Table Of Content€.\
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BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME
FROM THE
SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND
THE GIFT OF
Henrg W. Sage
1891
Cornell University Library
DA 734.M84 1912
Place-names of Wales.
3 1924 028 086 621
Cornell University
Library
The original of tliis book is in
the Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028086621
:
THE
PLACE-NAMES
OF
WALES.
By THOS. MORGAN
(Skewen).
SECOND AND REVISED EDITION.
"Happy is he who knows the origin of things."
NEWPORT, MON.
John E. Southall, 149, Dock Street.
1912
S
PREFACE TO THE REVISED AND SECOND
EDITION.
The first edition of this work was pubhshed in 1887,
and was sold out in a very short time. Orders were
continually sent for copies, but none could be found in
the market. Eventually, J. E, Southall, Newport, who
has taken deep interest in Welsh literature, wrote to
ask the author for permission to publish a second edition
of it. Arrangements were made to revise the work care-
fully and to bring it up to date. The omission of Mon-
mouthshire Place-Names is due to the following fact
:
Theauthorwon a i^io : los. prize in the NewportNational
Eisteddfod, 1897, for "A Dictionary of Welsh Names
ofPlacesandRiversin Monmouthshire,'' anditisintended
to publish a separate edition of this in due course. The
author gratefully acknowledges the service rendered by
S. J. Evans, Esq., M. A., Llangefni, in revising this work.
His suggestions were useful and destined to enhance the
value of the work.
In conclusion, the author repeats what he said in the
first edition : " In writing'upon a subject so full of intri-
cacies and difficulties the author is far from satisfied with
his etymological attempts in many instances."
MORGAN.
T.
January, loth, igi2.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Introduction ... ... ... -. ... •• i
Prefixes and Suffixes ... ... ... ... 12
Wales and Sub-Divisions 41
Anglesey ... ... ... ... ... ... 45
Breconshire ... ... ... ... ... ... C)i
Cardiganshire So
Carmarthenshire ... ... ... ... ... 98
Carnarvonshire ... ... ... ... ... 118
Denbighshire ... ... ... ... ... ... 136
Fhntshire ... ... ... ... ... ... i^q-
Glamorganshire ... ... ... ... ... i6r
Merioneth 213.
Montgomeryshire ... ... ... ... ... 224
Pembrokeshire 235
Radnorshire ... ... ... ... ... ... 255
PLAGE-NAMES WALES
IN
INTRODUCTION.
IT is surprising that a subject so deeply interesting,
and so full of historical value, should not have
induced some competent Welsh scholar to explore
every possible field of research, and give the results of
his etymological investigations to the public in a perma-
nent form.
Welsh nomenclature has not had the attention it
deserves. This interesting field has been sadly neglected.
Very fewhave made it the ambition of theirlife to enter
therein, and glean every possible information necessary
to throw light upon our Welsh place-names. The
renowned Lewis Morris was deeply engrossed in this
branch of literature, and the publication of his Celtic
Remains would,, assuredly, be an invaluable boon to
Welsh literati. lago Emlyn's Essay which gained the
prize at Carmarthen Eisteddfod, September, 1867, is
eminently 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 seen the
light of day..
PLACE-NAMES IN WALES.
With the exception of the above-mentioned essay
our national institution has done but very little to fill
this gap in Welsh literature. Worthy attempts have
been made by some Welsh topographists to clear up the
etymology of a moiety of our place-names. Others have
endeavoured to explain their origin and meaning, but
owing to their imperfect acquaintance with the ver-
nacular, many of their attempts have been futile and
unsatisfactory as Caermarthen, the county of Merlin,
:
a Welsh enchanter; Denbigh, a dwelling in the vale;
Pembroke, the hUl over the brook; Douglas is given to
mean black-water; Pontypridd, bridge of beauty; Tyr
Escop, Bishop's tower; Llanfawr, the church of four
saints, &c., &c. We might quote a large number of
similar misleading explanations of Welsh words and
names that are foundin English books written evidently
by other than Welsh^etymologists. The attempts made
by Englishmen and others ignorant of the language of
dearVold Cambria to explain Celtic names are often
failures and something more. Alt maen, high rock, in
the Lake district has been transformed into the Old
Man of Coniston; Bryn Huel or Hual, hilloi shackles, is
now spelt Brown Willy, a Cornish ridge, and Pensant
has been designated Penzance.
Tourists' Guides to Wales may be quite safe and
trustworthy in their geographical information, but the
majority of them are woefully misleading in their
et5miological peregrinations. Some of their derivations
really deserve to be remitted to the cabinet of philo-
