Editing Welsh orthography (section)

== History ==
[[File:Welsh alphabet card italic C19th.jpg|thumb|A 19th-century Welsh alphabet printed in [[Welsh language|Welsh]], without {{vr|j}} or {{vr|rh}}]]
The earliest samples of written Welsh date from the 6th century and are in the [[Latin alphabet]] (see [[Old Welsh]]). The orthography differs from that of modern Welsh, particularly in the use of {{vr|p, t, c}} to represent the [[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]] [[plosive]]s {{IPA|/b, d, ɡ/}} non initially. Similarly, the voiced [[Fricative consonant|fricatives]] {{IPA|/v, ð/}} were written {{vr|b, d}}.<ref name="Watkins">Watkins, T. Arwyn (1993) "Welsh" in Ball, Martin J. with Fife, James (Eds) ''The Celtic Languages.'' London/New York: Routledge: 289-348.</ref>

By the [[Middle Welsh]] period, this had given way to quite a bit of variability: Although {{vr|b, d, g}} were now used to represent {{IPA|/b, d, ɡ/}}, these sounds were also often written as in Old Welsh, while {{IPA|/v/}} could be denoted by {{vr|u, v, [[ỽ]], f, w}}. In earlier manuscripts, moreover, [[Fricative consonant|fricatives]] were often not distinguished from [[plosive]]s (e.g. {{vr|t}} for {{IPA|/θ/}}, now written {{vr|th}}).<ref>Evans, Simon D. (1964) ''A Grammar of Middle Welsh.'' Dublin: ColourBooks Ltd.</ref> The [[grapheme]] {{vr|k}} was also used, unlike in the modern alphabet, particularly before [[front vowel]]s.<ref name="Watkins" /> The disuse of this letter is at least partly due to the publication of [[William Salesbury]]'s Welsh New Testament and [[William Morgan (Bible translator)|William Morgan]]'s [[Welsh Bible]], whose English printers, with type letter frequencies set for English and Latin, did not have enough {{vr|k}} letters in their type cases to spell every {{IPA|/k/}} as {{vr|k}}, so the order went "C for K, because the printers have not so many as the Welsh requireth";<ref>[https://archive.today/20200924220312/https://faculty.smu.edu/bwheeler/tolkien/online_reader/T-English&Welsh.PDF English and Welsh],{{dead link|date=December 2023}} an essay by [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]</ref> this was not liked at the time, but has become standard usage.

In this period, {{vr|[[Eth|ð]]}} (capital {{vr|Ð}}) was also used interchangeably with {{vr|dd}}, such as the passage in the 1567 New Testament: {{lang|cy|A Dyw y sych ymaith yr oll '''ð'''eigre o'''dd'''iwrth y llygeid}}, which contains both {{vr|ð}} and {{vr|dd}}.  Elsewhere, the same word is spelt in different ways, e.g. {{lang|cy|newy'''dd'''}} and {{lang|cy|newy'''ð'''}}.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.bible.com/bible/2000/REV.21.sby1567 |title=Testament Newydd (1567) Pen 21 |trans-title=The 1567 New Testament, Revelation 21}}.</ref>

The printer and publisher [[Lewis Jones (Patagonia)|Lewis Jones]], one of the co-founders of {{lang|cy|[[Y Wladfa]]}}, the Welsh-speaking settlement in Patagonia, favoured a limited [[spelling reform]] which replaced Welsh {{vr|f}} {{IPA|/v/}} and {{vr|ff}} {{IPA|/f/}} with {{vr|v}} and {{vr|f}}, and from ''circa'' 1866 to 1886 Jones employed this innovation in a number of newspapers and periodicals he published and/or edited in the colony.<ref name="Watkins" /> However, the only real relic of this practice today is the Patagonian placename [[Trevelin]] ("mill town"), which in standard Welsh orthography would be {{lang|cy|Trefelin}}.

In 1928, a committee chaired by Sir [[John Morris-Jones]] standardised the orthography of modern Welsh.

In 1987, a committee chaired by Professor Stephen J. Williams made further small changes,{{which|date=September 2021}} introducing {{vr|[[j]]}}. Not all modern writers adhere to the conventions established by these committees.<ref>Thomas, Peter Wynn (1996) ''Gramadeg y Gymraeg.'' Cardiff: University of Wales Press: 749.</ref>