Some Welsh and Irish Translations

Abstract

Much Welsh and Irish literature consists of translation. Amongst the earliest records of the Celtic languages are glosses on Latin; at a later date we have religious and historical texts translated from Latin, and romances translated from French and (in the fifteenth century) English; in the sixteenth century Welsh and Irish first appear in print with translations of Protestant and Catholic texts; while from about 1800 appear various works conveniently described as 'modern'. There is also a long tradition of translation from Welsh and Irish as well as into them. Early examples described in Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, ed. R. S. Loomis (Oxford, 1959). include the lost Welsh sources tor the legends of King Arthur and Tristan and Isolde, and the Irish Fled Bricreen which provided the beheading theme for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; while in recent years translations from Celtic have moved further afield, including Spanish versions of the Welsh Mabinogion and Irish Lebor Gabála