Bio
Sometimes Twm Ebbsworth enjoys writing, and sometimes it infuriates him. But he really does try his best.
Twm is originally from the village of Llanwnnen, a stone’s throw away from the small town of Llanbedr-Pont-Steffan, in the depths of agricultural Ceredigion. He graduated from Aberystwyth University in 2021 with a First-Class honors degree in Theatre Studies and Film and Television Studies, and is now studying for an MPhil in Creative Writing at the University. His work usually focuses on the influence of the ever-changing modern world on his rural community and has won him several national youth writers prizes. Cancel
Concept
Language is an obscenely abstract concept until we attach it to physical material. What I am saying is, we only call a rock a ‘rock’ today because someone called a rock a ‘rock’ however many years ago. But in all probability the inventor of the word ‘rock’ didn’t actually call it a ‘rock’ but some other collection of vowels and consonants that have developed and evolved over the centuries to be ‘rock’. But it’s not only the physical construction of a word that is able to evolve but also its meaning. Like in the way ‘rock’ is a noun for a stone, a signifier for a genre of music and a name of a bald, muscular, middle-aged actor.
To a monolingual English speaker, a fox glove is a fox glove, but to a Welsh language speaker a fox glove is also called ‘bysedd y cŵn’ (which literally translates to ‘fingers of the dogs’) Now one of these sounds particularly more sinister than the other, but despite their differences, both are a fair symbolic representation of the flower.
But my (a first language Welsh speaker’s) perspective on two different words, of two different languages, being a noun for the same flower, is different to a monolingual English speaker perspective. This is because Welsh language ecological terms, as well as place names, are being quite aggressively eroded and being replaced by the English equivalent. This is because of the influx in the number of second homes that are emptying the communities of rural Wales, making it virtually impossible for locals to afford houses in the area due to the difference between the average income and the average house prices in these counties.
In my work I will give you a tour of my habitat, showing the audience where these names are being lost, as well as trying to convey the depth of meaning in the original Welsh place names and ecological terms, in the real hope that an appreciation of the original Welsh terms will secure their future.
Bio Cymraeg
Weithiau mae Twm Ebbsworth yn mwynhau ysgrifennu, ac weithiau mae’n ei gynddeiriogu. Ond mae wir yn trio ei orau.
Mae Twm yn wreiddiol o bentref Llanwnnen, ar gyrion Llanbedr-Pont-Steffan, yng nghalon amaethyddiaeth Ceredigion. Fe raddiodd o Brifysgol Aberystwyth yn 2021 wrth ennill gradd Dosbarth Cyntaf mewn Astudiaethau Theatr, Ffilm a Theledu, ac yn bresennol, mae’n astudio ar gyfer ei MPhil mewn Ysgrifennu Creadigol yn y Brifysgol. Fel arfer, mae ei waith yn canolbwyntio ar ddylanwad y byd modern ar ei gymuned gwledig, ac mae wedi ennill nifer o wobrau ieuenctid am ysgrifennu’n greadigol cenedlaethol.
Cysyniad
Mae iaith yn gysyniad go abstract nes i ni ei gysylltu i ddeunydd corfforol. Beth rwy’n ceisio ei ddweud ydy, mae’r Saes ond yn galw carreg yn ‘rock’ oherwydd fod yna Saes wedi galw carreg yn ‘rock’ hyn a hyn o flynyddoedd yn ôl. Y tebygolrwydd yw mae nid ‘rock’ oedd y term cyntaf a fachwyd am garreg yn y Saesneg, ond rhyw gasgliad arall o lafariaid a chytseiniaid sydd wedi datblygu ac esblygu dros y canrifoedd nes cyrraedd ‘rock’. Ond nid yn unig adeiladwaith gair sy’n medru esblygu ond hefyd ei ystyr. Er engraifft gall ‘rock’ fod yr enw priod ar garreg, term am genre o gerddoriaeth neu enw actor moel, cyhyrog, canol oed.
I siaradwyr sy’n medru’r ddwy iaith, mae bysedd y cŵn a ‘fox gloves’ yn enwau priod ar gyfer yr un blodyn. Er bod un enw’n ymddangos llawer yn fwy sinistr na’r llall, er ei gwahaniaethau, mae’r ddau enw yn gynrychiolaeth symbolaidd teg o’r blodyn.
Ond mae fy mhresbectif i, fel siaradwyr Cymraeg iaith gyntaf, ar ddau air gwahanol, mewn dwy iaith gwahanol, yn gweithredu fel enwau priod ar gyfer yr un blodyn, yn wahanol i siaradwyr uniaith Saesneg. Mae hyn am fod y termau Cymraeg am ecoleg, yn ogystal a lleoliadau hanesyddol, yn cael eu herlid o bro eu mebyd, ar y cyd a’u brodorion. Y rheswm dros hyd ydy’r mewnlifiad o Saeson, a’u hail-dai, sydd wedi gwaghau cymunedoedd gwledig Cymru, a’i gwneud hi’n amhossibl i’r ifanc fedru fforddio cartrefi drwy achosi cyfartaledd prisau tai I godi yn eithriadol, tra bod cyfartaledd cyflog yr ardaloedd yma’n aros yn isel.
