Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH

Subject: Lyric Request
From:
Date: 29 Sep 00 - 06:56 PM

I am looking for the words to "Rule Britannia" in WELSH for a celtic evening my wife is arranging.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated with a reply to my e-mail address.

Many Thanks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: Sorcha
Date: 29 Sep 00 - 07:51 PM

I can't help here, but am not sure just why the Cymru would want this song in Welsh.........but OK, I will go looking. Waiting for Llanfair, sian, jon, etc. HELP!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 29 Sep 00 - 07:55 PM

I'll ask around next week but Rule Britannia yn Cymraeg seems a little strange to say the least!

Jon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: Llanfair
Date: 30 Sep 00 - 04:12 AM

I don't think any Welsh speaker would want to sing Rule Brittania, the Welsh people were oppressed by the English for far too long!!!!
What about "Land of my Fathers", or "We'll keep a welcome in the hillside"
Cheers, Bron.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 30 Sep 00 - 12:33 PM

I nearly killed my friendship with a very nice Welshman by asking him for the words in English. I dread to think what would have happened if I'd wanted them in Welsh! There must be more suitable songs for a gathering in Wales. Hope it will go well, though. - Susanne

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: Llanfair
Date: 30 Sep 00 - 01:22 PM

Nothing to do with me, Suzanne, I think the originator was not British!!! Ask Kat.
Bron.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 01 Oct 00 - 02:32 AM

G'day all, This sounds like a good chance for a macaronic song ( think there is a thread running on that subject). Sing lines of the song in English and intersperse some candid opinions in Welsh - knowing that the English will never understand.

Regard(les)s,

Bob Bolton (well, I married a Roberts!)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 01 Oct 00 - 04:22 AM

Don't know about the welsh even wanting to translate it, but I can give you all 7 verses in English if you want!

LTS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: okthen
Date: 01 Oct 00 - 10:45 AM

a little off thread but this was used by ffion to help her willy to bluff singing the Welsh national anthem.

"my hen laid a haddock, one hand oiled a flea,

glad farts and centurions threw dogs in the sea

i could stew a hare here and brandish Dan's flan

Don's ruddy bog's blocked up with sand

Dad! Dad! why don't you oil auntie Glad?

can't whores appear in beer bottle pies?

o butter the hens as they fly"

credited to Swansea poet Nigel Jenkins

Llanfair how does it scan?

cheers

bill

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: GUEST, Banjo Johnny
Date: 01 Oct 00 - 12:03 PM

I don't think you're going to get much help from the Irish, either. == Johnny

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: Tegwyn
Date: 01 Oct 00 - 12:28 PM

Did not Bryn Terfel a couple of years or so ago sing a few verses of 'Rule Britannia' in Welsh at the Last Night of the Proms? I seem to recall that he was dressed in a Welsh rugby shirt, and held a rugby ball in his hand while he sang, and which he then tossed into the auditorium. Made me cringe. Other than those verses, probably cobbled together for the occasion, I doubt very much if a Welsh version exists. I have come across a 19th century obsequious translation of 'God Save the Queen', which should go down like a lead balloon at a Celtic evening. Tegwyn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 01 Oct 00 - 03:14 PM

Sorry, Llanfair, my comment wasn't directed at you but at the original requester, who certainly can't be Welsh! I very much doubt there is anything I can tell YOU about Wales and the Welsh! I went back there this year, and it was as lovely as ever (though they're doing their best to spoil Cardiff!!!!) - Susanne

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Oct 00 - 03:31 AM

Chorus only: Mae Prydain yn rheolu Prydain sy'n rheolu'r tonnau Byth ni fydd Prydeinwyr yn Gaethion

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: sian, west wales
Date: 02 Oct 00 - 04:38 AM

Tegwyn's right about Bryn Terfel singing it on the BBC Last Night of the Proms, in Welsh, about ... 3 years ago? Personally, I thought it was hysterical, ultimately tongue in cheek, but I can see how it could look otherwise. I'm afraid that We'll Keep a Welcome does the "cringe" thing for me.

I mean ... weren't the Welsh (et al.) the original Britons? With that argument, I can *almost* see why your wife wants them, but it's a pretty weak proposition. There *is* an anthem written for the Pan Celtic Festival (I think by Dafydd Iwan) but it isn't widely known; it may be on a Sain Records recording somewhere...

I don't have the words for RB (perhaps there's a Bryn Terfel website which could help?) but I do have the words to My County Tis of Thee in Welsh, published in an American Welsh hymnbook circa 1911 if that's of use.

Wouldn't something else do as well?

sian p.s. Tegwyn, neis i gwrdd a chi o'r diwedd! p.s.all ... Tegwyn gave an excellent talk on Humour in Welsh Ballads on Saturday. I'm still mulling it over...

s,ww

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 02 Oct 00 - 04:49 AM

Sian, I don't have a tv but I think I would view Bryn Terfel singing "Rule Britannia" in Welsh exactly as you did - hysterical and tongue in cheek.

I am not really in to the Welsh language suff (dim yn siarad Cymraeg) but Sain is well worth looking at both for Songs and Tunes. Their web page is http://www.sain.wales.com.

