NUGE CAMBRO-BRITANNICE.

No. 4. WELSH PROVERBS.

THE proverbs of a people have been described by Aristotle as the relics of their ancient wisdom. He calls them antique sapientiæ reliquias*, and certainly the moral maxims of a nation present us with the concentration of its admonitory prudence, for a proverb is wisdom in precept, as prudence is wisdom in action. Notwithstanding the extreme fertility of the Spanish language in its apothegms, so much so that our old friend Sancho Panza

"His mouth he could not ope

But out there flew a trope;"

yet it will be found that the Welsh is not inferior to it either in the number, conciseness, or peculiar felicity of its proverbial expressions. This is the more extraordinary as our Cambrian ancestors are depicted to us as being more celebrated for the furious, and choleric impetuosity of their courage, than for that serious, and sedate and reflecting, disposition which can alembicate an axiom from the result of long-continued cogitation. A perusal of our Proverbs however, that legacy of past times, will vindicate the title of the ancient Britons to no small degree of proficiency in that better, that practical part of moral philosophy, the adaptation of precepts to our guidance in the common and ordinary occurrences of life.

The Welsh appellation of a Proverb, when we analyze it, will be found to have in itself a proverbial terseness of emphatic expression, Diareb, or Di, ar, heb, that is a proposition so evidently true that it admits of no controversy, or literally, nothing to be said against it-" Quod tam certum et verum est ut cui contradici non potest." Q. D. αναποκριτον. So in the Hebrew, Mashal, domineri, to govern, signifies a Proverb, because it involves a governing principle of action. In the Latin, likewise, Proverbium is probatum verbum, and in the English, Proverb, an approved word, or a word the truth of which has been proved by the test of experience. "Pob diareb gwir, pob coel celwydd,"

says our old Welsh adage, that is,

All Proverbs are true, all omens false.

A list of Welsh authors, printed in the reign of Charles the

• In Synesium.

First, by Dr. Davies, and dedicated to Sir Richard Wynne, knight and baronet, the treasurer and receiver general of the queen Henrietta Maria, makes mention of a Cato Cymraeg. This Cambrian Cato, was, we believe, the celebrated abbot of Llancarvan, sometimes called the British Solomon. If his entire work could be rescued from oblivion, it would probably be found replete with these pithy reliquaries of Cambro-Britannic wisdom. He flourished about the year 450, and to him we are indebted for the Proverb "Nid Gallu ond Gwybod," an anticipation of Lord Bacon's observation that "knowledge is power."

From the following precept, attributed also to him, he appears to have been no great friend to matrimony. It speaks the character of the monk.

Mogel ddwyn gwraig attat yn enw ei hargyffreu.
Uxorem fuge, ne ducas sub nomine dotis.

He has been sometimes also cited under the name of Cattwg
Ddoeth.

In Boswell's Life of Johnson we are told that the Doctor in the compilation of his English Dictionary was assisted in his Welsh Etymologies by a gentleman of the Principality, who had distinguished himself by publishing a collection of Welsh Proverbs. Of this work we have never had the good fortune to meet with a copy: it is now out of print, and become extremely scarce. A new edition of it by some person competent to the task, with an English translation, and explanatory notes, would be a valuable addition to our present literary stock of useful knowledge in the ancient British language.

En attendant, however, we shall now attempt to translate a few of these national relics from the publication of Dr. John Davies, who refers to the original collection of old Gyrys of Yale in Denbighshire, and we will begin with,

Gwell nag 'na dau eddewid.

Melior est negatio quam duo promissa.

A refusal is better than two promises.

And who is there that has had the misfortune

"in suing long to bide,"

and to experience the truth of the English adage, that "hope deferred maketh the heart sick?" who will not be ready to exclaim with the honest Welshman, "Gwell nâg 'na dau eddewid ?"

It teaches us the moral lesson, to be sparing of promises which we are not sure we shall be able to perform, and not to trust too much to the hopes and expectations held out to us by others.

In philology we learn from it that the English word well is derived from the Welsh gwell, or well, better.

Da' daint rhag tafod.

Good are the teeth upon the tongue.

A very pithy mode of recommending circumspection, and a prudent restraint in our conversation. How many are there who after having committed themselves by saying too much, or speaking too hastily, have repented, when too late, of not having recollected this old Welsh proverb, and bitten their tongue between their teeth. The loquacious should have this motto engraven on their wings.

