handbook of the origin of place-names in wales and monmouthshire

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THE ORIGIN OF PLACE-NAMES IN WALES AND MONMOUTHSHIRE.INTRODUCTION.IT is surprising that a subject so deeply interesting, and so full of historical value, should not have inducedsome competent Welsh scholar to explore every possible field of research, and give the results of hisetymological investigations to the public in a permanent form.Welsh nomenclature has not had the attention it deserves. This interesting field has been sadly neglected.Very few have made it the ambition of their life to enter therein, and glean every possible informationnecessary to throw light upon our Welsh place-names. The renowned Lewis Morris was deeply engrossed inthis branch of literature, and the publication of his Celtic Remains would, assuredly, be an invaluable boon toWelsh literati. Iago Emlyn's Essay which gained the prize at Carmarthen Eisteddfod, September, 1867, iseminently calculated to be an admirable quota rendered by the Eisteddfod to the elucidation of this subject.Most of our Eisteddfodic productions are locked up in impenetrable secrecy, but this, fortunately, has seenthelight of day.With the exception of the above-mentioned essay our national institution has done but very little to fill thisgap in Welsh literature. Worthy attempts have been made by some Welsh topographists to clear up theetymology of a moiety of our place-names. Others have endeavoured to explain their origin and meaning, butowing to their imperfect acquaintance with the vernacular, many of their attempts have been futile andunsatisfactory: as Caermarthen, the county of Merlin, Ish enchanter; Denbigh, a dwelling in the vale; ke, thehill over the brook; Douglas is given to black-water; Pontypridd, bridge of beauty; Tyr Bishop's tower;Llanfawr, the church of four &c. &c. We might quote a large number of very misleading explanations of Welshwords that are found in English books written evidently by other than Welsh etymologists. The attemptsmade by Englishmen and others ignorant of the language of Old Cambria to explain Celtic names are oftenlost and something more. Alt macn, high rock, in the lake district has been transformed into the Old Coniston;Bryn Huel or Hual, hill of shackles, is spelt Brown Willy, a Cornish ridge, and Pensant is designatedPenzance.Jurists' Guides to Wales may be quite safe and worthy in their geographical information, but the majority ofthem are woefully misleading in their topological peregrinations. Some of their derivations deserve to beremitted to the cabinet of philosophical curiosities. Out of many hundred place-names very few of them areexplained satisfactorily, and the most abstruse of them are left untouched.Needless to say that Welsh philologists only can satisfactorily work with purely Welsh names, and even thenit no easy task to investigate and ascertain the origin of many of them, especially those that have undergoneso many processes of corruption. " Many Welsh appellations and local names' writes one eminent Welshhistorian, " have so long corrupted that it would be affectation to: to reform them." We may be allowed to giveinstances of names that have already been grossly distorted.Llechwedd has been dislocated at Leckwith; Llys y Fro Nudd has been cruelly distorted into Llisworney;Caerau has been pulled down to Carew; Magwyr has been almost ruined in Magor; Cnwc-glas n twisted intothe form of Knucklas; Merthyr n brutally martyred at Marthrey; Tafam Yspytty m has been long converted intoSpite Tavern; Meinciau has been minced into Minke; Gwentllwg has been changed into Wentlooge; Myddfaihas been muffled in Mothvey; Sarnau has been beaten down into Sarney, &c. &c.Considering the rapid strides of English education in the Principality we fear the time is not far distant when amoiety of our mutilated Welsh place-names will be nothing less than a series of enigmatical problems evento children of Welsh parentage. Many of them already seem to them as a meaningless and unpronounceablejumble of letters. This process of mutilation appears to be getting more prevalent. Our English friends, notonly do not exhibit any sign of bringing forth fruit worthy of repentance, but they seem to persist in the errorof their way in dealing with Welsh names. Btynmawr, big hill, is pronounced with stentorian voice Brynmdr,which signifies the hill by the sea. A complete stranger to the place, yet conversant with the Welsh tongue, onhearing the latter pronunciation of the name, would naturally expect he was going to inhale the salubrioussea-air ; whereas, after little enquiry, he would find himself in a tantalized mood distantly situated from thesea. A few miles distant, at Nantybwch, the buck's brook, he might be pardoned if he concluded from theOrigin of Place-names in Wales & MonmouthshirePage
