He was a man of the book, long before books were cheap.
Born around 1520 in Cae Du, Llansannan, Wales, William Salesbury spent his life chasing words. He died around 1584 in Llanrwst, Denbighshire. But he left behind something that outlasted him by centuries.
Most people know him for two things. A dictionary. And a translation of the New Testament.
Both were massive undertakings. Both were firsts.
The First Welsh-English Dictionary
Think about the problem. You want to translate Welsh into English. But the languages don’t map neatly onto each other. Structures differ. Idioms diverge.
Salesbury didn’t just list words. He built a bridge.
His Dictionary in Englyshe and Welshe came out in 1547. It was the first work of its kind. It gave English speakers a way to understand Welsh. And it gave Welsh speakers a mirror to see how their language looked from the outside.
A facsimile edition appeared in 1877. By then, the original was already a historical artifact. But the effort remained relevant. It proved that translation wasn’t just about swapping words. It was about preserving meaning.
Printing History in Wales
He didn’t stop at dictionaries.
About 1546, he edited Oll Synnwyr Pen Kembero Ygyd. The title translates to “The Whole Sense of a Welshman’s Head.” It was a collection of Welsh proverbs.
Maybe.
Historians aren’t certain. Some call it possibly the first book printed in Welsh. Others hesitate. But the distinction doesn’t matter as much as the fact that it existed. It showed that Welsh wasn’t just a spoken tongue. It was a written culture. One worth preserving in ink.
The New Testament Translation
Then came the big one. 1567.
Salesbury translated the New Testament into Welsh. He didn’t do it alone. He worked with Richard Davies, the bishop of St. David’s. Davies was based in Abergwili, Carmarthenshire.
They based their translation on the Greek version. Not the Latin Vulgate. Not an English intermediary. They went straight to the source.
Why does that matter?
Because it changed how Welsh speakers accessed scripture. It made the text native. It allowed people to read their own language and feel connected to the original message. It wasn’t just religious. It was cultural preservation.
Why He Matters Today
We live in a world of instant translation. Apps do the work in seconds. But Salesbury’s work took years. It took collaboration. It took deep knowledge of both languages.
His dictionary wasn’t just a reference. It was an act of resistance against linguistic erosion.
His translation wasn’t just a religious text. It was a statement that Welsh belonged in the realm of the sacred and the scholarly.
He spent most of his life in Llanrwst. Antiquarian pursuits. Botanical studies. Literary work. He was a man of many interests. But language was his anchor.
Without him, Welsh might have lost more of its written voice. Without him, English speakers might have struggled longer to understand
