The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #78666   Message #2900497
Posted By: sian, west wales
05-May-10 - 08:31 AM
Thread Name: seeking online translator - Welsh / English
Subject: RE: seeking online translator - Welsh / English
"Nid a'n angof" - need ahn ANG-ove. In speech, the 'f' is often dropped, so it would sound like 'ANG-oh'

It was used in a famous Welsh englyn (Welsh verse form) written by Ellis Humphrey Evans, better known as Hedd Wyn, who died in WWI weeks before winning the Eisteddfod Chair.

Ei aberth nid â heibio, - ei wyneb
Annwyl nid â'n ango',
Er i'r Almaen ystaenio
Ei dwrn dur yn ei waed o.

His sacrifice will not pass - his face
dear* will not be forgotten,
Although Germany has stained
Its iron fist in his blood.

(that is, 'dear face' but I didn't want to break the englyn style)

On my father's grave, we've put lines by John Ceiriog Hughes who was from the same parish as my father:

Mab y mynydd ydw innau
Oddi gartre yn gwneud cân
Ond mae nghalon ar y mynydd
Hefo'r grug ac adarn mân.

I am the son of the mountain
Far from home singing my song
But my heart is on the mountain
With the heather and the little birds.

That ought to confuse some archaeologists digging up a Canadian cemetary some centuries hence!

sian