Whan That Aprille Day

[hrj]

In honor of @LeVotreGC's twitter movement #whanthataprilleday (posts in ancient or medieval languages), I offer a translation** into Medieval Welsh of the opening paragraph of my Mabinogi-pastiche lesbian romance story Hoywferch:

Elin verch Gwir Goch oed yn arglwydes ar Cantref Madruniawn. A threigylgweith dyvot yn y medwl vynet y hela. Ac wrth dilyt y cwn, hi a glywei llef gwylan. Ac edrych i fyny arni yn troi, a synnu wrthi. A’y theyrnas ymhell o’r mor. Ac yna y gelwi i gof ar y dywot y chwaervaeth Morvyth pan ymadael ar lan Caer Alarch: Os clywhych gwylan yn wylo, sef minnau yn wylo amdanat. A thrannoeth cyvodi a oruc ac ymadael a’y theulu a’y niver a’y chynghorwyr, a marchogaeth a oruc tra doeth i’r mor.

**Since I did the entire translation after midnight, which is well past my bedtime, I beg indulgence for any stylistic irregularities. I'll go over it again later.

Comments

[irinarempt.pip.verisignlabs.com (from livejournal.com)]

Sent link to daughter, pausing one moment over "lesbian romance" because I realised she doesn't know that yet. (She herself was undecided until recently, but aquired one Lennart in university. His idea of a romantic outing matches hers, that is, go to the ancient history museum and eat ice cream afterwards. That's a daughter of mine, definitely.)

[irinarempt.pip.verisignlabs.com (from livejournal.com)]

And got mail from girl saying she could read the first sentence without looking anything up. I know what they teach them in those schools!

ETA: So can I!

[hrj.livejournal.com]

It helps that I cribbed greatly from existing texts for the overall format. When I went back and looked at the story, it was really only the opening paragraph that did the full-on Mabinogi pastiche, so I don't know that trying to translate the entire story would make sense.

[irinarempt.pip.verisignlabs.com (from livejournal.com)]

Pff. "You cannot edit this comment because someone has replied to it." THAT WAS ME STUPID SITE. Anyway, I do in fact know how to spell "acquire".

[lferion]

Hee! I can't read it, but the entire concept is delightful.

[daev.livejournal.com]

Wow, I can actually still read that, more or less. Medieval Welsh was a really fun class, although I took it during my last semester of grad school, when my life was totally falling apart (mostly because translating pages of the Mabinogi after midnight meant I slept most of the next day).

[hrj.livejournal.com]

I'm astounded that I can still write it, without a great deal of work.

[daev.livejournal.com]

The phrase cyfodi a oruc has stuck in my head ever since those days, and in fact all those wacky-ass compounds of a + the preterite of gwneuthur seemed very strange Welsh to me until I realized I'd been using them in Breton already (sevel a ra, etc.).