of most of the modern languages of Europe; which, however they may differ in other respects, agree in this, namely, That they borrow their technical terms, and names of the Sciences, from the Greek; and this is a proof of their native poetry and domestic science. But the Cambro-Brit. or Welk is podeſled of native ornaments, and unborrowed treasures. It rivals the celebrated Greek itself in its aptitude to form the most beautiful derivatives; as well as in the elegance, facility and expression of an infinite variety of compounds: but if we compare these languages in regard to the intruders, especially those that are synonymous, the Greek with all its boasted copiousness must here give way. The learned Humphrey Prichard, touching upon this point if his celebrated preface to Dr. J. D. Rhys's Grammar, hath these words — 2 Lingus (fine dubio) derivationibus. PREFACE to Dr. J. D. Rhys's Grammar, we have the words — 2 Lingus (fine dubio) derivationibus. Weiber; compositionibus, vocum pudicitis, el argumentis venuus, ut ad cujus est cogitium exprimendam, facilius aut felicius nihl exoptari foterit. The substance whereof is as follows: A  for the purpose of communicating the knowledge of any art or science, nothing that was attended with greater facility, or more happily calculated, could possibly be wished for. And the Great Dr. Davies, whose sentiments on the subject will not fail to engage the attention, of the Learned, in his Preface to his Dictionary, writes thus: "Compo sit in naustra lingua tam funt A infinita, ut ne Graca quidem in hac Harte concedat copiæ tantopere jaslater, que tamen in compoſitionibus ut plurimum fita eust. In English; "The compounds in our language are so infinitely numerous, that in this respect it by no means falls short not even of the so much boasted sense of the Greek, which however lies mostly in it's compounds." But what hath been here asserted, I shall proceed to explain and confirm by a few examples. Horizon is an Astronomical term of Greek extraction, and made use of to express The circular line that limits the view and bounds the sight. This term Cicero would fain Latinize ; and the Latin, we muſt own, was by no means an in- : expreſſive language, eſpecially in the mouth of a Cicero; but Finiens, or Orbis finiens, is (in my humble opinion) flat and languid, when com- pared with the native energy of the original term Horizon. Here Seneca too would try his ſkill, but with no better, if with equal, ſucceſs: for Finitor will be hardly thought to mend the matter. The French, probably out of a con- ſciouſneſs of the innate debility of their lan- N guage, never attempted atranſlation of this term, but have always uſed it, without either mask or diſguiſe, in it's primitive form, The Engliſh alſo have borrowed and retained the term with- out any transformation, whether it was from a _ fondneſs of copying after their good neighbours | the French, or from what other motive, I will not take upon me to determine. But whether Terfyn-gylch, the Cambro-Britifh term anſwering | to NE TT w'J to the Greek hen not equally expreſſive and con- veys an idea equally diſtin& and nervous with Horizon, I ſhall not heſitate to ſubmit to the a determination of any one, that is but tolerably 5 acquainted with both languages. From a kind | of preſaging confidence of a decifion in my fa- vour, I was going to cry out, - - - Ex uno difeite omnes; but upon recollection, 1 have reaſon to know that man-kind in general are more tena- eious of their opinions, upon how ſlight ſo-ever | a foundation they may at firſt have been enter- tained, than to ſuffer themſelves to be beat out of them by a ſingle argument; tho! ever; ſo co gent andconvincing. I therefore proceed in the buſineſs of exemplification. Grammar is a term borrowed from the Greek, and uſed with little variation by the Latins, French, Engliſh, &c ; but the Welſh are underno neceſſity of borrowing : from others while they have ſo ſignificant a term of their own as Liythyreg. But the Combro-Bri is compounds and compounds have always been, and ever will be, the admiration of all that are acquainted with the language: for here we may observe two, three, four, five, and sometimes six words constitute so naturally, through the change of initials, as to produce harmonies of sound, as well as expressions of sense. For instance, Teul (rectius) signifying a Family; compounded of Ty a house, and Zlu a number of persons united together, Ty a house, a family; compounded of Ty a house, and Duyth a tribe. Om.  or company; guaſi dicas, A company of persons boarding together. Lathr-gein-dos Fuyn is an epithet for a fine woman, and it is compounded of Lathr bright, calm (fem. gain) fair, those (fem. dlos) beautiful i. e. in person, and muyn (fem. fwyn) gentle i. e. in manners. Gor-lathr-gein-deg-fwyn is an epithet much of the same significance with the former, but heightened By the preposterous particle, or even exceeding. Cym-mleth-eur-gruydr-gein-dorch, i 2 e. many a braid of golden hue. The waving beauteous wreath, — The these last decompounds — the same as the preceding, have nothing rugged in their found or nurture, yet by these I would represent, not what usually is, but only what occasionally may be, done in this copious language. I now proceed to consider it's Grammatical Verse, and in order to this I shall lay before the reader the common or generally prevailing Welk Alphabet, with the similar sound of each Character in a collateral column. Charafters. Pronounced. A, as 4 Englishman Man; but when circumscribed, as in Man. B, as Englishman, c, as Englishman, or a bud in Can, come, &c.: never soft, as in Case, City, &c.: Ch, as X Greek properly pronounced, to the English having no sound similar to it. D, as Englishman. D, as The Englishman, in Then, They, etc., not hard, as in Think, Third, etc.: E, as Englishman in Ten, Fen, &c.; but when circumscribed, as English, in Bear, Bear, &c. F, as J, in Very, Vile, etc.; or as English in Fr, as F English, in Fan, Fight, Ke; or as English, in Of. 5 &, as English, in Gain, Ger, Gone, etc., hard; never lost, as in Gin, Gender, Ke. Ha as H English, in Hand, House, &c. I, as 1 English, in Hand, Bid, Rid, Ke but when circumscribed, as Ee, in: Deed, Feed, Sc. By as 2 English. Ll, is strongly aspirated. and can be secured in English only by Lk, or Lk. E 2 CN M. as . L 3 M, as M English. Ng, as N English. Ng, as N in the English words Bring, King, Long, Song, &c. O, as O English, in Cone; but when circum- fused, as O, in Bone. Engliſh. Ph, as Ph English, in n Physics, © ot phy, Sc. R, as R English. Rh, as Rh English, in Mie, Rheum, Ge. 8, as S English, in Senſe, Since, Sc. as T English, in Ton, Tun, Temper, Sc. As the English, in Thanks, Thick, Death, Se; but never as in Then, They, &c. U, 1 English, in Bl: ifs, 1 Miss, This; but if circumflexed, as Fe in Green, Seen, Sc; or rather something like U French, in Un; Une. N 125 W, as 0 in the English 3 To, or Oo in Good; but when circumflexed, as 00 in Joon, 3 Moon, Noon, Sc. DIS 5 in any syllable of a word, except the last, as U English in Burn, Churn, Hunt, etc; dor as 2 in Bird, First, &c: but in the last syllable of a word (whether the word consist of one or more syllables), as 1 English in Birk, Girth, Mirth, Sin, &c; or as 1 Latin in Vis, Virtus, &c; except that in a thess Monosyllables, V, ydd, m, In, Jr, 955, dy, myn, it retains its former sound, i.e. of UV English in Burn, Churn, &c. --- N. B. The both sounds of Y are represented nearly in the English word Sundry; but more perfectly in the Latin word. Nunquis; and entirely in the Welsh words, Hynny, lythyr, myfyr, pybyr, etc. Let it also be noted, that the circumflexed y hath one and the same found with the circumflexed U; yet, for etymological reasons, the one ought never to be used for the other. 