What's in a place name? In Wales, quite a lot.
In Wales, as many other places around the world, our place names provide us a connection to the people, society and landscapes of the past. They come in the languages of the many people who have made modern Wales what it is.
The accessibility of this connection afforded to Welsh speakers is a huge part of explaining the current tensions in Wales surrounding place names. So what if a house's name is changed from Rhosyr for example, to Seaview?
Well, there's a lot to a name. Often these place names are vectors of communal knowledge. Sometimes they contain information about the history of a place, the stories of a place, even references to a landscape that's no longer there - and it's immediately accessible to people who understand the basics of Welsh. It's more than just a name, it's a vector of cultural knowledge, with deep emotional connections to those who know it. Something that people who don't speak Welsh often forget.
At the most extreme end, the struggle to preserve Welsh place names is a reminder of the continued struggle of the Welsh language, and the need for its preservation today.
As with other parts of the world, the languages of place names come in layers that generally line up with the different cultures that have inhabited the land. Wales is no exception to this.
In Wales, we have several layers:
Pre-Celtic
When a new language inhabits an area, it often destroys a lot of the older names for places, but not always. Sometimes elements of the older language is preserved in place-names.
The Celtic languages, were not the first languages to come to this island. Many of these languages are lost to prehistory, but potential elements still survive. Before Proto-Celtic arrived on the island of Britain, there was already one or more languages flourishing here.
A good example of this is gwy meaning waters, river or sea. This turns up in place names such as Conwy, Menai and Deganwy. Even way in Medway in Essex is from this root!
Brythonic
Brythonic is where the majority of place names in Wales come from. This language is the ancestor language to Welsh, Cornish and Breton, and was spoken across all of Britain before the Roman invasion. These ancient place names have often been modernised over time to be congruent with Modern Welsh. Most place-names in Wales are from this root, so listing them all would be too extensive, but here's some common roots in place names from this language.
Llan - Parish, Land (Usually of someone or something)
Bryn - Hill
Ynys - Island
Afon - River
Aber - River mouth
Latin
The Roman conquest of Britain (Britain, the name of the island being from Brythonic, the ancestor to Welsh - Prydain) brought a lot of changes to the island. They brought a lot of technologies and concepts to the Brythonic peoples of Britain, especially about religion and war, which makes sense as the Romans brought modern (for then!) war to Britain, and also ultimately the Christian religion. In fact, the ancestors to the Welsh, the Brythons, were Christians before the Saxons were, and this shows in our place names as a lot of our towns and villages are named after the saints who brought Christianity there during the gradual collapse of Roman rule in Britain.
Even today, about 16% of Welsh is from Latin roots, including common words such as Eisiau (To want - from Exiguus) and Rhaid (To have to do something - from
ratiō)
In place names, common Latin elements are:
Eglwys - Church, from Ecclēsia. Like in the town Eglwysbach - Little Church
Capel - Chapel, from Cappella. Like in the town Capel Curig - Curig's Chapel
Llion - Legions, from legiōnis. Like in Caerllion, near Newport
Old English
Here Old English is the language spoken by the ancestors of part of the English people, who brought their language with them when they came across from mainland Europe when the Roman empire collapsed. This language is quite different from Modern English
Betws - A prayer house, from Bedhūs,'bead house'. Like in Betws-y-coed, Prayer house of the woods.
Bod - Abode, from ābād. Like in Bodelwyddan, the abode of Elwyddan.
Llwydiarth - Floodgate, from
In the East of Wales, where the borders between Wales and England changed regularly, sometimes the names of whole villages like Prestatyn and Gwesbyr are originally from Old English, but have been preserved from changes in pronunciation between Old English and Modern English. If these villages weren't in Wales, they would now be Preston and Westbury.
Old Norse
Though the Vikings did not stay in Wales as long as in England (Rhodri the great drove them out in his reign), they did stay long enough to leave behind some names. These names are usually the English names for places, as the local Welsh already had names for these places.
Examples are:
Priestholm - Puffin Island, literally "Priest's Home"
Swansea - from Sveynsey - 'Sveyn's inlet'
Fishguard - from Fiskigarðr - 'Fish enclosure'
Anglesey - from Ǫnglisey - 'Ǫngli's island'
Orme - From orm - a sea serpent.
Norman French
The Normans had a long and rather cruel history in Wales. They were often used as marcher lords in Wales, lords of the border areas between England and Wales, with free reign to expand their land at the expense of the Welsh. As such, most of the Norman names in Wales are along the border, or in Pembrokeshire, which was settled by a mix of Normans and Flemish people.
Examples of this are
Sanclêr - A Norman pronunciation of Saint Clear's
Biwmares - From Beau Maris - Fair Marsh. Interestingly, Welsh's more phonetic writing system has preserved the Norman French pronunciation, over modern French.
Mold - From 'mont hault' - High hill.
Conclusion
If this article about the layers of placenames in Wales has interested you, why not book a walking tour with us? A key component of our tours is explaining place names, giving you a deeper understanding and connection with the land as well as the culture of Wales.
Book below!
Related Posts
