THE DERIVATION AND MEANING OF PLACE-NAMES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n HIGHLIGHT<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The English name \u2018Highlight\u2019 first appears on maps in the 16th Century – during the reign of Elizabeth 1st – as the name of a farm. Before that time, the name was Welsh – \u2018Uchelolau\u2019. The name \u2018Highlight\u2019 was obviously an attempt at translating the Welsh name – but unfortunately, it was erroneously translated – although this incorrect version was adopted and has been used down the centuries to this day. BRYNHILL<\/strong><\/span> There are plenty of examples of this phenomenon in all parts of the world and I\u2019m sure many will\u00a0surprise you – Lake Tahoe (Lake Lake), Sahara Desert (Desert Desert), Mississippi River (Big river River), Faroe Islands (Sheep islands Islands), East Timor (East East), The Rock of Gibraltar (The Rock of the Rock of Tariq) and many more.<\/p>\n Next month – Merthyr Dyfan, Holton, Buttrills, Tregatwg\/Cadoxton. M\u00f4r Hafren\/Severn Estuary.<\/p>\n Ann M. Jones<\/p>\n <\/p>\n THE DERIVATION AND MEANING OF PLACE-NAMES HIGHLIGHT The English name \u2018Highlight\u2019 first appears on maps in the 16th Century – during the reign of Elizabeth 1st – as the name of a farm. Before that time, the name was Welsh – \u2018Uchelolau\u2019. The name \u2018Highlight\u2019 was obviously an attempt at translating the Welsh name – but unfortunately, it was erroneously […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[334,228],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3ds","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11844,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=11844","url_meta":{"origin":12366,"position":0},"title":"The Meaning And Derivation Of Place-Names","author":"Alan Williams","date":"7th July 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"THE MEANING AND DERIVATION OF PLACE-NAMES Many people are fascinated by the meaning and derivation of place-names - so we\u2019ll 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12644,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12644","url_meta":{"origin":12366,"position":1},"title":"Place-Names Derivation – Fawr \/ Llantwit Major","author":"Alan Williams","date":"9th December 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"THE DERIVATION AND MEANING OF PLACE-NAMES LLANILLTUD FAWR \/ LLANTWIT MAJOR The name Llanilltud is made up of two elements - \u2018llan\u2019 and \u2018Illtud\u2019 (\u2018Illtyd\u2019). The first element is an old Celtic word, which I will discuss in detail at a later date. Suffice to say at this stage that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12750,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12750","url_meta":{"origin":12366,"position":2},"title":"Place-Names Derivation – Llwyneliddon \/ St Lythans","author":"Alan Williams","date":"5th January 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"THE DERIVATION AND MEANING OF PLACE-NAMES LLWYNELIDDON \/ ST LYTHANS The Welsh name is made up of two elements - \u2018llwyn\u2019 and \u2018Eliddon\u2019. \u2018Llwyn\u2019 is the Welsh word for \u2018grove\u2019 or \u2018copse\u2019 and the second element \u2018Eliddon\u2019\u2019 is the name of the saint to whom an earlier church was dedicated.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readers Articles of Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Readers Articles of Interest","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=228"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12857,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12857","url_meta":{"origin":12366,"position":3},"title":"Place-Names Derivation – LLAN","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st February 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"THE DERIVATION AND MEANING OF PLACE-NAMES We\u2019ll now look at some common elements in Welsh Place-names. LLAN The most common element by far in Welsh place-names is the word \u2018llan\u2019. If you were to look at a book of place-names, you would see that there are over 400 places in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12140,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12140","url_meta":{"origin":12366,"position":4},"title":"Place Name History -Y BARRI","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st August 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"3. THE MEANING AND DERIVATION OF PLACE-NAMES Y BARRI \/ BARRY We know that the name Barri was in existence before the Twelfth Century because the de Barri family, the family of the well-known historian and Archdeacon of Brecon, Gerallt Gymro - Giraldus Cambrensis, Gerald the Welshman - who was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12022,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12022","url_meta":{"origin":12366,"position":5},"title":"Place Name History -BRO MORGANNWG","author":"Alan Williams","date":"4th August 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"THE MEANING AND DERIVATION OF PLACE-NAMES BRO MORGANNWG - VALE OF GLAMORGAN There are two patterns in English which convey a Welsh place-name such as Bro Morgannwg - namely \u2018Vale of Glamorgan\u2019 and \u2018Glamorgan Vale\u2019 (cf Ogmore Vale, Ebbw Vale, Merthyr Vale etc). This second pattern is the exact equivalent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12366"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12366"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12367,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12366\/revisions\/12367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n
\nThe original Welsh name – Uchelolau – is made up of two elements – \u2018uchel\u2019 and \u2018olau\u2019. \u2018Uchel\u2019 is an adjective – still used today – which means \u2018high\u2019 – so that part of the Elizabethan translation was perfectly correct. The problem lies with the second element. There is a Welsh word \u2018(g)olau\u2019 which means \u2018light\u2019 – and this is what was used in the translation to give us \u2018Highlight\u2019.
\nBUT, \u2018olau\u2019 also has another meaning (just as \u2018bark\u2019, for example, has more than one meaning in English). \u2018Olau\u2019, at one time, was used as the plural form of \u2018\u00f4l\u2019 which means \u2018mark\/ footstep\/ track\u2019. (Today we use \u2018olion\u2019 as the plural of \u2018\u00f4l\u2019). So \u2018uchel\u2019 + \u2018olau\u2019 correctly translates as something like \u2018high track\u2019.
\nI think \u2018Ridgeway\u2019 would be a more correct translation of \u2018Uchelolau\u2019.<\/p>\n
\n
\nThis is obviously an example of a bi-lingual name – made up of two elements with the same meaning – \u2018bryn\u2019 and \u2018hill\u2019 – a perfect example of tautology!
\nThis phenomenon can be seen in place-names which are centuries old. The name Chetwood in England is made up of two elements – \u2018chet\u2019 from the Celtic\/Brythonic word \u2018kaito\u2019 (which has given us \u2018coed\u2019, meaning \u2018wood\u2019 in Welsh) and the English word \u2018wood\u2019.
\nThen we have Bryndown near Dinas Powys – \u2018bryn\u2019 – the Welsh word for \u2018hill\u2019 followed by \u2018down\u2019 meaning \u2018hill\u2019 of course – as in The Downs at the top of The Tumble – and Gibbonsdown, meaning Gibbon\u2019s hill.
\nAnother obvious example is the River Avon. \u2018Afon\u2019 is the Welsh – or old Brythonic – word meaning \u2018river\u2019.
\nBredon Hill in Worcestershire is an example of triple tautology. It is made up of three elements, all with the same meaning – \u2018bre\u2019 from the Brythonic or Celtic word \u2018bryn\u2019 meaning \u2018hill\u2019 – \u2018don\u2019 from the Old English word \u2018dun\u2019 again meaning \u2018hill\u2019 – followed by the word \u2018hill\u2019 itself!
\nBut Torpenhow Hill in Cumbria takes the biscuit! It is made up of four elements – all meaning \u2018hill\u2019. \u2018Tor\u2019 is from Old English, \u2018pen\u2019 is from Brythonic and \u2018how\u2019 is from Old Norse. Then the word \u2018Hill\u2019 is added for good measure!<\/p>\n
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