Bible translations into Welsh

This tattered Welsh bible from 1620 in Llanwnda church is said to have been rescued from the hands of French invaders in 1797

Bible translations into Welsh have existed since at least the 15th century, but the most widely used translation of the Bible into Welsh for several centuries was the 1588 translation by William Morgan, as revised in 1620. The Beibl Cymraeg Newydd was published in 1988 and revised in 2004. Beibl.net is a new translation in colloquial Welsh which was recently completed.

History of versions

15th century version

Several 19th century sources mention that a translation from the Latin Vulgate was in existence in 1470: for example Bishop Richard Davies claimed to have seen, as a boy, such a translation in a manuscript in the house (named Celydd Ifan) of an uncle.[1][2] However, Professor Glanmor Williams dismisses the theory that the whole Bible had been translated into Welsh before William Morgan's Bible appeared in 1588.[3]

William Salesbury, 1567

Following the English Reformation, translations were made from the Greek versions. The New Testament translation of William Salesbury was printed in 1567 by Humphrey Toy.

William Morgan, 1588

Memorial in St John's College, Cambridge to the Welsh Bible translators William Morgan and Edmund Prys; with quotations from Ecclesiasticus 44 and Psalm 121.

Salesbury's New Testament was followed by William Morgan's translation of the whole Bible in 1588. Morgan soon began work on a revision of his 1588 Bible, which contained a number of printing errors (or on a new translation). After Morgan's death, Bishop Richard Parry and Dr John Davies continued the work with the aims of polishing the literary language, replacing forms considered too colloquial, and bringing the text into greater conformity with the King James Version of the English Bible of 1611. The revised version of the Bible was published in 1620. This edition is still known as William Morgan's translation, and it is this rather than the previous edition which was the standard Welsh Bible until the late 20th century, and continues to be used to this day. It occupies a similar place in the Welsh language to that of the venerated King James Version in English.

The early Bible editions were large volumes intended for use in churches; in 1630 a smaller edition was published intended for use in the home, thus bringing scripture in Welsh into the hands of the laity.

An original copy of the Welsh Bible is displayed in St Asaph Cathedral, in St Asaph, North Wales. It was used at the investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales in 1969.

The translation of the Bible into Welsh was important to the survival of the Welsh language. It had the effect, along with the Welsh translation of the Book of Common Prayer, of conferring status on Welsh as a liturgical language and a vehicle for worship. This in turn contributed to the language's continued use as a means of everyday communication down to the present day, despite the pressure of English.

Today the William Morgan Bible is still printed by the Trinitarian Bible Society.

New Welsh Bible, 1988

A new translation, Y Beibl Cymraeg Newydd (BCN), was published in 1988 (including the revised New Testament published in 1975 and the Psalms in 1979) and has largely replaced the William Morgan translation, although its publishers stated that it was not intended to supplant Morgan's translation, but merely as an alternative. It also included the Apocrypha. A revision, Y Beibl Cymraeg Newydd Diwygiedig (BCND) (the Revised New Welsh Bible), was released in March 2004. Professor John Tudno Williams and Professor S.I. Enoch were members of the New Testament Panel.[4][5] The revision received attention after it was revealed that the new Bibles were printed and typeset in Korea and Scotland, respectively.[6] This led Welsh Assembly member Nick Bourne to wonder why production wasn't carried out in Wales.[6]

beibl.net

Both the William Morgan and BCN versions are in literary Welsh; a translation in a more colloquial register was made by Arfon Jones as part of the beibl.net project. The complete Bible was printed in 2015 and is available from the Bible Society. It is also hosted in the Digital Bible Library. It is available on-line at bibles.org and for the YouVersion app.

Language comparison

A Comparison of John 3:16 in Welsh Translations
Translation Ioan 3:16
Testament Newydd William Salesbury, 1567Canys velly y carodd Duw y byt, yny rhoddes ef ei vnig-enit vap, y'n y vydei i bop vn a greda ynthaw, na choller, amyn caffael bywyt tragyvythawl.
Beibl William Morgan, 1588Canys felly y cârodd Duw y bŷd, fel y rhoddodd efe ei uni-genedic fab, fel na choller nêb a'r y fydd yn crêdu ynddo ef, eithr caffael o honaw ef fywyd tragywyddol.
Beibl William Morgan, 1620Canys felly y carodd Duw y byd fel y rhoddodd efe ei unig-anedig Fab, fel na choller pwy bynnag a gredo ynddo ef, ond caffael ohono fywyd tragwyddol.
Y Beibl Cymraeg Newydd, 1988Do, carodd Duw y byd gymaint nes iddo roi ei unig Fab, er mwyn i bob un sy'n credu ynddo ef beidio â mynd i ddistryw ond cael bywyd tragwyddol.
beibl.net by Arfon Jones, 2008Ydy, mae Duw wedi caru’r byd cymaint nes iddo roi ei unig Fab, er mwyn i bwy bynnag sy'n credu ynddo beidio mynd i ddistryw ond cael bywyd tragwyddol.

Digitisation

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Bible of Every Land: A History of the Sacred Scriptures. 1861. p. 154. A Welsh version of the Bible was preserved in MS. at Celydd Ifan, near Bridgend in Glamorgan: it appears to have been executed from the Latin Vulgate, by an ancestor of the family residing in that place, about the year 1470.
  2. ↑ Hughes, William (1891). Life and Times of Bishop William Morgan, the Translator of the Welsh Bible. p. 185. Near Bridgend in Glamorgan: it appears to have been executed from the Latin Vulgate by an ancestor of the family residing in that place, about the year 1470. A considerable portion of the MS. was still extant a few years ago
  3. ↑ The Library of Wales Website Response to a Question
  4. ↑ The Revised New Welsh Bible on the Bible Society website
  5. ↑ Samuel Ifor Enoch on the Welsh Biography Online website
  6. 1 2 Staff reporter (11 March 2004). "New Welsh-language Bible - from Korea". Walesonline. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016. (Archived by WebCite at )

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