Place-Names in Wales

267 Pages·2017·5.41 MB·English

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T HO S..
SECOND AND REVISED EDITION.
SOUTHA‘L L , 1
49, D-oc x, ST REET .
PREFACE TO THE REVISE
D AND SECOND
EDITION.
The first edition of this work wa s published in 188
7,
a n d wa s sold out in a very short tim e . Orders
were
c on tinuall
y sen t for copies, but n on e could be foun d in
the m arket . Even tually
, J . E. Southall, Newport , who
has taken deep in terest in Welsh literature
, Wrote to
a sk the author for perm ission to publish a secon d edition
of it . Arran gem en ts were m ade to revise the work care
fully a n d to brin g it up to date . The om ission of Mon
-
m ou t hshire Place Nam es is due to the followin g fact :
The au thor won a 10 I os. prize in the Newport Nation al
£
Eisteddfod
, 1897, for A Diction ary of Welsh Nam es
of Places a n d Rivers in Monm outhshire a n d it is in ten ded
,
t o publish a separate edition of this in due course . The
a uthor gratefully ackn owledges the service ren dered b
y
S .
J . Eva n s, Esq. , M. A. , Llan gefn i , in revisin g this work.
His suggestion s were useful a n d destin ed t o enhan ce the
value of the work .
In con clusion
, the author repeats what he said in the
first edition In writin upon a subj ect so full of in t r i
g
c acies a n d difficulties the author is fa r from satisfied with
his etym ological attem pts in m any in stan ces.
T. MORGAN.
J an uary r oth 1 12 .
, , 9
Prefixes a nd Su ffixes
- f
Ca rn a rv onshire
Merion eth
-
PLAC
ENAMES IN W A
LES
INTRODUCTION.
T is surprisin g that a subj ect so deeply in terestin g
,
a n d o full o f historical value
, should n ot have
s
in duced som e com peten t Welsh scholar to explore
every possible field of research, a n d give the results of
his etym ological in vestigation s to the public in a perm a
n en t form .
Welsh n om en clature ha s n ot had the atten tion it
deserves. This in terestin g field has b een sadly n eglected.
Very few have m ade it the am bition of their life to en ter
therein a n d glean every possible in form ation n ecessary
,
-
to throw light upon ou r Welsh place n am es. The
ren own ed Lewis Morris wa s deeply en grossed in this
bran ch of literature
, a n d the publication of his Celti c
Rem a i n s would
, assuredly, be a n in valuable boon t o
’
Welsh literati. Iago Em lyn s Essay which gain ed the
prize at Carm arthen Eisteddfod
, Septem ber, 1867, is
em in en tly calculated t o be a n adm irable quota ren dered
by the Eisteddfod to the elucidation of this subj ect.
Most of our Eist eddfod io rodu c t ion s are locked up in
p
im pen etrable secrecy
, but this, fortun ately, has seen the
l ight of day.
-
2 PLACE NAMES IN W ALES.
-
With the exception of the above m en tion ed essay
our n ationa l in stitution has don e but very little to fill
this gap in Welsh literature. Worthy attem pts have
been m ade by som e Welsh t o o ra hist s to clear up the
p g p
-
etym ology of a m oiety of our place n am es. Others have
en deavoured t o explain their origin a n d m ean in g
, but
owin g to their im perfect acquain tan ce with the v er
n a c u la r
, m any of their attem pts have been futil e a n d
un satisfactory : as Ca erm a rthen
, the coun ty of Merlin ,
’
a Welsh en chan ter ; Den b z
g k, a dwellin g in the vale ;
“
P em b roke
, the hill over the brook ; Dou gla s is given to
'
-
m ean black water ; Pon t
ypmdd, bridge of beauty ; Tyr
’
Esco
fi, B ishop s tower ; Lla nfa wr , the church of four
sain ts &c . &c . We m ight quote a large n um ber of
, ,
sim ilar m isleadin g explan ation s of Welsh words a n d
n am es that are foun d in English books written eviden tly
fl
by other than W elsh et m olo ist s. The attem pts m ade
y g
by En glishm en a n d others ign oran t of the lan uage of
g
—
dean old Cam bria to explain Celtic n am es are often
failures a n d som ethin g more . Alt m a en
, high rock, in
the Lake district has been tran sform ed in to the Old
Ma n of Con iston ; Br
yn Hu el or Hu a l, hill of shackles, is
n ow spelt Brown Willy, a Corn ish ridge, a n d Pen san t
has been design ated Pen zan ce.
’
Tourists Guides to Wales m a be quite safe a n d
y
trustworthy in their geographical in form ation but the
,
m aj ority of them are woefully m isleadin g in their
et m ological peregrin ation s. Som e of their derivation s
y
really deserve to be rem itted to the cabin et of philo
-
PLACE NAMES IN WALES.
3
logica l cu riosities. Out of m an y hun dred place- n am es
in Wal es very few of them are explain ed satisfactorily
by gazetteers, a n d the m ost abstruse of them are left
in tact.
