The translation of morphological descriptions in Gruffydd Robert's sixteenth-century Welsh Grammar.

This paper explores a hitherto neglected strand of grammaticographical learning in the make-up of the first printed grammar of Welsh by Gruffydd Robert (c. 1527-1598), whose first booklet was printed in Milan in 1567. Research so far concentrated mainly on Robert's acquaintance with the (late) medieval grammatical tracts of the Welsh poets or with contemporary Italian approaches to language he encountered as a Catholic exile in Italy. Focussing on Robert's presentation and discussion of the parts of speech and their accidents, a dominant concern of traditional Latin grammar, close parallels can be shown to emerge with two contemporary grammars of Latin, the Shorte Introduction and the Brevissia Institutio, the authorized works for the teaching of Latin in England when Robert learnt Latin. These provide a benchmark for the assessment of his indebtedness to the larger Latinate tradition. The attempt to apply the Latin model to the structures of Welsh can run into problems, however, and instances of Robert's creative engagement with these will also be analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]