Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru facts for kids
Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru (GPC) (which means The University of Wales Dictionary) is a very important historical dictionary for the Welsh language. It's like the Welsh version of the famous Oxford English Dictionary. This dictionary explains Welsh words in Welsh, and it also gives their English meanings. It looks closely at how words change, how they are used with other words, and where they originally came from.
The first full version of the dictionary came out in four parts between 1967 and 2002. It had over 7 million words of text across nearly 4,000 pages. It explained about 106,000 main words. The dictionary included almost 350,000 examples of words being used, dating from the year 631 all the way up to 2000. It had 323,000 Welsh definitions and 290,000 English meanings. For 85,000 of these words, it also explained their history.
Contents
How the Dictionary Was Made
Starting the Project
The idea for the dictionary began in 1921. A small group at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth started collecting words. This team was led by Rev. J. Bodvan Anwyl. They asked volunteers to help record words they found.
Later, in 1948, R. J. Thomas took on the big job of editing the dictionary. This was a huge task that would take many years.
Publishing the First Edition
The first part of the dictionary was published in 1967. The second part came out in 1987, and the third in 1998. The fourth and final part of the first edition was finished in December 2002. This last part was edited by Gareth A. Bevan and P. J. Donovan. As soon as the first edition was complete, work started on a second, updated version.
In January 2008, Andrew Hawke became the main editor. He took over from Gareth A. Bevan and Patrick J. Donovan, who had retired.
Moving to Digital
The second edition of the dictionary uses many digital tools. It doesn't just rely on the old paper notes. It uses information from websites like "Welsh Prose 1300-1425" and digital collections from the British Library. It also uses online Welsh newspapers and journals from the National Library of Wales. Another source is the "National Terminology Portal" from Bangor University.
In 2011, work began to turn the dictionary's information into a digital format. This would allow it to be used in a special dictionary writing system. It also helped create an online version of the dictionary.
GPC Online Launch
After three years of hard work, the online version, called GPC Online, was launched. This happened on June 26, 2014. The First Minister of Wales at the time, Carwyn Jones, launched it at the Welsh Assembly. On its very first day, GPC Online was very popular. More than 10,000 people visited its search page.
Mobile Apps
On May 12, 2015, the Welsh Government gave a grant to help develop a mobile version of the dictionary. This money went to the Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies.
About a year later, on February 24, 2016, free apps for phones and tablets were launched. To celebrate the launch, over 400 new words were added to the dictionary. Within just one week, more than a thousand people had downloaded the new app.
See also
- Irish lexicography
- Scottish Gaelic dictionaries
