Great program. Sutton Hoo was given an Anglo Saxon narrative before a spade had hit the ground. However, given that the resistance and survival of the language went on for centuries. My personal opinion is that the mounds are ancient British. The establishment historian's never consider this position, and are therefore not doing their jobs properly. Everything in England is labelled Saxon and the evidence is then shoe horned to fit this narrative. The fact that the Britons were here for millennia is ignored and I find this strange. Great content as usual.
Indeed Andrew - there is substantial evidence that it’s British. From the Musical instruments, to the language found on Spoons and weapons. Let alone the Ship Bolts that helped them find the site. it’s Utter madness how it gets labelled Saxon.
I just don't buy into the standard Anglo-Saxon England narrative at all. Modern DNA shows us that the Britons didn't leave (forcibly), they stayed but had to adapt to a new Germanic ruling class. The language was pushed out, the rulers and leaders were pushed out, but largely, the people were not. The Saxons didn't become the population of England, only a small part of it. And, those Saxons intermarried with Britons, and the cultural interchange went both ways. So, watching this video from Wycombe, in the Chilterns, I'm kind of thrilled to see so many place names around here showing this far more interesting history, and Brythonic heritage.
Well, iirc at least some of the material culture found in Sutton Hoo is identical to contemporary findings in Scandinavia so I don't think the theory came out of nothing.
Interesting about place names including ‘pont’. As I learnt French before starting to learn Cymraeg, I assumed pont was adopted from Normans but I now know the Latin is ‘pontis’ so this goes back further. This channel keeps giving. Great brain stimulation Ben. Diolch am eich geaith chi. Mae’n ddiddorel iawn bob amser.
Mind-blowing. You crack the code that unlocks the meaning of so much for me. It's astounding. I spent so much time in the Chilterns for example. I live in Wales these days. Diolch yn fawr!
I remember looking at a book belonging to a friend called "Britain in the Dark Ages" and I was fascinated by the maps of Britain where all the place names were recognisably Welsh, or so it seemed to me. That was 35 years ago and I have been looking for that book ever since. I found a book with that name through our local library service but it was a different. My friend passed away shortly after I saw it. So this presentation for me was wonderful. I have a friend living in Bodmin. I wonder if that would be Bod Maen or a stone dwelling. Thanks for a great video.
This makes an awful lot of sense. Best bit of accessible research on the Dark Ages since Michael Wood's "In Search of" programmes on the BBC in the seventies.
@@BenLlywelyn My father's family is from Lindsey (Llyn Du) in Lincolnshire. What about the cluster of names (Stenigot, Cadwell Park, Cawkwell, and Oxcombe) in the Lincolnshire Wolds? Wiki has Stenigot down as being Anglo Saxon in origin but the 'I' sounds a bit like the Welsh 'Y'. All the other surrounding names look very Scandinavian but these four look different.
Love your videos, Ben. Something close to me - can you produce a short piece on Aliotus of Elmet? I'm a Yorkshireman but very concise of our roots in Elmet, demonstrated by the Aliotus Stone discovered in Llanaelhaearn in Gwynedd. I believe Elmet existed as a constituent part of Hen Oglydd for some time.
Elmed (or Elfed) lasted longer than other surrounding kingdoms and has left an imprint upon the area around Leeds to this day. A video on the kingdom would be good. After my current history series it would need to be. Thank you!
Thanks for the videos Ben, they have helped me to understand an ancestorial and local history query. My father was a farmer in the Lincolnshire Fens, and due to my unusual surname I have been able to trace my agricultural ancestors back to 1325, all along the Fen Edge (broadly along the Roman north road from Bourne then east to the top of the Wash). The Lincolnshire archives has numerous records of these ancestors, two of which are of particular interest: Deedpoll of feoffment George Gromet, yeoman, of Aby to Montague Lord Bertie. Property: a waste messuage and a croft in a place called Walegate in Edenham, butting south on the highway next the cross. Consideration: £10 16 May 1639 and: Notification of a grant Thomas Gromytt of Edenham to William Gromytt of Lamlay. property: 2 acres and 1 rod in Edenham fields: 1 acre in the north field, called Walysacre ½ acre in the west field on stetland ½ acre in 3 selions on stotland. 1 rod next pasterbryge, the common way north. 25 July 1475 Now, if the 'gate' in Walegate is from Nordic/Scandanavian origin it suggests that the 'Viking' settlers also recognised the Romano-British, and seems to suggest acceptance. and that they were still 'separate' or different. I also assume that 'Walysacre' incates that that that part of the field was farmed by Britons. Oh, and the cherry on the cake is that my paternal DNA is Celtic... I would appreciate your thoughts on the above, Thanks
We know that the Kingdom of Lyndsey was British and not Saxon to begin, callrd Llyn Du or like, but asborbed into Mercia after flipping prestige culture to Saxon. We know the Fens still has Welsh speakers quite late, maybe as late as 900, but we cannot know As well as Penwynion (the Penines) which had Welsh speakers well after year 1000. It is also true the Viking incoming was a harsh rupture, removing pre-Saxon traces in areas, so I would guess Welsh was spoken there in the Wolds until the 9th century when the Vikings came (Cadwell Park ans Dovenwell could have soem faint British trace). River Brant sounds Welsh. as do Rivers Lymn, Nene, Trent. So I would guess the last Welsh speakers were (a quick guess) on thr southwest flank of thr Lincoln Wolds.