pitiful cries of the railway officials that there were none-to-book at that station. If he pursued his journey toLlwydcoed, grey wood, which is pronounced by the railway men Lycod, he would naturally conclude that theplace must have been sometime noted for rats, because Llygod is the Welsh for rats.In going through Loughor, provided his geographical knowledge were deficient, he would imagine himself tohave reached Llotgr, which is the Welsh name for England. And a few miles lower down he would findhimself at Llanelly, which is pronounced by certain parties Lan-hcalthy r , where he would be induced to callhis inhaling powers into full play, positively thinking he was landed in a place famous for its salubriousness.In North Wales he would discover the same aptitude in the art of mispronunciation. Amid the din of the " fieryhorse " he might hear a name pronounced Aber-jeel, the suffix of which would remind him at once of theHindostanee for a morass, or a shallow lake ; but a few minutes talk with a villager would soon relieve himfrom the nightmare of this confusion of tongues by furnishing him with the right pronunciation, Aber-gele, anout-and-out Welsh name. At Dolgellau, which is pronounced Dol-jelly, he might almost imagine the name toimply a doll made of jelly ; and at Llangollen, pronounced Lan-jolen, he would, both from a geographical andetymological point of view, indulge himself in little self-congratulation on being conveyed to a jolly place.Now he has travelled far enough to be thoroughly convinced of the necessity of making an effort to save ourlocal names from the relentless hands of the foreigner before they become so distorted as to be difficult ofrecognition even by Welsh etymologists.Pure Welsh names should be left intact — those that have undergone any changes should, if possible, berestored to their primitive form, and English equivalents or names should be given to each and every one ofthem.An attempt is being made in this book to assign English names to all the places that bear Welsh or quasi-Welsh appellations. This was by no means an easy task.Fear and trembling haunted us all along the line, lest we should fail to give intelligible, short, and easilypronouncednames in English garb. Perhaps we have sacrificed too much upon the altar of conciseness. Afull, literal translation of many of our place-names, designed for English Appellations, would be none lessthan an etymological onus to others than Welshmen, so we were naturally led to the other extreme. In orderto avoid a repetition of a literary ordeal to our dim-Cymraeg friends, we felt " 'tis better to be brief thantedious." The enticing name Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllantysiliogogogoch has been reducedto Whitwood. It is said that a Welsh celebrity at a certain railway station asked for a ticket to the last-namedplace, and the retort given, ex cathedra, was that such a place was not in existence ; whereas, if he had onlyasked for a ticket to Llanfair P.G., the clipped form of the name, he would have been supplied with itinstantaneously. Llanfair-mathafam-eithiaf has been abbreviated to Meadton, &c. &c. These longitudinaldesignations should be preserved intact, and transmitted to the Welsh cabinet of curiosities in nomenclature,and brief English names, such as Whitwood, Meadton, &c, should be adopted for the common purposes ofeveryday life.In pursuing the study of Welsh place-names we were forcibly reminded of Home Tooke's observation, as to "letters, like soldiers, being very apt to desert and drop off in a long march." Contraction increases ourdifficulties in endeavouring to get at the full and