The word daint, the Welsh for teeth, presents us with the obvious derivation of the English adjective, dainty, literally, toothsome, that is, agreeable to the palate, pleasant to masticate with the teeth, daintaidd, delicate, dainty,

Gwerthfawr pob Godidog.

Preciosum quodque rarum.

Whatever is rare is precious.

"Gwerthfawr," or " Werth mawr," great worth, or value is the etymon of the English word worth, although the English dictionaries have assigned it a Saxon origin. So in Welsh, Gwerthu, or Werthu, means to sell, that is to realize in money the worth, or value of any thing.

Heb Dduw, heb ddim—Duw a digon.

Without God without every thing-God and enough.

This is the Welsh motto which so much pleased Doctor Johnson in his Tour in North Wales, as well it might, for it contains the whole pith of an entire sermon in one short

sentence.

Ddim, pronounced thim, seems to be the origin of thing. Dim, nihil, quicquid, aliquid,—nothing, every thing, something, any thing. The word "thing" is pure British, only the English have given it an Anglo-Saxon termination, and in their dictionary, as usual, ascribed to it a Saxon derivation.

Gwell car yn llys

nag aur ar fys:

Better a friend at court than gold in the fist;

or perhaps more literally,

A friend at court is better than gold on the finger, or under the finger. A friend at court is better than a penny in the purse.

From fys or bys, the Welsh for finger, we have evidently formed the modern English term fist, to signify the clenched fingers.

We will not say whether Câr is the prototype of the Latin Carus, or whether our Celtic ancestors borrowed this Welsh word from the Roman adjective. The former, however, appears to us the more probable conjecture, as its primeval root seems to be the Hebrew Karob, signifying a near and dear relation; and the Welsh and Hebrew we have demonstrated, in our July number, to be very closely connected together. The same observations apply to aur, gold, likewise taken from the Hebrew, "aur," to shine. And we are inclined to see more primitive brevity in car and aur, than in the elongated dissyllables of carus and aurum. We ground this argument on no less authority than that of Salmasius, who tells us that those languages which consist of monosyllables are the most ancient. "Catum est linguas omnes quæ monosyllabis constant, esse cæteris antiquiores." Salmasius, de ling. Hellen. p. 390.

Caseg gloff, cliff ei Hebol.

Lame the mare, lame her colt.

Like begets like; or Like father, like son.

Gwell Pwyll nag aur.

Discretion is better than gold.

Nullum numen abest si sit prudentia.

Ar nid yw Pwyll, Pyd yw.

What is not prudence is danger.
Llygad Duw ar adneu.

From Llygad, signifying eye, we have the English word, look.

Gwell angau na chwilydd.

Better death than shame

The motto of several ancient families in South Wales.

CAN HWST CAN HENAINT.

Centum morbi cum senectute,'

Old age brings with it a hundred diseases.

One does not immediately perceive that Gout is the derivative of Wst, and yet nothing is more certain. Wst, or Gust, became Goust in the old French, and by throwing

out the hissing s, as is usual in that language, it changed into the modern Goutte, as the disease or bodily pain, par excellence. And thence we have gout to signify all arthritic pains, which are usually the most acute.

Wst itself, as signifying an acute disease generally, as bronwst, a pain in the stomach; bolwst, the bellyach, or colic; defawdwst, the tongue-ache, &c. &c., is probably derived from hw, or oh! the natural cry or exclamation of one suffering from acute bodily pain.

Hwch o bob heledd.

A sow to every salting tub.

As benevolent a wish as that expressed by Henry the Fourth, of France, that the poorest of his peasants might have a fowl boiling in his pot every Sunday.

Ys hallt, the old Welsh word for this condiment, has given us the Anglo-Saxon sealt, and English salt, as ys heledd, seems to be the radix of the French sel. The origin is haliw, spittle, as much salt occasions a flow of saliva. Would it be too much to suppose that sow may have been derived from ys hwch, by the simple rejection of the gutteral Welsh termination ch? In the Armoric it is howch, which brings it still nearer.

Y boly a bil y cefn.

Venter expilat tergum.

The belly pilfers the back.

Very useful advice to all gluttons and drunkards.

In the transit of boly into the English language, the o has been changed into e, and the I doubled. Bil or pil has given us the old English word to pill, which has been elongated into pilfer.

Balchder heb troed.
Pride is without feet.

There is no ground or foundation whatever for pride, and therefore this vice is here figured, very poetically, to be without a foot to stand upon.

From trad, a foot, draed and traed in the plural, we have "tread" and "trod," signifying in English to walk on, to press under foot.

From balchder, pride, we have probably baldric, an