Dic Siôn Dafydd

Lyrics for the 1800 song Plant Dic Sion Dafydd ("The Children of Dic Siôn Dafydd")

Dic Siôn Dafydd ([dɪk ʃoːn ˈdavɨ̞ð], "Dick [son of] John [son of] David") is a pejorative term for Welsh people who disdain the culture of Wales and become Anglophiles instead. The term was coined by Welsh poet John Jones in his satirical ballad Cerdd Dic Siôn Dafydd to mock Welsh people who moved to England and adopted its culture in order to ingratiate themselves with the English. It is used today as a political insult.

History

During the late 18th century, Welsh poet John Jones published the satirical ballad Cerdd Dic Siôn Dafydd, following the story of fictional Welshman Dic Siôn Dafydd as he moves to London and begins to disdain the culture of Wales, instead adopting English culture in order to succeed in England.[1] The ballad notes that Dafydd grew up speaking Welsh but becomes pompous after moving to London, insisting on speaking solely English even to his Welsh-speaking mother.[2]

The term "Dic Siôn Dafydd" has also been used as a political insult in Wales, most commonly to describe a Welsh person perceived as betraying their country for financial and political gain. As an insult, the term has been used to describe Welsh people who become part of the Establishment in Britain while ignoring their Welsh roots.[2] It has also been used to describe Welsh people who only speak English, become Anglophiles or hold Welsh culture in low regard.[3][4]

Ballad

The name is also mentioned in the folk song Yma o Hyd:

Several Welsh poets have written works in the style of Jones' ballad, including Talhaiarn, who published Dammeg Dic Siôn Dafydd yr Ail ("The Parable of Dic Siôn Dafydd the Second") in 1862.[7] During the revival of the eisteddfod tradition, a poets' competition at the 1824 National Eisteddfod of Wales in Powys, where satirical poems in the traditional englyn form were submitted under the pre-announced title "Beddargraff Dic Siôn Dafydd" ("The Epitaph ofDic Siôn Dafydd").[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ "'Dic Sion Dafydd' - Welsh ballad by Jac Glan-y-gors, page 1". Peoples Collection Wales. Retrieved 2022-11-18.
  2. ^ a b "The top 12 most satisfying Welsh language insults to aim at your worst enemy – or your mates". Nation.Cymru. 2022-04-28. Retrieved 2022-11-18.
  3. ^ Singer, Rita (January 2015). Margrave, Christie (ed.). "Liberating Britain from Foreign Bondage: A Welsh Revision of the Wars of the Roses in L. M. Spooner's Gladys of Harlech; or, The Sacrifice (1858)". Rule Britannia?: Britain and Britishness, 1707–1901. Cambridge Scholars Publishing: 143–158. one of the most derided figures in Welsh literature of the nineteenth century is Dic Siôn Dafydd, a Welshman who claims to have forgotten his language and national identity since living in London and so becomes a traitor to his cultural heritage.
  4. ^ Jenkins, Bethan (1 March 2017). Between Wales and England: Anglophone Welsh Writing of the Eighteenth Century. University of Wales Press. p. 7. Dic Siôn Dafydd, the Anglophile, anglicised, self-loathing Welshman, has become a proverbial character in Welsh culture, reinforcing the linguistic difference and animosity between English and Welsh cultures, and above all their separateness; it is no coincidence that this character emerged in the eighteenth century, brought to life in the eponymous poem by the radical London Welshman John Jones (Jac Glan-y-Gors; 1766–1821).
  5. ^ "'Dic Sion Dafydd' - Welsh ballad by Jac Glan-y-gors, page 1".
  6. ^ Coleman, Tom (2022-03-29). "Yma o Hyd full lyrics, meaning and why Wales football fans started singing it". WalesOnline. Retrieved 2022-11-18.
  7. ^ Jones, John (1862). Gwaith Talhaiarn: The works of Talhaiarn, in Welsh and English.
  8. ^ Walter Davies, ed. (1826). Powysion: sef. Awdlau, cywyddau, ac ynglynion, a ddanfonwyd i Eisteddfod Trallwng, Medi, 1824. Llyfr II [Powysion: Odes, poems, and passages, delivered at the Welshpool Eisteddfod, September 1824. Volume 2] (in Welsh). R. Sanderson.