Rhys, Siôn Dafydd

▪ Welsh grammarian

also called  John David Rhys , or  John Davies  

born 1534, Llanfaethlu, Anglesey, Wales

died c. 1609, Clun Hir?, Brecknockshire

      Welsh physician and grammarian whose grammar, Cambrobrytannicae Cymraecaeve linguae institutiones et rudimenta (1592), was the first to expound the Welsh language through the international medium of Latin.

      Rhys spent some time at Oxford then earned a degree in medicine from the University of Siena, Italy. He practiced as a physician at Cardiff, Wales, before devoting all his time to his grammar. He attempted to set down the rules of bardic poetry and the principles of the Welsh language but did so according to the Latin grammatical structure. His book includes a greeting in Welsh, a grammar of the Welsh language, a discussion of the poetic art, and a collection of Welsh poetry. It is valuable in that it contains items of knowledge that otherwise might have been lost.

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