There is a RUclips channel called 'Cambrian Chronicles'. In several episodes they explain the evidence showing that Welsh was still spoken by a fair number of people right up to Norman times in England, even in the east.
I don't remember where (I watch too many RUclips videos), but I've seen claims that Gaulish was still spoken in isolated parts of Auvergne until the middle ages.
Though it would require some significant research on my end, your idea fits very well into my channel and after I move house, I will see what I can do for you.
There's a great book called the Welsh place-names of Scotland. Unfortunately I have lost it so can't tell you the publisher or author. Ben's programmes are fascinating !
Diolch. You have put a HUGE amount of work into this. I really appreciate it. I'd like your opinion on this: Whitchurch (Herefordshire) I think was originally named something like Lanfenynantgwynnog (I don't speak Welsh, so that's cobbled together with Google Translate) - "On the bank of the marsh of the clearish brook". It is recorded as: Lann Tuinauc 1045-1104 (c1130) Landeuenok 1334 Landonenok 1436 - but also as Fendenerac 1277 I conflated the two to reconstruct a putative original because the village is at the shore of the fen. The two toponyms accurately describe different parts of the modern parish. Coplestone-Crow thinks the T to be hypochoristic, but the village had a brook running through which drained the fen below. This was recently discovered to have been named The White Brook in the 17th Century. So I think the T is a remnant of nant... Nant Gwynnog, whitish (clearish or blessed) brook (white and pure being synonymous). C-C thinks that Tywynnog was St Gwynnog, as in Llanwonog in Clodock, but I think -church in Whitchurch is a mistranslation of lan, because locally llan and lan seen to have been pronounced the same way. The mistranslation was actually into Latin, and later translated from Latin to English: Albi Monasterii 1148-63 Albo Monasterio 1281 Album Monasterium 1313 Whytechirche 1320 Whitchirch 1325 Wytechurche 1346 Whit Church 1535. Besides, the first recorded dedication is to St Tiburcius 1325. This is Dyffrig, today St. Dubricius - mentioned by Geoffrey of Monmouth and in Lives of the Celtic Saints. A late dedication to a Celtic saint in England seems improbable, so I do not think it ever had been Gwynnog's. Fendenerac stretches from the village to the Wye (Gwy), and is bounded by The White Brook and the River Garron (also Brythonic). Source: Bruce Coplestone-Crow "Herefordshire Place-names" Logaston Press 2009, quoting many primary sources. It's a rich hunting-ground for you, is Ergyng.
That area was very active for early Welsh and Llyfr Llandaf (An early text which wrote down histories to make territorial claims for Llandaf) would be a place to look. But I do wonder of Dobunni, an early British tribal name, is in their somewhere and changed over time.
@@BenLlywelyn Thanks. The first name on the list is from LL. Fendenerac is only in Registrum Thome di Cantilupo, Episcopi Herefordensis. It looks almost like Cornish mixed with Norman French, but -denerac and Tiuinauc are obviously cognate. Beware of false friends, eh? Who these people were is a big mystery: Ergyng seem to have been south of Pengwern, which was occupied by Mercians, then the Anglian Western Hecani. They became known as the Westerna, and those in what was to be Herefordshire eventually as the Magonsaetan - a name which they may have borrowed from the people of Ergying, which was south of Hereford. However, according to genetic mapping published about five years ago, the locals of South Herefordshire (formerly Ergyng) carried genetic markers which distinguish them from all other Welsh and all other English people, so they are a mystery. They were once important enough to get special recognition - the Bishop of Hereford was originally titled "Bishop of Hereford and Erging". Welsh was spoken in the hill farms of the area until Henry VIII. So... who are they, really?
Morcombe - Mor cwm - sea valley. In Shropshire an area 'the Big Mynd'. London (Pool Black) has same etymological origins as Dublin - Black Pool. In Cymraeg it would be Llyn Du. Aberdeen. Ben Nevis. River Avon, as Afon means river. I follow geneticist David Reich on YT and his DNA research on different waves to these islands - 6000BC & 4000BC but no mention of Anglo Saxon influx of 500AD. Cornwall & Brittany. I imagined the origin of Cadwallader as Cydwladwr - Compatriot.
@@BenLlywelyn Abingdon on Thames. It’s meaning is defined as Abbes Hill even though it’s flat. However I think it is Brythonicans was originally Aber - din/dyn, and means something like the settlement/defended place at the confluence of waters. The site was originally an Oppidum, and the river Ock merges with the Thames in the heart of the town.
