Welsh Journals

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The large number of quotations in which the book abounds also add very greatly to its interest and incidentally prove the rich- ness of Welsh Mediaeval literature. The book will prove an inspiration to the Student of Welsh in the University Colleges, for it is sure to provoke his critical faculties, and rouse in him a great enthusiasm for the language of his forefathers. GEIRIADUR CYMRAEG A SaESNEG. SpURREU,'S WELSH-ENGLISH DICTIONARY. Edited by J. Bodvan Anwyl. New edition. Carmarthen: W. Spurrell & Son, 1913. 2/6 net. This is a new edition, thoroughly revised, of the Welsh-English Dictionary first published by Mr. William Spurrell in 1848. To all intents and purposes it is, however, a new work, for Mr. Bodvan Anwyl has done his work with extraordinary judgment and care, and he has availed himself of the assistance of his brother, Sir Ed- ward Anwyl, and the other teachers of Welsh at the University Colleges. The book is so good that it makes superfluous all the other Welsh-English Dictionaries in circulation. Mr. Anwyl dis- tinguishes between the words in common use and those which may be termed obsolete, though occasionally used in poetry. Here of course, as he points out, it is very difficult to draw any clear line of demarcation, as some words remain on in one dialect though they may have completely disappeared in the others. It seems to us that for the time being, Mr. Anwyl has removed the reproach so often levelled against Welsh scholars of the lack of a reliable Welsh-English Dictionary. It now becomes the duty of Welshmen to arrange for the publication of the texts of the older Welsh Manuscripts (which have only recently become available), so as to build upon them a standard Dictionary of the Welsh Lan- guage which shall be comparable to those of other languages.