What took you so long, Nigel? (Says she who still hasn't worked out the abc for Can y Melinydd!)

There may well be a singable translation for Ar Lan y Môr; I can ask Phyllis but I doubt if I'll be able to dig anything up in the next fortnight. We're all in a sweat getting ready for the National next week and we'll be recovering the week thereafter. (Me, in Cork.)

Isn't there an Oxford Book of Welsh Poetry (in translation) or something? I wonder if this would be there, under 'Anon'?

Ar lan y môr mae rhosys chochion
Ar lan y môr mae lilis gwynion
Ar lan y môr mae 'nghariad inne
Yn cysgu'r nos a chodi'r bore.

On the seashore are red roses
On the seashore are white lillies
On the seashore is my love
Sleeping at night, and arising at morn.

Ar lan y môr mae carreg wastad
Lle bum yn siarad gair â'm cariad
O amgylch hon mae teim yn tyfu
Ac ambell sbrigyn o rosmari.

On the seashore there is a flat/level rock
Where I spoke with my love
Around it the thyme grows
And the occasional sprig of rosemary.

Llawn iawn yw'r môr o swnd a chegryn
Llawn iawn yw'r wy o wyn a melyn
Llawn iawn yw'r coed o ddail a blode
Llawn iawn o gariad ydwyf inne.

So (lit.: very) full is the sea of sand and seashell
So full the egg of white and yellow
So full the woods of leaves and flowers
So full of love am I.

Ar lan y môr mae cerrig gleision
Ar lan y môr mae blodau'r meibion,
Ar lan y môr mae pob rhinwedde,
Ar lan y môr mae 'nghariad inne.

On the seashore there are blue/grey stones
On the seashore there are ... hmmm ... flowers of the sons???**
On the seashore are all the virtues
On the seashore is my love.

Mor hardd yw'r haul yn codi'r bore,
Mor hardd yw enfys aml ei liwiau,
Mor hardd yw natur ym Mehefin
Ond harddach fyth yw wyneb Elin.

So lovely is the sun rising in the morning
So lovely is the multicoloured rainbow
So lovely is Nature in June
But lovelier still is the face of Elin.

** I just realized that I don't have a clue how blodau'r meibion should be translated. Lit: the flowers of the sons. I'll have to find out, but there are two possibilities that come to mind.

1. There is a flower with that colloquial name.

2. There are numerous Welsh songs which refer to blodau'r perth/llwyn/ et al., lit. flowers of the bush/hedge, or blodau Mis Mai - flowers of May. These are in actual fact referring to illegitimate children ... ie. the aftermath of the sap rising in spring and a quick roll behind the hedge. (I guess there weren't many bike sheds around then.)

Re: that last verse, I've never been keen on it as it names someone, albeit Elin (which is a name often used more in the abstract than referring to a specific person). Up to that point, it's a nice general love song.

And there's a bit of a problem, to my ear, with "On the seashore" as there would be too much emphasis on the "the". "Beside the sea" works better in that sense, except for the echo of "By the sea, by the sea by the beautiful sea!"

I'm not sure if it is, in actual fact, a song which translates well into English - sounds a bit naff. Perhaps an adaptation more than translation... ?

sian