@@ramonachiaburu7640 The River Ock appears to be from Old Welsh Eog (salmon). Aber would normally shapee onto the smaller river Abereog. But There is no form or land to suggest a fortress like Din. But there are two islands Aber Dwy Ynys (estuary of two islands), perhaps? It is old, but I cannot say how old.
@@BenLlywelyn hi Ben. Thanks for your reply, I hadn’t considered the possibility of the confluence describing the movement of water in relation to islands. For clarification, may I ask which two you are thinking of as they’re a few in close proximity? It will be handy to know as I explore this option. I think they’re is a case for the Din/Dun theory which I will explain in full shortly, for now may I ask one more question? When you say there is not the land for a din like fortress, what do you mean specifically? Thank you 😊.
Penrith, Helvellyn, Pen y Ghent, Cumberland, plus loads of Welsh names in the south of Scotland, such as Penpont, Peebles. Loads of p Celtic names in Devon such as Dunchideock, Pennycomequick, (Devon itself Celtic - Dev-nant), but that is more to do with the ancester of Cornish.
Ben, can you please dedicate a video specifically to the survival of Welsh culture and language in Ludlow, Clun, Caus, Wigmore, Huntington and Ewyas! x diolch yn fawr
Another 'angle' (pun intended) is that there wasn't a huge incoming wave of Germanic-speaking people but rather a gradual switch over to the Germanic speech by the natives. The new language was the vehicle for a new culture. Why? I suspect the Germanic culture might have had a less hierarchical nature, or at least was a way for the natives to improve their standing in society in some way. Bryn doesn't spread across the UK only but rather is also found elsewhere. Brno in the Czech Republic for example.
I suspect that in the very early days when the Romano-British were hiring Anglo-Saxon mercenaries, they probably communicated with each other in Latin, so the Anglo-Saxons never had any reason to learn Brythonic. It was probably a very different situation when the Vikings took over Normandy.The Old French spoken at the time was probably regarded by the Vikings as a form of "modern" informal Latin, so they learned to speak it. Latin was still the lingua franca of Europe until at least 1500.
There are different places across England calls Wells (or some variant or compound thereof). Of course it might be that there were literally wells there, but this sound odd as there would have been wells everywhere where there was human settlement, so it would not have been a distinguishing feature. Could Wells also indicate that something was Welsh? What about Witshire, which partially overlapped with the Mendips you mention, but also with ancient British monuments such as Avebury. Could the Will of Wiltshire indicate this was Welsh land?
Wilt is from the town name Wilton. This is probably from Willow. But there are Wiltons all over, so different oned could be from different meanings (Well, Willow, Welsh, Wall).
Not so sure about bodle being Welsh. As we know from Tolkien, the word Hobbit is from Anglo Saxon Hol bytla, hole dweller. This would imply the Anglo Saxon word bytla is a cognate of the Welsh byw and that the two would share an etymology, if not be directly loaned. Wiktionary however says that bytla is not dweller but builder. This would still work for place names of course, but it's odd that Tolkien should have played a red herring here unless he was trying to Welshify old English. .
Strictly speaking anything named before the 6th century is Brythonic as "Wales" didn't exist (and neither did "England"). Names like "Chysauster" are clearly neither Welsh nor English. "Wealas" is an Anglo-Saxon exonym probably derived from Proto-West Germanic *walh, from Proto-Germanic *walhaz, so any name derivative of that probably isn't Welsh, although I accept the argument that Britons probably lived there. Without attestations, it's hard to tell whether some of these names are original or more recent translations into Welsh.
It is our responsibility as Welsh people to care for and grow our inheritance, which is the continuation of Welsh from our Brythonic roots. Thanks for taking the time fellow.
A glance at the the English Place-Name Society's two Sussex volumes (CUP 1930) will show that all the etymologies in this video are plainly wrong. Ponts Green is actually connected to a man called Ponte who lived in 1405 (p.479). Bodlestreet Green comes from a surname Bothel, well recorded in the area (p.480). Penhurst cannot come from Celtic penn because the early spellings are always Pene- (p.476). I could go on. Llywelyn makes the common error of trying to deduce etymologies from the modern form of the name. It should of course be done from the earliest recorded forms of the name.
Most of those who have come up with the official etymologies and histories on this island have had such an Anglocentric view they skew many thing in their ignorance of native British cultures to benefit a nostalgic form of English Nationalism, and even often to aggrandisize their own view of Englishness.