correct import of words. If the American tendency - topronounce words exactly as they are spelt and written - were a universal principle, the burdens of philologistswould be considerably lessened. Such is not the case in Welsh nomenclature. Although every Welsh letter issupposed to have its own distinct sound, wherever placed, many of them have dropped off in long marches,and some indeed in exceedingly short marches, and it is with great difficulty we have induced some of themto return to their proper places in the etymological army - some, probably, never to return; hence the primaryform of many a name cannot be obtained nor the true meaning ascertained.Latinized and Anglicized forms of Welsh names considerably enhance our difficulties. M on was transmutedto Mona, Aberconwy to Aberconovium, Abergafeni to Abergavennium, Aberogwr to Ogmore, Nedd toNedium, Coed-dy to Coyty, Talyfan to Talavan, Sili to Sully, Llys-y-Fro-Nudd to Lisworney, Llanyffydd toLamphey y Llandeg to Lanteague, Gwynfa to Wenvoe, &c. Our names, like our fathers, were mercilesslytreated by our foreign invaders.Hybridism is another element that renders Welsh nomenclature exceedingly difficult and perplexing. Differentnations visited our shores, and played sad havoc with our local names, especially those having gutterals inthem. " We have names of such barbarous origin," writes one, " compounded one-half of one language andthe other of another, that it is impossible to fix a criterion how they ought to be spelt." The Flemish colony inOrigin of Place-names in Wales & Monmouthshire Page 2
Page 1 and 2: HANDBOOK OF THE ORIGIN OF PLACE-NAM
Page 3: § § § § §The Author begs to st
Page 7 and 8: Bishop Percy says that "in England,
Page 9 and 10: The city of Chester is still popula
Page 11 and 12: There's Cumwhitton, Cumwhinton, Cum
Page 13 and 14: Llwyn in its primary' sense means a
Page 15 and 16: PLACE-NAMES IN WALES.Wales. — The
Page 17 and 18: Church are generally dedicated to e
Page 19 and 20: think he was a contemporary of St.
Page 21 and 22: Rhosbeirio. — Rhos, a moor, a dry
Page 23 and 24: of Brecknock," states that this vic
Page 25 and 26: Cam cnwir ef Cwmdu,Cwm gwyn yw & n
Page 27 and 28: Penderyn. — A corruption probably
Page 29 and 30: Ardudwy. — Ar, upon or above; tud
Page 31 and 32: to mark its pre-eminence over the o
Page 33 and 34: Some think that eirw is a corruptio
Page 35 and 36: present form — Caerfyrddin.Abergw
Page 37 and 38: place of refuge; hence the name. En
Page 39 and 40: Llansawyl. — The church was dedic
Page 41 and 42: eject. The village took its name fr
Page 43 and 44: house, and attempted to kill an inf
Page 45 and 46: Gwydir. — Prima facie one may tak
Page 47 and 48: Nefyn. — The church was probably
Page 49 and 50: DENBIGHSHIRE.Anglicized form of Din
Page 51 and 52: Llangollen. — From Collen, a sain
Page 53 and 54: hands into their pockets to pay a c
Page 55 and 56:
Cefn. — The name signifies a ridg
Page 57 and 58:
Maesgarmon. — Named in honour of
Page 59 and 60:
Abertridwr. — Tridwr, three water
Page 61 and 62:
it is said, was originally built by
Page 63 and 64:
Cwmllynfell. — Cwm, a narrow vale
Page 65 and 66:
Gwarycaeau. — Gwdr, the nape of t
Page 67 and 68:
means a cultivated region, a vale,
Page 69 and 70:
Penrhiwfer.- Pen, head, top; rhiw,
Page 71 and 72:
Port Talbot. — So called in 1835
Page 73 and 74:
Trealaw. — This appellation was g
Page 75 and 76:
Aberdyfi. — So called from its si
Page 77 and 78:
Llanddwywe. — From Dwywau, a desc
Page 79 and 80:
Crickhowell and some in the directi
Page 81 and 82:
Griffithstown. — This village was
Page 83 and 84:
and gwy, water. Treiddiod troth tna
Page 85 and 86:
derive Tintern from din, fortified
Page 87 and 88:
Caersws. — It appears that the Ro
Page 89 and 90:
English name — Ervylton.Llanymech
Page 91 and 92:
Angle. — Probably from the angle-
Page 93 and 94:
Gellyswick. — Another hybrid. Gel
Page 95 and 96:
that the two rivers in their flowin
Page 97 and 98:
ecame the bishop of the see, and wa
Page 99 and 100:
earth formerly stood on a summit on
Page 101 and 102:
Pilleth. — A corruption of pwll,
Page 103 and 104:
Howells, Rev. J., Mountain AshHowel
Page 105 and 106:
Williams, D., PenywernWilliams, Rev
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