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

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