Sir Ifor Williams, (16 April 1881 – 4 November 1965) was a Welsh scholar who laid the foundations for the academic study of
Old Welsh
Old Welsh ( cy, Hen Gymraeg) is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic ...
, particularly early Welsh poetry.
Early life and education
Ifor Williams was born at Pendinas,
Tregarth
Tregarth is a village near Thomas Telford's A5 London to Holyhead road between the town of Bethesda and the city of Bangor in Gwynedd, north Wales. It is in Llandygai Community. It had a population of over 1,300 as of the 2011 census. .
Hist ...
near
Bangor, Wales, the son of John Williams, a quarryman, and his wife Jane. His maternal grandfather, Hugh Derfel Hughes, was a noted local historian who wrote a well-regarded book on the history of the area. He went to
Friars School, Bangor, in 1894 but had only been there for just over a year when he suffered a serious accident. This left him with back injuries that made him bedridden for several years.
Having recovered, he attended
Clynnog School in 1901 and in 1902 won a scholarship to
University College of North Wales. In 1905 he graduated with honours in Greek, then in 1906 in
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
. He spent the 1906–07 academic year at the Department of Welsh working for his M.A. degree and assisting Sir
John Morris-Jones, the Professor of Welsh, before being appointed an assistant lecturer. In 1920 a Chair of Welsh Literature was specially created for him, which he held until Sir John Morris-Jones died in 1929, when he became Professor of Welsh Language and Literature.
Academic career
Ifor Williams had a lifelong interest in Welsh place-names, and was one of the first to apply rigorous academic methods to this field. He published ''Enwau Lleoedd'' ("Place Names") in 1945 which is still of great value today. Many of his early publications were written in order to provide teaching material and included versions with detailed notes of a number of old Welsh tales, notably the ''
Mabinogi'' in 1930. He also produced scholarly editions of the works of a number of mediaeval poets such as
Dafydd ap Gwilym and others in 1914 and
Iolo Goch in 1925 with colleagues.
His main field of study however was
Old Welsh
Old Welsh ( cy, Hen Gymraeg) is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic ...
and the earliest Welsh Poetry. He produced ''Canu Llywarch Hen'' in 1935 covering the poetry associated with
Llywarch Hen
Llywarch Hen (, "Llywarch the Old"; c. 534 – c. 608), was a prince and poet of the Brythonic kingdom of Rheged, a ruling family in the Hen Ogledd or "Old North" of Britain (modern southern Scotland and northern England). Along with Taliesin, A ...
, then in 1938 possibly his most important work, ''Canu Aneirin'', the text with notes of the
Gododdin attributed to the 6th-century poet
Aneirin. For the first time the original text was distinguished from later additions and made comprehensible with notes, and this work has provided the foundation for all subsequent work on this poetry. He wrote an introduction to ''Canu Taliesin'' in 1960 on work of the poet
Taliesin
Taliesin ( , ; 6th century AD) was an early Brittonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the ''Book of Taliesin''. Taliesin was a renowned bard who is believed to have sung at the court ...
, with particular emphasis on the dating of the 6th century poems in the Taliesin corpus. The book followed his introduction with a new translation by J.E. Caerwyn Williams. Ifor Williams also published works on later Welsh poetry, such as the 10th century
Armes Prydain.
Williams edited the ''
Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies'' from 1937 to 1948. He was also a speaker on the radio, and selections of his radio lectures were published in three books.
Personal history
Williams married Myfanwy Jones of Cae-glas,
Pontllyfni, Arfon, in 1913, and there were two children, a daughter and a son.
He retired in 1947 and was knighted the same year. In 1949 the
University of Wales
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, mottoeng = The Best Inspiration is Truth
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awarded him the honorary degree of LL.D. He lived from 1913 to 1947 in Menai Bridge and retired to Pontllyfni where he died in 1965. He is buried in the burial ground attached to Capel Brynaerau, Pontllyfni.
References
*
Meic Stephens
Meic Stephens (23 July 1938 – 2 July 2018) was a Welsh literary editor, journalist, translator, and poet.
Birth and education
Meic Stephens was born on 23 July 1938 in the village of Treforest, near Pontypridd, Glamorgan. He was educated ...
''A Companion to the literature of Wales'' (University of Wales Press)
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Ifor
Welsh literary critics
20th-century Welsh writers
Welsh-language writers
People educated at Friars School, Bangor
Alumni of Bangor University
Academics of Bangor University
1881 births
1965 deaths
Celtic studies scholars
Linguists from Wales
Burials in Wales
Fellows of the British Academy