It is n eedless to say that Welsh philologists on ly c a n
deal satisfactorily with purely Welsh n am es
, a n d even
the find it n o easy task to in vestigate a n d a scertain
y
the origin of m an y of them
, especiall y those that
have un dergon e so m an y processes of corru ption
a n d m utation . Man y Welsh appellation s a n d loc a l
”
n am es
, writes on e em in en t Welsh historian , have
been so lon g corrupted that it would be affectation t o
attem pt to reform them . We m a
y be allowed to give
a
few in stan ces of n am es that have already been grossly
m utilated Llechwedd has been dislocated at Leckwith ;
Ll s Fro Nu dd has been cruelly distorted in to
y y
Lisworne
y ; Ca er a u has been pulled down to Carew ;
-
Mu w r ha s been alm ost ruin ed in Magor ; a o g la s
g y
has been twisted in to the form of Kn ucklas ; Mer th
yr
has been brutally m a rtyred at Ma r thre
y ; Ta fa m Yspytty
(hospi ti u m ) has been lon g con verted in to Spite Tavern ;
'
Mein c i a u has been m in ced in to Minke ; Gzeen tllwg has been
chan ed in to Wen tlooge Myddfa i has been m u ffled in
g
Mot hv e Sa rn a u ha s been beaten down in to Sarn ey,
y
&c ., &c .
Co sideri g the rapid strides of English education
n n
in the Prin cipality, we fear the tim e is not far distan t
-
he a oiety of our m utilated Welsh place n am es will
w n m
be
n othin g less than a series of en igm at ical problem s,
-
4 PLACE NAMES IN W ALES.
even to children of Welsh paren tage. Man y of them
already seem to them as a m ean in gless a n d un pron oun ce
able jum ble of letters . This process of m utilation
appears to be gettin g m ore prevalen t . Ou r En glish
frien ds n ot on ly do not exhibit a n sign of brin gin g
, y
forth fruit worthy of repen tan ce but they seem t o
,
persist in the error of their wa in dealin g with Welsh
y
n am es. Br
ynm a wr , big hill , is pron oun ced with sten torian
voice Br
ynm or , which sign ifies the hill by the sea. A
com plete stran ger to the place
, yet con versan t with the
Welsh ton ue on hearin g the latter pron un ciation of
g ,
the n am e would n aturally expect he wa s goin g t o
,
-
in hale the salubrious sea air
; whereas , after little
‘
en quiry, he would fin d him self in a t a n t a l ized rn ood
d istan tly situated from the sea. A few m iles dist a n t , . a t
’
Na n t
yb wc h, the buck s brook, he m ight be pardon ed if
he con cluded from the pitiful cries of the railway officia ls
- -
that there were n on e to b ook at that station . I f he pursued
his j ourn ey to Llw
ydcoed, grey wood , which is pron oun ced
b
y the railway m en Lyc od , he would n aturally con clude
t hat the place m ust have been som etim e n oted for rats
,
b ecause Ll d is the Welsh for rats .
n
In goin g through Loughor, provided his eo
g
g raphical kn owledge were deficien t, he would im agin e
h im self to have reached Lloe
g r , which is the Welsh
n am e for En glan d. An d a few m iles lower d own he
would fin d him self at Lla n ell
y, which is pron oun ced by
-
c ertain parties Lem hea lth
y, where he would be in duced
t o ca l l his inhalin g powers in to full play positively
,
-
PLACE NAMES 1N W ALES.
5
thin kin g he wa s lan ded in a place fam ous for it s
sa l ubriousness. In North Wales he would discover
the sam e aptitu de in the art of m ispronun ciation .
Am id the din of the fiery horse he m ight hear a n am e
-
pron oun ced Ab er
jeel, the suffix of which would rem in d
him at on ce of the Hin dost a n ee for a m ora ss or a
,
’
sha ll ow lake
; but a few m in utes talk with a Villager
would soon rel ieve him from the n ightm are of this
con fusion of ton gu es by furn ishin g him with the right
- - -
pron un ciation
, Ab er gele, a n out a nd out Welsh n am e.
‘
—
At Dol
gella u , which is pron oun ced Dol jelly, he m ight
a lm ost im agin e the n am e to im ply a doll m ade of j elly ;
-
a nd at qn
gollen , pron ou n ced La n jolen , he would, both
from a geographical a n d etym ological poin t of view
,
in dulge him self in little selfe c on r a t u la t ion on bein g
g
con veyed to a j olly place.
Now he has travell ed fa r en ough to be thoroughl y
con vi n c ed of the n ecessity of m a king a n effort to save
‘
our loca l n a
mes from the relen tless han ds of t he
foreign er before they bec om e so distorted as to b e
difficu lt of recogn ition even by Welsh et ym ologist s .
Pure Welsh n am es should be left in tact—those
that have u n dergon e n
y chan ges shou ld, if possible, b e
a
restored to their prim itive form , a n d English equ valen ts
i
or n am es shou ld be given to each and every one o f
them .
-
In pu rsu ing the study of Welsh plac e n am es, We
“ '
were forc ibly rem in ded of Hom e Tooke s observation ,