Daniel Silvan Evans
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Daniel Silvan Evans (January 11, 1818 – April 12, 1903) was a Welsh scholar and lexicographer.
He was born at Fron Wilym Uchaf, Llanarth, Ceredigion. Having started to preach to the Independent congregation of which he was a member, Evans decided at a relatively young age, to train for the ministry. He entered St David's College, Lampeter, in 1846, with the intention of taking holy orders in the established church, but Welsh lectures at the college sparked a new interest – the study of the Welsh language.
Although Evan’s first publications were religious in nature - collections of his own poems and hymns (1843 and 1846) - the study of the Welsh language soon absorbed all his attention. In 1847 he started publishing his first significant work, a concise English-Welsh dictionary, which was finished by 1858. He was also a keen editor and translator. Among many other literary projects, he contributed articles to Y Gwyddoniadur and edited Y Brython from 1858 to 1860. He produced two editions of Ellis Wynne’s Bardd Cwsc (1858 to 1860), contributed translations to Skene’s The Four Ancient Books of Wales (1868) and edited William Rowlands’ Cambrian Bibliography in 1869.
Evans’ main interest, and most significant work, was in the field of lexicography. In 1887 the first part of his Dictionary of the Welsh Language (Geiriadur Cymraeg) was published, followed by further volumes. Every important word was illustrated by examples of their use from Welsh literature. This was a huge task for one man to attempt, and whilst Evans had produced over 1,900 pages at the time of his death, he had only reached the letter E.
In later life Evans’ eminence as a Welsh scholar received full recognition. Saint David’s College, Lampeter, had conferred the honorary degree of BD upon him in 1868 and in 1873, he was appointed examiner in Welsh at Lampeter. In 1875, the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth made Evans Professor of Welsh, a post which he retained on a part-time basis until 1884. In 1897 he was elected to a research fellowship in Jesus College, Oxford, and in 1901 the newly established University of Wales gave him the honorary degree of DLitt. He was made honorary canon of Bangor in 1888, prebendary of Llanfair in 1891, and chancellor of the cathedral in 1895. From January 1872 to August 1875 he was editor of Archaeologia Cambrensis.
Evans died at the rectory in Llanwrin, and was buried in an unmarked grave at Cemaes, Montgomeryshire. A headstone and tablet were placed on his previously unmarked grave in an elaborate ceremony, by the Bishop of Bangor on July 5, 1956, and unveiled by a former professor of Welsh at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, T. H. Parry-Williams. Three sons and three daughters pre-deceased Evans; his surviving son, John Henry Silvan Evans, assisted his father in his lexicographical work. This, together with many of Evans’ editorial publications, is still highly regarded in the academic study of the Welsh language.
