Not long ago, I received an e-mail from Andrew Hawke, Assistant Editor and Systems Manager for the Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru - the University of Wales Dictionary. It contained some fairly astounding news: After working diligently on this enormous project since 1921, the Dictionary's editorial board finally completed the entire 4-volume set at the end of 2002. The final word in the dictionary is Zwinglïaidd, "characteristic of the doctrine of the theologian Zwingli".
Dictionary staff drafting the final entry
Now comes the long work of revising the A-B section of the GPC, which was produced on a more concise plan than the rest of the Dictionary. The second edition, like the first, will be issued in 64-page parts with a discount for regular subscribers. While the revision is going on, an online version will be made available free of charge, but without the illustrative citations or etymologies that make the print version so comprehensive.
It is, in fact, these citations and etymologies that make it possible to call the GPC the Welsh equivalent of the OED, as the first standard historical dictionary of Welsh. As such, the definitions are provided in Welsh (English equivalents also included), with examples from the earliest available manuscripts to modern literature. Says the GPC website, "Detailed attention is given to variant forms, common collocations, and etymology. The work is based upon a collection of some two million citation slips, amassed by voluntary readers as well as members of the Dictionary staff."
Andrew Hawke notes that the discussion of creating a historical dictionary started around World War I. The project started in 1921 at the National Library of Wales, with the Rev. Bodvan Anwyl as Dictionary Secretary (already an experienced lexicographer who had edited and updated Spurrell's Welsh dictionaries). Volunteer readers were immediately recruited and trained, and the slips that came in were filed by the in-house staff, who also excerpted manuscripts and rare materials from the National Library. Mr. Hawke notes that "no-one knew how long the work would take, but the initial estimate was five years." Finally, though, in 1948 the editorial process started.
From then until 2002, the Dictionary was published in 64-page parts. In 1967 Parts 1-21 were released as Volume I (a-ffysur). Volume II (g-llyys) came out in 1987, Volume III (m-rhywyr) in 1998, and Volume IV (s-Zwinglïaidd) in 2002. The project has been the responsibility of the Board of Celtic Studies, which was established by the University of Wales in 1919.
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