@@BenLlywelyn That would not apply to Mawer, Stenton, and Gover who wrote the Sussex volumes. These great scholars were only too keen to seek evidence of Celtic names in mostly English territory. Moreover, they had a deep knowledge of language history. They worked rigorously and proposed theories actually supported by the evidence which they displayed. No-one should propose new theories without first mastering books like this. What they propose are in no sense "official etymologies", just the best available explanation from the surviving evidence. You have to say precisely why they are wrong before arguing that something new is needed. It is unscientific to just say that a name (in its modern form) "looks Celtic". Whether it's Celtic or not depends on a deep analysis of the historical record of the spellings of the name. If you ignore this principle and descend into pseudo-science, you can easily find just as many names which e.g. "look Greek" as those which "look Celtic". (And also, the name of the Downs is Old English dūn 'hill', not Celtic. This is supported by a huge number of parallels all over England.)
By the way, for anyone who wants to look at a properly-done study of potential Celtic place-names in England, the place to go is Coates & Horovitz, Celtic Voices, English Places (Shaun Tyas 2000). There is a map for Sussex on p.389, and the only candidates are Critchfield, Chiltington, Friday's Church, Andredesweald, Lewes, and Firle. Lewes can be removed since the book on that place-name by Forsberg (Uppsala University, 1997) shows it to be English. And even though the authors of CVEP are highly respected, the results are still controversial and not accepted by some Celtic scholars. On the word "tye", there are three books by Karl Bischoff just on this one word (Der Tie 1971, Der Tie II 1972, Nachträge zur Tie 1978) which overwhelming prove it to be Germanic. Definitely no connection to modern Welsh tŷ.
The Pene from Penhurst is given as a name but Pene doesn't appear to be an Anglo-Saxon name. It seems more like the British name Penda which was borne by a Mercian king and appears in a list of men from Northumberland where the name is specified as being British (taken from the wiki page for Penda of Mercia). So even if this is not penn it could well be named for a British person. It could still be referring to penn though with the mistaken meaning of the name occurring early on. It would make it a tautology like Chetwood and the e at the end could be a local pronunciation that made penn sound like pene at a time when most were illiterate. So if you're an Anglo-Saxon scribe, or a Norman one writing down smallholdings for the Doomsday Book how are you to know that the local Penehest should actually be spelt Penhest or Pennhest? We're talking centuries after the British language likely died out in the region. Just to clarify, a hyrst is a mound, presumably noteworthy as a landmark. It could be a small wood, a hillock or even a sandbar but generally a mound with trees. That would make the pen fit in well with the topography. Good point about looking at the older names before trying to decipher a modern place name.
The whole Wales comes from Saxon is an apocryphal etymology, the word wales is actually a Welsh word not Saxon and the Saxon word from which the claim is made that the word Wales derived from actually probably derived from the Welsh word. The word Wales is the soft mutated version of Gwales, so yr wales. Gwales means lands of the Gâl. Gwales = Gwâl + es Es being a Welsh pluralisation suffix. Gwâl means land of the Gâl and is a compound of Gwa + Gâl Gwa means - that is inceptive as to motion or direction, that throws from, that is the base or origin, the ground. Gâl being the Welsh name for the collective of Welsh people and the appellative for the Gâl was Brython. When some of the Gâl migrated south from Britain into continental Europe and spread over centuries, they were who became known as the Galli to the Romans and their lands were known as Gallia but to those “Galli” it would have been Gwales or some form of Gwâl/Wâl. The French would frankify the word to Gaulle which became Gaul in English. To corroborate this we only need look at what other countries call Wales in their native language, for example Pays de Galles - French Pays de Galles - Lingala Pays de Galles - Malagasy País de Gales - Portuguese Gales - Basque Gal·les - Catalan Galles - Corsican Gales - Galician Galles - Italian Țara Galilor - Romanian Gales - Spanish Gal Ülkesi - Turkish Galler - Turkish Gal - Turkish Gales Llaqtapi - Quechua Gales Suyu - Quechua Gales Markanxa - Aymara Gales Jamana Na - Bambara Gales-pe - Guarani Gales - Iloko They all refer to Wales as the land(s)/country of the Gâl and they would not do that if “Wales” wasn’t the origin/motherland of the Gâl, in Welsh Gwa is also used as a prefix to mean a beginning, so Gwal can also mean a beginning/origin of the Gâl. The beauty of the Welsh language is that the seemingly unconnected multiple definitions of a word were meant to be used in conjunction with each other not as separate definitions hence why their are often numerous Welsh words for the same thing, over the centuries the language has become basic and only one definition is applied at a time when translating the word when all the definitions should be used, it’s hard to explain because it’s not used in English, so I will try to give an example. Gwâl as I have shown is a compound of Gwa + Gâl and Gwa can mean ground/base/origin and it can also mean a beginning, seemingly unrelated definitions and used individually but the truest definition would be an amalgamation of it all, so a beginning ground, a base ground, an origin ground, an origin base, all things that imply the same thing a land of origin, so if Wales is the land of origin of the Gâl then that’s why Wales is known as the land(s) country of the Gâl in so many different languages in different countries because they all know this to be the case historically as opposed to the modern false history we are taught but there is a reason for this false history and subsequent false etymology of Wales but that’s a whole other issue which took hold in the 18th century when the Germanic monarchy and loyalist establishment had to quell the Jacobite rebellions and this was done by gaslighting the people into a Anglo-Saxon/Romano supremacy myth but that’s a topic on its own
microphone is too sensitive man. few dodgy connections and allusions in the toponyms but equally some really interesting suggestions too. pretty decent content 👍
Anglo Saxon may just mean one tribe from Jutland who were in fact As Brythonic as the Britons of what would become known as Wales. The Cimbri Tribe of Jutland. Would make sense as to why 1. They wrongly attribute everything to the Germanics and 2. Why all their leaders had Brythonic style names. It would also explain why they were invited over.
