Month: July 2022

THE MEANING AND DERIVATION OF PLACE-NAMES

Many people are fascinated by the meaning and derivation of place-names – so we’ll look at the names that are local to us in this area – before moving on to look at some further afield. The obvious place to start is at our feet – here in Wenvoe. But as you’ll see, that is not as easy as it sounds.

The first part is easy enough. The name ‘Wenvoe’ is the Anglicized form of the Welsh name ‘Gwenfô’. But when we come to attempting to explain the meaning and derivation of this name, scholars have classed it as ‘obscure’. So this is a great start to our series!

The earliest documented forms of the Welsh name go back to the twelfth Century but there isn’t enough evidence to state categorically what the original meaning was. And although the first syllable -‘Gwen-‘ could well mean ‘fair’ – or could be said to be very similar to the word ‘gwaun’ (meaning ‘moorland’) – with the second element -fa- meaning ‘place’ – these interpretations can only be guesswork – and guesswork is a big no-no in the field of place-names!

Many people have asked me why the Welsh name of the village sometimes appears as Gwenfô and at other times as Wenfô. Those of you are Welsh speakers or learners will be familiar with a feature of the Welsh language known as a Mutation. A Mutation is a change in the initial consonant of a word – depending on what word precedes it. Nine consonants can soften (Soft Mutation or Lenition), six of those consonants could also become nasalifed (Nasal Mutation) and three of them could become aspirated (Aspirate Mutation). This is the bane of learners’ lives, but really, it is only the polish on the language – and not mutating a word in a sentence doesn’t usually alter the meaning of that sentence. The consonant ‘g’ is one of the nine that can undergo a Soft Mutation – and the way it does so is by dropping off completely! We see this happening on road signs which translate as ‘Welcome to Wenvoe’ – ‘Croeso i Wenfô’. The preposition ‘i’ (to) causes ‘Gwenfô’ to mutate – ‘i Wenfô’.

Next month – Bro Morgannwg / Vale of Glamorgan

 OUR LINKS TO UKRAINE MAY BE CLOSER THAN YOU THINK

It may come as a surprise to many that the city of Donetsk owed its foundation, and in large part its development, to a Welsh businessman, John Hughes from Merthyr Tydfil. The Welsh link was so strong that the city was originally named Hughesovska or Yuzovka, before being renamed Stalino and now Donetsk. Its original streets were even laid out on the same pattern as Merthyr.

Donetsk today is the fifth biggest city in the Ukraine with over a million inhabitants. It has a turbulent recent history. Seized by pro Russian separatist forces in 2014, the city has of course, been a key battleground in recent years and especially so during the current conflict in the Donbas region in the east of the country. Welsh sympathies with Ukraine have been strong in recent times. Ukrainian fans spoke warmly of their welcome and messages of support when they visited Cardiff for the World Cup play off a few weeks ago and many Welsh people, including some in our own village, have stepped up during calls for taking in Ukrainians displaced from their homes.

Perhaps it is not surprising that the Welsh have a particular empathy with people from the Donbas region, especially Donetsk. The Donbas, like South Wales, was founded on heavy industry and Welsh expertise and hard work was at the centre of its development. In the 19th century the Donbas was part of Tsarist Russia. John Hughes, a Cyfarthfa-born industrialist, was in his mid 50s when he came to the notice of the Tsarist Russian government, under Emperor Alexander II. He had built his own foundry in Newport but made his name in developing armour plating for ships. The Tsar wanted his expertise for a naval fortress on the Baltic. It led to an opportunity for Hughes to develop his own works in Russia, which would include a factory for forging railway lines.

Hughes formed the ‘New Russia Company Ltd.’ to raise capital and at the age of 55, he moved to Russia. He sailed with eight ships, carrying not only all the equipment necessary to establish a metal works, but also much of the skilled labour needed. This group of about a hundred ironworkers and miners came overwhelmingly from South Wales. Hughes naturally turned to Welsh workers, who he knew possessed the skills and work ethic required for his daring industrial adventure.

Hughes started by building metal works close to the river Kalmius, at a site near the village of Alexandrovka. During the 1870s, collieries and iron ore mines were sunk, and brickworks and other facilities established to make the isolated works a self-sufficient industrial complex. It was all held under the title ‘Novorussian Society for Coal, Iron and Rails production.’ By the end of the nineteenth century, the works were the largest in the Russian Empire, producing 74% of Russian iron in 1913.

The Welsh workers and their families, despite the cold winters, hot summers and occasional cholera epidemics, settled in Hughesovska and stayed for decades. It was the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 which ended the Hughes family’s connection to the works. The Hughes brothers and almost all their foreign employees returned to Britain. The works were nationalised by the Bolsheviks in 1919 and the town of Hughesovka was renamed “Stalino” in 1924, and then the present name “Donetsk” in 1961. The works survived and prospered despite regime and socio-economic change. We can only hope that this great city will one day be able to return to peace and prosperity