The Parish of Llanwynno (extracts)

Translation note As this is the first new translation of Glanffrwd's writing about Gut Nythbran for 67 years, great care has been taken to capture the accuracy of his text, as well as to capture its spirit. No attempt has been made, however, to "bring it up to date"; it was written in 1888 and so should capture the fee/ of his time as well as the meaning intended. Decisions had to be made, however, about how to render people's names, and place-names into English. Glanffrwd expressed dismay about the way that the Welsh language was being overlayed by English, or even swept away by such place names as Mountain Ash and Tylorstown but this is a translation into English, and so must be intelligible to English readers. The basic rule has been to use Glanffrwd's spelling, except where that has now fallen out of use and might be misleading. So, Guto Nythbran is preferred to the many other variants (Guto Nyth Bran, Guto Nythbrdn, or Guto Nyth Brdn), so is Grth, which Glanffrwd uses, and which forms the heading on his headstone; it preferred to Grudd, which Meudwy Glan Elai uses, and which is a more authentic Welsh spelling. Llanwynno has come into common usage, so it is preferred to Glanffrwd's spelling - Llanwyno, or others (Llanwono, or Llanwonno). Other obvious English versions have been preferred, such as David for Dadd or Ddadd, and, although this will not please everyone, it has been done to make Glanffrwd's stories about Guto Nythbran as accessible to as many people as possible around the world. Glanffrwd, however, uses many local colloquialisms, archaic words, spelling, and sentence-structure, so there is sometimes an element of uncertainty about a modem translation into English. Where there was doubt, alternative translations were considered, often several, but if anyone can suggest a better translation than the one here, we will be pleased to hear from you.