Dic Siôn Dafydd

Dic Siôn Dafydd ([dɪk ʃoːn ˈdavɨ̞ð], "Dick [son of] John [son of] David") is a satirical stereotype of an Anglophile Welsh person who deliberately turns their back on the Welsh people, their culture and the Welsh language. A Dic Siôn Dafydd instead embraces the concept of Englishness, English culture and the English language. It is traditionally used as an insult.

History and symbolism

Jac Glan-y-gors created a satirical portrait of 'Dic Siôn Dafydd' as a stereotypical Welshman who has consciously decided to forget his roots and turn his back on his nation, culture and language, influenced by a will to succeed in England.^[1] The 18th-century ballad describes Dic Siôn Dafydd as a pompous character that has grown up speaking Welsh but insists on speaking English even to his own Welsh-speaking mother.^[2]

Dic Siôn Dafydd is also known to be used as a term for abuse or as an insult that has political connotations. It refers to someone from Wales who betrays their nation for their own financial or political gain, or simply having turned their back on their country. More recently^[when?] it has been used as an insult for Welsh people who become part of the upper levels of the British establishment but forget their Welsh roots.^[2] The character has been described as a Welsh person speaking only English, who is an anglophile and/or anglicised, self-loathing of Wales or its identity, refuses to speak Welsh, or simply a "traitor".^[3][4]

Ballad

First and last verses of the ballad, on the left in 18th century Welsh and on the right an English translation.

Inclusion in other works

The name is also mentioned in the folk song, Yma o Hyd,

There have been other poems written by other Welsh poets in the style of the Dic Siôn Dafydd ballad, including by Talhaiarn, published in 1862 under the title "Dammeg Dic Siôn Dafydd yr Ail" (The Parable of Dic Siôn Dafydd the Second).^[7]

During the revival of the Eisteddfod tradition, a poets' competition at the 1824 National Eisteddfod at Powys, where satirical poems in the traditional englyn form were submitted under the pre-announced title "Beddargraff Dic Siôn Dafydd" (The Epitaph of Dic Siôn Dafydd).^[8]

External links

• Sheet Music of Dic Siôn Dafydd
• Performance by Y Glerorfa

See also

• Acting white
• Cultural cringe
• Cultural relationship between the Welsh and the English
• Crachach
• Jackeen
• Self hatred
• Shoneenism
• Sycophancy
• Uncle Tom

References