I'm going to have to shut down your etymology of "Cheddar" :D We know that "Deep valley" produces "Dyfnant", so you'd have to demonstrate how your proposed "Ceu Dŵr" becomes OE "Ceodor". Cheddar has been occupied since Neolithic times and it became a village due to Roman occupation. The area has many obvious Brythonic place names like "Pennard" and we know it resisted Saxon occupation until the 6th century, nevertheless I think you're being a bit hopeful with some of your etymologies.
I don't see any proof the Saxon Ceodor (which mean cavity / ravine) was either native to Saxon nor nor appropriated from British and used as an altered form in Saxon. Which, if looking at Welsh places like Ceunant, and Glasgow, is clearly whar happened. Many Saxon places were just taken from Old Welsh and British names and altered into Saxon words or sounds familiar to them - Like Braintree from Brandre or Braintre/le.
@@BenLlywelyn ok, but the accepted etymology is that "Cheddar" comes from the Old English. Now I fully understand that the linguistic orthodoxy is somewhat deaf to Celtic languages. It's also true that many historical Saxons appear to have Brythonic names. Thanks for explaining. Is this just a personal opinion or is it supported by other scholars. I'm asking because this is my neck of the woods and I want to sure of my ground before getting into arg...I mean...discussions :)
we have an ongoing debate about the provenance of "Glastonbury" - many people link "glas" with the colour, which has been adopted by Glastonbury Abbey (a kind of teal I guess), but the "ton" and "bury" parts are definitely OE. So there's an argument that these are soundalikes for "Glastennen", which is a slightly obscure Cornish word for Holm Oak. The alternative name of "Ynys Witrin" may well be a) relatively modern and b) apply to somewhere else, much like "Avalon". Again, orthodox history will tell you the modern town of Glastonbury was founded by the Saxons. People are starting to realise that those people we used to call "Romans" were mostly Britons (in Britain that is). I think there has been a fair bit of cultural blind-siding going on.
The etymologies of which I am most suspicious are the supposed Saxon place names named after their founders. I think this is another codeword for "don't know" tbh
Of course it is supposition, but the predating p Celtic languages were often adopted by the invading English, and anglicised. Coombe or Comb was adopted early into West saxon as Cumb, but was not an English word, probably as the invading English didn't have a word for a deep, narrow valley. Strange that though cum is a Cornish word for a small valley, the main word used for a valley in Cornish placenames is nant or nans, with strat for a wide valley (found as straze in modern placenames), and glynn for a deep, wide valley, and pant or bant for a shallow, wide valley. I think the p Celtic origin of 'cheddar' holds water.
@@BenLlywelyn I was born naturally or unnaturally curious about the meaning of words & names. I was stumped for most of my life about what "Bolton" meant. Baaltân was not a good name after the Roman Church came. "'Bealtaine' is said to derive from Old Irish, meaning 'bright fire' (the Celtic sun and healer god was Belenus). A great bonfire would be lit in or around May 1st, signifying the start of the festival." In fact Bal is an Armenian word for the sweet cherry which originated on the North Coast of Anatolia. It was a favored treat & an important source of Vitamin C. It was made into wine & dried for use over the winter as in fruitcake! Cherries are very finicky to grow commercially because they need good conditions in the growing season & a sufficient number of days below freezing to trigger the bloom in the Spring. That is how Baal became both the Weather God & the Sweet Lord as the Beatles say!
My Dad's family originally came from the North West near Chorley. Our surname is anglicised celtic meaning a mound of stones. My DNA is predominantly British & Welsh with Irish from my mothers side so I consider myself British not English.
There seems to be a lot of apologia for the Anglo-saxons, implying that everyone joined peacefully and because the elite spoke anglo-saxon everyone started speaking it. This seems preposterous to me. Of course the Anglo-saxons didn't kill everyone but if a warband comes in and confiscates your land and forces you to flee or into slavery or serfdom and kills those who resist then that is genocide as far as I'm concerned. Imo there really seems to (at least at times and in some places) have been a concerted effort to stamp out celtic identity/culture. And when it wasn't actively fought against it was at least discriminated against, we have evidence of that.
We must keep in mind England was not 1 thing in the period. Mercia was initially a hybrid Brythonic Germanic kingdom, and there was a Brythonic Kingdom around Lincoln that slowly switch languaged. As well as near London. And Jutes, Angles and Saxons were each a bit different on approach on top of this.
