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From: matt@brl-tgr.ARPA (Matthew Rosenblatt )
Newsgroups: net.nlang.celts,net.music.folk
Subject: "Mewn Awen fwyn lawen byw byth y bo hi"
Message-ID: <1674@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 16-Jan-86 13:39:19 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.1674
Posted: Thu Jan 16 13:39:19 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 18-Jan-86 00:34:58 EST
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Organization: Ballistic Research Lab
Lines: 49
Xref: watmath net.nlang.celts:293 net.music.folk:404

> I have an English translation of a Welsh song -- it's all translated,
> that is, except the refrain.  There's a note saying it has "many
> possible translations".  Could someone give me an idea of what the
> words might mean?  Even a word-by-word list of possibilities would be
> greatly appreciated.  Here's the first verse (the line in question is
> the last one).  Thanks, very much.        
> 
> 	Now strike the harp gladly, let music resound,
> 	To cheer all the true hearts here gather'd around,
> 	No word of contention shall sully our joy.
> 	No thought of dull care our contentment destroy.
> 	Here patriots may loudly rejoice to be free,
> 	And Cambrians to Cambria vow faithful to be,
> 	Mewn Awen fwyn lawen byw byth y bo hi.

It's always dangerous when an idiot gets hold of a dictionary and tries to
translate from a language he knows little about, BUT that's never stopped me
before, so:

mewn =  in, within;
Awen =  Muse (the root -awen- appears in several words meaning
        "poet," "poetry," and the like, so maybe the Muse referred to
        is the Muse of Poetry);
mwyn =  kind, gentle, mild, dear (the "m" mutates into an "f," pronounced
        like the "f" in English "of," in the line from Mr. Brim's song);
lawen = joyful, merry, glad;
byw =   to live (the verb);
byth =  forever;
y =     the (pronounced like the English word "a" in the phrase "a book.")
po =    a particle used to indicate the superlative (the "p" mutates into
        a "b" here);
hi =    she (pronounced "he," as in Hebrew).

It may be (a wild guess on my part) that "byth y bo" is some sort of Welsh
idiom meaning "for ever and ever."  My little dictionary is too small to
include idioms, and by Welsh grammar book is in a carton in a house down
in Baltimore, so I can't look it up.  So one of many possible translations
could be:

"May she [i.e., Cambria] live forever and ever in mild, joyful Poetry!"

One can generate many other translations by substituting the other meanings
for the words above, or (even better) by consulting a more comprehensive
dictionary, or (best of all) by asking a native Welsh speaker -- I 
understand there are some right in my county (Harford), around Cardiff, Md.,
in quarry country near the Pennsylvania border, but I don't know any of them.

					-- Matt Rosenblatt
					(matt@amsaa.ARPA)