Ar Hyd y Nos
Welsh (Cymraeg)Tune printed in 1784Public domain
A Welsh evening song about stars, stillness and keeping each other company until morning. Its slow, rocking tune is one of the best loved in Wales, and in English it is known as All Through the Night. Here you will find the Welsh words, what they mean and where the tune comes from.
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Verse 1
Holl amrantau'r sêr ddywedant,
Ar hyd y nos,
Dyma'r ffordd i fro gogoniant,
Ar hyd y nos.
Goleu arall yw tywyllwch,
I arddangos gwir brydferthwch
Teulu'r nefoedd mewn tawelwch,
Ar hyd y nos.
(All the eyelids of the stars say, all through the night: this is the way to the land of glory. Darkness is another kind of light, showing in stillness the true beauty of the family of heaven, all through the night.)
Verse 2
O mor siriol gwena seren
Ar hyd y nos;
I oleuo 'i chwaer-ddaearen
Ar hyd y nos.
(How cheerfully a star smiles, all through the night, to light up her sister, the earth.)
Verse 3
Nos yw henaint pan ddaw cystudd,
Ond i harddu dyn a'i hwyrddydd,
Rhown ein goleu gwan i'n gilydd
Ar hyd y nos.
(Old age is a night when trouble comes, but to make a person's evening beautiful, let us give each other our weak light, all through the night.)
Good to know
What this song means
The title means "all through the night". The poem is not a children's lullaby in the usual sense: it looks up at the stars, says that the dark is a kind of light, and ends with a quiet wish that, when life grows hard or old age comes, we lend each other our small, weak light. The lullaby feeling comes from the slow tune and from the refrain "ar hyd y nos", which returns again and again like a soft echo.
Welsh text (Cymraeg) as printed in 1902. The English lines are our own translation for understanding, not a singable version.
History
Where this song comes from
The tune is one of the best known Welsh airs. It was printed in 1784 by the harpist Edward Jones, known as Bardd y Brenin, "the King's Bard", in his collection of Welsh bardic music, as a song for voice and harp with different words from the ones sung today.
The Welsh words most people sing now were written much later by the poet John Ceiriog Hughes (1832 to 1887), who is remembered as one of the great lyric poets of Wales. The gentle English lullaby words "Sleep my child and peace attend thee" were added by Sir Harold Boulton in 1884, which is why many English-speaking families know the tune as a bedtime song. It also travelled into church music, and it is often sung by Welsh choirs and at Christmas.
Sources & rights
- Tune: a traditional Welsh air, printed in 1784 by Edward Jones. Public domain.
- Welsh words: John Ceiriog Hughes (1832 to 1887), text from the 1902 printed edition of his works. Public domain.
- Meaning: our own translation, written for understanding. The sung words stay in Welsh.
- Video: a selection from our own handplayed videos. This song does not have a dedicated recording or chord sheet by us yet.
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