What about Surrey , the experts know it but refuse to acknowledge it , it’s mentioned in medieval documents in Latin , Surrey - in Latin is Ealde Cyrcenas - which is the old Syrians, this refers to the Albyne migration of 1600 bc from Western Syria , and UR , this is first migration then the Brutus migration 500 bc the same people who arrived later, The Welsh annals ( Nennius) mentions it , these are the Khymri migrations Cymry , Edward Lhwud’s invention of the Welsh being Celts is totally wrong, the Welsh are not Celts
There is no DNA evidence to support Welsh or Cornish came from Syria. There are odd similarities between Welsh and Hebrew structurally, I should add, but that exists between Hebrew and Irish too.
Since this I have come to know The Wrekin in Welsh is Din Gwrygon.
Great program. Sutton Hoo was given an Anglo Saxon narrative before a spade had hit the ground. However, given that the resistance and survival of the language went on for centuries. My personal opinion is that the mounds are ancient British. The establishment historian's never consider this position, and are therefore not doing their jobs properly. Everything in England is labelled Saxon and the evidence is then shoe horned to fit this narrative. The fact that the Britons were here for millennia is ignored and I find this strange. Great content as usual.
Precisely so, Andrew. Diolch.
Indeed Andrew - there is substantial evidence that it’s British. From the Musical instruments, to the language found on Spoons and weapons. Let alone the Ship Bolts that helped them find the site. it’s Utter madness how it gets labelled Saxon.
I just don't buy into the standard Anglo-Saxon England narrative at all. Modern DNA shows us that the Britons didn't leave (forcibly), they stayed but had to adapt to a new Germanic ruling class. The language was pushed out, the rulers and leaders were pushed out, but largely, the people were not. The Saxons didn't become the population of England, only a small part of it. And, those Saxons intermarried with Britons, and the cultural interchange went both ways. So, watching this video from Wycombe, in the Chilterns, I'm kind of thrilled to see so many place names around here showing this far more interesting history, and Brythonic heritage.
@Richard Anderson did the Welsh worship wodan ?
Well, iirc at least some of the material culture found in Sutton Hoo is identical to contemporary findings in Scandinavia so I don't think the theory came out of nothing.
Interesting about place names including ‘pont’. As I learnt French before starting to learn Cymraeg, I assumed pont was adopted from Normans but I now know the Latin is ‘pontis’ so this goes back further. This channel keeps giving. Great brain stimulation Ben. Diolch am eich geaith chi. Mae’n ddiddorel iawn bob amser.
Diolch yn fawr iawn am y diddordeb. It is appreciated.
Mind-blowing. You crack the code that unlocks the meaning of so much for me. It's astounding. I spent so much time in the Chilterns for example. I live in Wales these days. Diolch yn fawr!
Without fo'k like you I will not succeed. Croeso mawr. This island is so beautiful.
I remember looking at a book belonging to a friend called "Britain in the Dark Ages" and I was fascinated by the maps of Britain where all the place names were recognisably Welsh, or so it seemed to me. That was 35 years ago and I have been looking for that book ever since. I found a book with that name through our local library service but it was a different. My friend passed away shortly after I saw it. So this presentation for me was wonderful. I have a friend living in Bodmin. I wonder if that would be Bod Maen or a stone dwelling. Thanks for a great video.
Bodmin comes from older Cornish, Bodmyna before Bod changed to Bos. Dwelling place of monks. Holy place.
Another interesting video, Ben! Hope you are doing well.
Thank you kind Daniel.
This makes an awful lot of sense. Best bit of accessible research on the Dark Ages since Michael Wood's "In Search of" programmes on the BBC in the seventies.
A bold compliment, thank you. Reaching Michael Wood's level in this pursuit would be an honour. Cheers.
@@BenLlywelyn My father's family is from Lindsey (Llyn Du) in Lincolnshire. What about the cluster of names (Stenigot, Cadwell Park, Cawkwell, and Oxcombe) in the Lincolnshire Wolds? Wiki has Stenigot down as being Anglo Saxon in origin but the 'I' sounds a bit like the Welsh 'Y'. All the other surrounding names look very Scandinavian but these four look different.
Thank you! Your video is very interesting and revealing!
Love your videos, Ben. Something close to me - can you produce a short piece on Aliotus of Elmet? I'm a Yorkshireman but very concise of our roots in Elmet, demonstrated by the Aliotus Stone discovered in Llanaelhaearn in Gwynedd. I believe Elmet existed as a constituent part of Hen Oglydd for some time.
Elmed (or Elfed) lasted longer than other surrounding kingdoms and has left an imprint upon the area around Leeds to this day. A video on the kingdom would be good. After my current history series it would need to be. Thank you!
@@BenLlywelyn superb - thanks Ben!
Henfford. ( it's on the railway station) Hereford
Dene, Dean
Cumbria
Yes!