Jon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Oct 00 - 10:22 AM

I do not know anything about the original poster, only was trying to help with his request. I see he either hasn't been back or doesn't want to post. I did email him that I'd started a new specifically-titled thread.

At any rate, it is an interesting discussion.

kat

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: Tegwyn
Date: 02 Oct 00 - 02:40 PM

Siân. Diolch yn fawr. Braf cael cwrdd â chi hefyd. I'm afraid my talk on Humour in the Welsh Ballads, since it took in two centuries, was something of a surface-skimming affair, but I hope to make a little more detailed study of the subject fairly soon. But I'm retired now, and there seem to be less hours in the day than when I worked from 9 to 5. ('We'll keep a welcome...' makes me cringe as well. Tegwyn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: GUEST, Banjo Johnny
Date: 03 Oct 00 - 03:20 AM

Didn't the Brits during WW2 use Welsh speakers on the battle radios to confound the German intercept operators? == Johnny

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: sian, west wales
Date: 03 Oct 00 - 04:10 AM

Yeh. Neat, eh? Of course, they also censored letters home ... which became a problem with lads like m' dad writing to his mum. I think the officers rather thought he'd do them a favour (????) and write in English. But Nain (Gran) didn't speak or read English so...

Bilingualism rules, OK.

sian

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: Snuffy
Date: 03 Oct 00 - 08:40 AM

I hadn't heard about Welsh radio operators, but I do know the US made extensive use of Native Americans in WWII, especially in the Pacific.

They had ascertained that only about 20 people outside the tribe had any knowledge of the language, and none of these 20 were Japanese. So even if the Japs recorded the messages and sent them back to Tokyo for analysis, nobody would be able to crack the "code"

Wassail! V

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: GUEST,Geoffrey Carlson
Date: 08 Jan 21 - 10:45 AM

It looks like I'm about 20 years too late, but here is the first verse of "Rule Britannia" in Welsh, as sung by Bryn Terfel:

A Phrydain gododd ar alwad nef
A chodi fu o'r tonnau câs
Hwn oedd y siarter, y siarter drwy'r holl wlad,
A hon yw cân yr engyl glan.

(I'm not sure whether the refrain was translated into Welsh or not; apparently Bryn Terfel kept it in English when he performed it.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: GUEST,Peter
Date: 09 Jan 21 - 06:55 AM

I don't know about Welsh radio operators but at the Versailles Conference after WW1 Lloyd George and Australian PM Billy Hughes discuss the negotiations in Welsh to maintain confidentiality.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: Richard Mellish
Date: 10 Jan 21 - 06:10 AM

It could be argued that "Britannia" means the Welsh as much as, or more than, the English.

The name "Britannia" was the name used by the Romans for this island. In their time most of the people in Britain spoke early varieties of what eventually became Welsh. (As the Roman Empire fizzled out so did the Latin language for everyday purposes in Britain, whereas decendants of Latin are still the languages of the parts of mainland Europe that were under the Roman Empire.) Insofar as there may have been an Arthur, he was a Briton (i.e. more or less a Welshman) fighting against the Saxons (i.e. more or less the English).

"Rule Britannia" treats Britannia as a single entity. It does of course reflect the days of Empire (and, I suppose, also now the days of Brexit). But does it also reflect the dominance of England?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: GUEST,Observer
Date: 10 Jan 21 - 03:48 PM

Obviously very few posting here are aware of the song or the context.

Nothing whatsoever to do with "Empire", it is in fact quite the reverse. Perhaps a few of you should research it's origins.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Jun 22 - 08:58 PM

I'm not convinced that Bryn Terfel sang the first verse in Welsh "tongue in cheek" at all. He did indeed sing it in Welsh and sang it very well too. I assume he did it because at that time we were still having ""party in the park" where the last night if the proms was still a thing and was broadcast all over the nation including Swansea and Cardiff.
I'm Welsh, I'm bilingual, I'm patriotic and I absolutely love the power of this song. I will also stand and proudly sing "God save the Queen" as well as Mae'r Hen Wlad fy'n Nhadau.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: GUEST,Valleysgirl
Date: 10 Jun 22 - 09:27 PM

This would be a rough translation of the lyrics. As much as I love Welsh, it is quite a clumsy language and as Janet Street Porter (herself of Welsh extraction) said "there are no words in Welsh for anything invented after the 13th century!"
This is the best I could do to fit with the tune.....


Ar orchymyn y Nefoedd
Pan gododd Prydain mas o'r môr
Gododd gododd gododd gododd mâs or môr
Hwn oedd y siarter
Y siarter o'r gwlad
A canoedd angylion y straen hon.



(At the command of Heaven
When Britain rose out of the sea
Rose Rose Rose out of the sea
This was the charter, the charter of the land
And angels sang this strain)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 11 Jun 22 - 04:41 PM

Just in passing …
The Irish National Anthem, Amhrán na bhFiann, now invariably sung in Irish, was originally written in English.

Returns

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 11 Jun 22 - 04:52 PM

No idea where “Returns” came from - should have been …

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rule Britannia IN WELSH
From: BobL
Date: 12 Jun 22 - 03:25 AM

It's that son of a Bitcoin spellchecker again...