Music and words traditional, arrangement by Brian Hughes.
The word hiraeth is difficult to translate into English but it means something like the pain and trauma associated with forced permanent exile, coupled with the knowledge that you will never see your family or loved ones or friends or village or locality again.
This would apply to many Welsh people who had to leave Wales for work or through poverty or lack of opportunity. But between 1870 and 1914, approximately 40% of Welsh emigrants returned to Wales, a much higher proportion than from other parts of Britain and it may have been hiraeth that pulled them back, or the closeness of the bond between the Welsh person and their locality (cynefin).
Words
Dwedwch fawrion o wybodaeth
O ba beth y gwnaethpwyd hiraeth;
A pha ddefnydd a roed ynddo
Na ddarfyddo wrth ei wisgo?
Hiraeth mawr a hiraeth creulon,
Hiraeth sydd yn torri ‘nghalon.
Pan fwyf dryma’r nos yn cysgu,
Fe ddaw hiraeth ac a’m deffry.
Derfydd aur a derfydd arian;
Derfydd melfed, derfydd sidan.
Derfydd pob dilledyn helaeth,
Eto er hyn, ni dderfydd hiraeth.
Hiraeth, hiraeth mawr.
Translation
Say you, great people of knowledge
Of what thing is longing made;
And what material was put into it
That it does not fade when it is worn?
Great longing and cruel longing,
(It is) longing which is breaking my heart.
When most heavily by night I sleep,
Longing comes and awakens me.
Gold wears out and silver wears out,
Velvet wears out, silk wears out,
Every ample garment wears out,
Still, despite this, longing does not wear out.
Longing, great longing.