2022 Day 272

2022 Dedh Dew Cans Trei Ügens ha Dewdhek

De Yow, nawhes warn ügens mis Gwedngala

Thursday, 29th September 

We can argue that place names helped to preserve the Cornish language. Even when the Cornish language was described by UNESCO as “extinct”, it was still going strong in place names.

Here are words for “field” used in place names.

GWEL means an open field.

In historic place names it was gweal, gweale, gwel, gul, gold or gal

PARK means field or enclosure. In normal usage it can be the same as an English park.

In place names it may be park or parc

LEYN means a strip field or stitch of land - a throwback to an earlier system of agriculture.

In place names it may be leen, lin, lane or lene

Here are some examples of GWEL names (names in blue are the equivalents written in the Standard Written Form)

(Map references will help you find them on a Ordnance Survey map)

Gwealavellan Gwel an Velyn (SW5941) = the mill field

(Gweal-la-vellan in 1736)

Gwealmellin Gwel Melyn (SW7428) = mill field

Gwealdues Gwel Du (SW6628) = dark/black field

(Gweale due in 1691)

The gweal element does not always come first, e.g.

Chyangweal Chy an Gwel (SW5238) = house at the open field

Sometimes the gweal element has been dropped, e.g.

Comprigney Gwel Cloghprennyer (SW8145) = gallows field

(Gwele Cloke-prynnyer in 1597)

There is a place on Scilly called “Gweal” but that has a different origin and meaning.

Gweal Gwedhyel (SV8615) = place of trees

(Gwithiall Iland in 1652) - may refer to a pre-submergence era, as it is now a coastal inlet.