Thanks for the videos Ben, they have helped me to understand an ancestorial and local history query. My father was a farmer in the Lincolnshire Fens, and due to my unusual surname I have been able to trace my agricultural ancestors back to 1325, all along the Fen Edge (broadly along the Roman north road from Bourne then east to the top of the Wash). The Lincolnshire archives has numerous records of these ancestors, two of which are of particular interest:
Deedpoll of feoffment
George Gromet, yeoman, of Aby to Montague Lord Bertie.
Property: a waste messuage and a croft in a place called Walegate in Edenham, butting south on the highway next the cross.
Consideration: £10 16 May 1639 and:
Notification of a grant
Thomas Gromytt of Edenham to William Gromytt of Lamlay.
property:
2 acres and 1 rod in Edenham fields:
1 acre in the north field, called Walysacre
½ acre in the west field on stetland
½ acre in 3 selions on stotland.
1 rod next pasterbryge, the common way north.
25 July 1475
Now, if the 'gate' in Walegate is from Nordic/Scandanavian origin it suggests that the 'Viking' settlers also recognised the Romano-British, and seems to suggest acceptance. and that they were still 'separate' or different. I also assume that 'Walysacre' incates that that that part of the field was farmed by Britons. Oh, and the cherry on the cake is that my paternal DNA is Celtic...
I would appreciate your thoughts on the above, Thanks
We know that the Kingdom of Lyndsey was British and not Saxon to begin, callrd Llyn Du or like, but asborbed into Mercia after flipping prestige culture to Saxon. We know the Fens still has Welsh speakers quite late, maybe as late as 900, but we cannot know
As well as Penwynion (the Penines) which had Welsh speakers well after year 1000. It is also true the Viking incoming was a harsh rupture, removing pre-Saxon traces in areas, so I would guess Welsh was spoken there in the Wolds until the 9th century when the Vikings came (Cadwell Park ans Dovenwell could have soem faint British trace). River Brant sounds Welsh. as do Rivers Lymn, Nene, Trent. So I would guess the last Welsh speakers were (a quick guess) on thr southwest flank of thr Lincoln Wolds.
There is a RUclips channel called 'Cambrian Chronicles'. In several episodes they explain the evidence showing that Welsh was still spoken by a fair number of people right up to Norman times in England, even in the east.
I don't remember where (I watch too many RUclips videos), but I've seen claims that Gaulish was still spoken in isolated parts of Auvergne until the middle ages.
Could you do something about Brythonic, Pictish place-names in Scotland, from Aberdeen to Monadh Mor on Lewis please!
Though it would require some significant research on my end, your idea fits very well into my channel and after I move house, I will see what I can do for you.
There's a great book called the Welsh place-names of Scotland. Unfortunately I have lost it so can't tell you the publisher or author. Ben's programmes are fascinating !
Thanks!
I do appreciate it Robert. Thank you.
I live near Penshaw, near Sunderland. Apparently, it's name comes from Old Welsh 'Pencher' meaning "head of the rocks"
Pen Caer (head of the fort), Pen y Graig / Pen Carreg (Head of the rock). Could be.
Diolch. You have put a HUGE amount of work into this. I really appreciate it.
I'd like your opinion on this:
Whitchurch (Herefordshire) I think was originally named something like Lanfenynantgwynnog (I don't speak Welsh, so that's cobbled together with Google Translate) - "On the bank of the marsh of the clearish brook".
It is recorded as:
Lann Tuinauc 1045-1104 (c1130)
Landeuenok 1334
Landonenok 1436
- but also as
Fendenerac 1277
I conflated the two to reconstruct a putative original because the village is at the shore of the fen. The two toponyms accurately describe different parts of the modern parish.
Coplestone-Crow thinks the T to be hypochoristic, but the village had a brook running through which drained the fen below. This was recently discovered to have been named The White Brook in the 17th Century. So I think the T is a remnant of nant... Nant Gwynnog, whitish (clearish or blessed) brook (white and pure being synonymous).
C-C thinks that Tywynnog was St Gwynnog, as in Llanwonog in Clodock, but I think -church in Whitchurch is a mistranslation of lan, because locally llan and lan seen to have been pronounced the same way. The mistranslation was actually into Latin, and later translated from Latin to English:
Albi Monasterii 1148-63
Albo Monasterio 1281
Album Monasterium 1313
Whytechirche 1320
Whitchirch 1325
Wytechurche 1346
Whit Church 1535.
Besides, the first recorded dedication is to St Tiburcius 1325. This is Dyffrig, today St. Dubricius - mentioned by Geoffrey of Monmouth and in Lives of the Celtic Saints. A late dedication to a Celtic saint in England seems improbable, so I do not think it ever had been Gwynnog's.
Fendenerac stretches from the village to the Wye (Gwy), and is bounded by The White Brook and the River Garron (also Brythonic).
