Cyflwyniad / About

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Croeso i flog Bugail yr Enwau.

Fy enw i yw Aled Williams, ac ers dros bymtheg mlynedd rwyf wedi arbenigo mewn cofnodi ac astudio enwau lleoedd ucheldiroedd Cymru, gan gynnwys pob ardal fynyddig o Eryri yn y gogledd i Fannau Brycheiniog yn y de.

Fel yr awgryma’r teitl, gwaith llafurus yw casglu’r enwau hyn, a rhaid ymdrechu fel bugail i’w hel i lawr o’r mynydd! Ers 2012, rwyf wedi cyfweld â thros dri chant o bobl, yn fugeiliaid a ffermwyr yn bennaf, gan sicrhau cadwraeth enwau nad oeddent wedi’u cofnodi o’r blaen, cadarnhau lleoliadau a ffurfiau llafar, a chasglu’r chwedloniaeth gysylltiedig. Mae’n frwnt gorfod cyfaddef bod y gronfa’n erydu’n gyflym yn yr oes fodern, ac felly mae’r gwaith casglu yn hanfodol er mwyn gwarchod yr enwau.

Caiff yr ymchwil ei gyfoethogi gan ffynonellau hanesyddol, gyda llawer o oriau’n cael eu treulio’n pori drwy ddogfennau mewn archifdai. Gwobr ymdrechion o’r fath yw darganfod enwau coll a sillafiadau hynafol sy’n hanfodol i’r astudiaeth o enwau lleoedd.

Rwy’n aelod o Gymdeithas Enwau Lleoedd Cymru ac rwyf wedi cyhoeddi mewn cylchgronau ysgolheigaidd. Yn ddiweddar, rwyf wedi cychwyn cydweithio ag Awdurdod Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri er mwyn cywiro gwallau enwol sy’n bodoli ar fapiau swyddogol.

Os oes gennych enwau ucheldirol i’w gwarchod neu awgrymiadau ar gyfer newidiadau i fapiau swyddogol, cysylltwch â mi.

Aled Williams.

 

Hel enwau ar Fynydd Hiraethog, Mehefin 2014.

Gathering names on Mynydd Hiraethog, June 2014.

 

Welcome to the Bugail yr Enwau blog.

My name is Aled Williams, and for over fifteen years I have specialised in the cataloguing and study of place-names in the Welsh uplands. The scope of this work is extensive, covering all upland areas from Eryri in the north to Bannau Brycheiniog in the south.

Bugail yr Enwau translates as ‘shepherd of the names’, and as the title suggests, collecting upland place‑names is laborious work: like sheep, names must be gathered down from the mountain! Since 2012, I have interviewed over three hundred people — mainly shepherds and farmers — ensuring the preservation of names that had not previously been recorded, confirming locations and spoken forms, and collecting the associated folklore. All of this information is tribal in nature, passed down through oral tradition, and is rapidly eroding in the modern age. It is therefore essential that place-names are recorded for their protection.

The research is also supported by historical sources, with many hours spent trawling through documents held in archival repositories. Such efforts are rewarded by the unearthing of lost names and antiquated spellings that are crucial to toponymy.

I am a member of the Welsh Place-Name Society and have published in scholarly journals. More recently, I have begun collaborating with the Eryri National Park Authority with the aim of correcting place-name errors that appear on official maps.

If you have upland place-names to safeguard, or proposals for changes to official maps, please contact me.

Aled Williams. 

 

Pori drwy ddogfennau yn Llyfrgell Bodleian, Rhydychen, Medi 2015.

Trawling through documents at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, September 2015.