Category: News

THE DERIVATION AND MEANING OF PLACE-NAMES

LLWYNELIDDON / ST LYTHANS

The Welsh name is made up of two elements – ‘llwyn’ and ‘Eliddon’. ‘Llwyn’ is the Welsh word for ‘grove’ or ‘copse’ and the second element ‘Eliddon’’ is the name of the saint to whom an earlier church was dedicated. So ‘Llwyneliddon’ literally means ‘the grove of Eliddon’. There are examples in some manuscripts of the name being recorded as ‘Llaneliddon’(Church of Eliddon) – but there is no concrete evidence that ‘llwyn’ was mistakenly written for ‘llan’.

The English name ‘St Lythan’s’ is merely the Anglicised form of the name, Sant Eliddon.

But the present church in the village is not dedicated to St Eliddon, of whom very little is known, but to St Bleddian (or Bleiddian) – again of whom very little is known. At one time, the village was known as Llanfleddian Fach (The church of Bleddian) – the adjective ‘fach’ (minor) being added to differentiate it from Llanfleddian Fawr (Major) – which, as you know is situated near Cowbridge – nowadays spelt Llanblethian.

TWYNYRODYN The name comprises three ele-ments – ‘Twyn’, ‘yr’ and ‘Odyn’. ‘Twyn’ is a common Welsh noun meaning ‘knoll’ or ‘hill’ and ‘odyn’ means ‘limekiln’. Between these two nouns we have the definite article ‘yr’, which normally translates as ‘the’. But when it stands between two nouns, it conveys ‘of the’. So, ‘Twynyrodyn’ trans-lates as ‘Hill of the limekiln’. There is an area of the same name at Lavernock and at Merthyr Tudful.

LLANCARFAN The name consists of two elements – ‘Llan’- which you now know means ‘church’ – and ‘Carfan’, which is the name of the nearby stream or brook. There is no certainty about the meaning of ‘carfan’. It could be a personal name – or it could mean ‘ridge’ – referring to a boundary of some kind. An earlier form of the place-name was Nant Carfan – ‘nant’ meaning ‘stream’ or ‘valley of the stream’.

TRESIMWN / BONVILSTON Both the Welsh and English names of this village are based on the name of the Norman family which settled in the area in the 12th Century. The village is probably named after Simon de Bonville.

The Welsh name, ‘Tresimwn’ is made up of the pre-fix ‘Tre’, which you now know means ‘homestead’ of ‘settlement’ – followed by the Christian name Simwn.

On the other hand, the English name ‘Bonvilston’ uses another part of the family name, ‘Bonvil’ followed by the suffix ‘ton’, again meaning ‘farmstead’ or ‘settlement’.

ABERDDAWAN / ABERTHAW Again, we see that there are two elements in the Welsh name ‘Aberddawan’ – ‘aber’, meaning ‘estuary’ in this instance followed by the name of the river – ‘Ddawan’. Historic manuscripts show that the original name of the river was ‘Naddawan’ – but the un-Stressed first syllable was lost, to give us ‘Ddawan’ today. I have mentioned previously that river names are among the oldest examples of all languages – and this is true in this case. The meaning of ‘Ddawan’ or originally ‘Naddawan’ is uncertain – unless it is based on the Welsh verb ‘naddu’, which means ‘to cut’ or ‘to hew’ or ‘to whittle’. This could then describe the river cutting through the land-scape. But this is all surmising.

The English name, ‘Aberthaw’ is the Anglicisation of the name ‘Ddawan’ – the unstressed final syllable having disappeared – leaving us with ‘Thaw’ as the name of the river.

TREBEFERED / BOVERTON You’ll notice that we have the now familiar elements ‘Tre / -ton’ – meaning ‘farmstead’ or ‘settlement’ – in the Welsh and English names. This leaves us with ‘Befered’ in Welsh and ‘Bover’ in English. These are derived from the name of someone named Bouvier – but nothing is known of a person of that name.

Next month – Some Cardiff suburbs.

Ann M. Jones

‘AULD LANG SYNE’ AND A WARM WELCOME TO 2023

With the worst of the pandemic seemingly behind us, this year’s New Year celebrations were likely to have had a welcome and more traditional feel about them. Many of us will have planned to enjoy parties and join in the traditional singing of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. A good time perhaps, to remind ourselves about its surprisingly interesting history and influence around the world.

The story starts in Scotland with the poet Robert Burns (right) . He is credited with adapting and partially rewriting an old Scots -language poem or folk song in 1788. That year Burns sent a copy of the original song to the Scots Musical Museum with the remark, ‘The following song, an old song, of the olden times, and which has never been in print, nor even in manuscript until I took it down from an old man.’ In 1799, it was set to a traditional tune, which is basically the one we are familiar with today.

One interesting story about Auld Lang Syne involves Queen Elizabeth II. At Hogmanay in Scotland, it is common practice that everyone joins hands with the person next to them to form a great circle around the dance floor. At the beginning of the last verse (And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!/and gie’s a hand o’ thine!), everyone crosses their arms across their breast, so that the right hand reaches out to the neighbour on the left and vice versa. Outside Scotland the hands are often crossed from the beginning of the song, at variance with Scottish custom. The Scottish practice was demonstrated by Queen Elizabeth II at the Millennium Dome celebrations for the year 2000. Some press outlets berated her for not ‘properly’ crossing her arms, unaware that she was correctly following the Scottish tradition.

In Scotland, it is often sung at the end of a cèilidh, a dance, and at weddings. At weddings, it is performed in the same way as at New Year, but the bride and groom are often lifted up in the centre of the circle. The tune is also played, and sung by the crowd, in the final stages of the annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo. In Great Britain, it is sung at the end of the Last Night of the Proms and played at the close of the annual Congress (conference) of the Trades Union Congress. The song is also played at the Passing Out Parade of Young Officers in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force as well as at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, for young officers joining the British Army. It also has a similar role in countries who are members or former members of the Commonwealth of Nations including Canada, India, Pakistan, Singapore and Bangladesh.

In fact it is also widely known and popularly sung in many countries, especially English speaking ones. The song is widely used by the international Scout Movement, at the closing of jamborees and other occasions. In the Netherlands, the melody is used as the Dutch football song “Wij houden van Oranje” (“We Love Orange”), performed by André Hazes. In Thailand the lyrics have been adapted as a patriotic song about the King and national unity, although many Thais are not aware of the song’s Western origin. Most surprisingly perhaps, before 1972, Auld Lang Syne was even the tune for the national anthem of the Maldives and using the current words!