(no subject)

[twincityhacker]

Hot Welsh translation action!

http://www.maryjones.us/index.html
http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/home.html

Mostly here so I can later find this stuff. It's surprisingly hard to find side by side translations on the internet, so being able to see "Englynion y Misoedd" in it's orginal form and it's English form of "Odes to the Monthes" is absolutely fantastic. For example, here's January:

Mis Jonawr, myglyd dyffryn,
blin trulliad, trallawd klerddyn,
kul bran, anaml llais gwenyn,
gwac buches, diwres odyn;
gwael gwr anwiw i ofyn;
gwae a garo i dri gelyn;
gwir a ddyvod Kynvelyn
"gorev kannwyll pwyll i ddyn."

Month of January--smoky is the vale;
Weary the wine-bearer; strolling the minstrel;
Lean the cow; seldom the hum of the bee;
Empty the milk fold; void of meat the kiln;
Slender the horse; very silent the bird;
Long to the early dawn; short the afternoon;
Justly spoke Cynfelyn,
"Prudence is the best guide for man."

Poetry was srs bsns! In the legal codes it was proscribed how many poems a poet was obligated to create for his patron.