Source: Bruce Coplestone-Crow "Herefordshire Place-names" Logaston Press 2009, quoting many primary sources. It's a rich hunting-ground for you, is Ergyng.
That area was very active for early Welsh and Llyfr Llandaf (An early text which wrote down histories to make territorial claims for Llandaf) would be a place to look. But I do wonder of Dobunni, an early British tribal name, is in their somewhere and changed over time.
@@BenLlywelyn Thanks. The first name on the list is from LL. Fendenerac is only in Registrum Thome di Cantilupo, Episcopi Herefordensis. It looks almost like Cornish mixed with Norman French, but -denerac and Tiuinauc are obviously cognate. Beware of false friends, eh?
Who these people were is a big mystery:
Ergyng seem to have been south of Pengwern, which was occupied by Mercians, then the Anglian Western Hecani. They became known as the Westerna, and those in what was to be Herefordshire eventually as the Magonsaetan - a name which they may have borrowed from the people of Ergying, which was south of Hereford.
However, according to genetic mapping published about five years ago, the locals of South Herefordshire (formerly Ergyng) carried genetic markers which distinguish them from all other Welsh and all other English people, so they are a mystery. They were once important enough to get special recognition - the Bishop of Hereford was originally titled "Bishop of Hereford and Erging". Welsh was spoken in the hill farms of the area until Henry VIII. So... who are they, really?
@@lindsayheyes925 It is a quite protected and inland part of Britain. So who knows.
Fascinating. Diolch!
Croeso - Welcome
Diolch yn fawr iawn. Absolutely fascinating.......
Croeso!
Morcombe - Mor cwm - sea valley. In Shropshire an area 'the Big Mynd'. London (Pool Black) has same etymological origins as Dublin - Black Pool. In Cymraeg it would be Llyn Du. Aberdeen. Ben Nevis. River Avon, as Afon means river. I follow geneticist David Reich on YT and his DNA research on different waves to these islands - 6000BC & 4000BC but no mention of Anglo Saxon influx of 500AD. Cornwall & Brittany. I imagined the origin of Cadwallader as Cydwladwr - Compatriot.
Cadwaladr was the last Welsh / Brythonic king to claim lordship over all of Britain.
Pen Craig, Llangaron, Hendre. These are place names I see whilst driving through Gloucestershire.
Absolutely. Yn hollol.
21:21 I'm (originally) from Haydock, Lancashire. :)
I’d be curious to see what you think of my towns name. It’s defined as Saxon but I’m convinced it’s Brythonic.
What is your town's name?
@@BenLlywelyn Abingdon on Thames. It’s meaning is defined as Abbes Hill even though it’s flat. However I think it is Brythonicans was originally Aber - din/dyn, and means something like the settlement/defended place at the confluence of waters. The site was originally an Oppidum, and the river Ock merges with the Thames in the heart of the town.
@@ramonachiaburu7640 The River Ock appears to be from Old Welsh Eog (salmon). Aber would normally shapee onto the smaller river Abereog. But There is no form or land to suggest a fortress like Din. But there are two islands Aber Dwy Ynys (estuary of two islands), perhaps? It is old, but I cannot say how old.
@@BenLlywelyn hi Ben. Thanks for your reply, I hadn’t considered the possibility of the confluence describing the movement of water in relation to islands. For clarification, may I ask which two you are thinking of as they’re a few in close proximity? It will be handy to know as I explore this option. I think they’re is a case for the Din/Dun theory which I will explain in full shortly, for now may I ask one more question? When you say there is not the land for a din like fortress, what do you mean specifically? Thank you 😊.
Penrith, Helvellyn, Pen y Ghent, Cumberland, plus loads of Welsh names in the south of Scotland, such as Penpont, Peebles. Loads of p Celtic names in Devon such as Dunchideock, Pennycomequick, (Devon itself Celtic - Dev-nant), but that is more to do with the ancester of Cornish.
Absolutely.
Ben, can you please dedicate a video specifically to the survival of Welsh culture and language in Ludlow, Clun, Caus, Wigmore, Huntington and Ewyas! x diolch yn fawr
It is a good shout. There are a few videos lined up now so I cannot promise yet, but If i can find time to research it that is surely worth a video.
@@BenLlywelyn indeed, especially as these lordships/areas were annexed late into England! x
@@BenLlywelyn Add Ergyng/Archenfield to that please.
Another 'angle' (pun intended) is that there wasn't a huge incoming wave of Germanic-speaking people but rather a gradual switch over to the Germanic speech by the natives. The new language was the vehicle for a new culture. Why? I suspect the Germanic culture might have had a less hierarchical nature, or at least was a way for the natives to improve their standing in society in some way. Bryn doesn't spread across the UK only but rather is also found elsewhere. Brno in the Czech Republic for example.
The Saxons appear to of replaces to Latin speaking rulers.
I suspect that in the very early days when the Romano-British were hiring Anglo-Saxon mercenaries, they probably communicated with each other in Latin, so the Anglo-Saxons never had any reason to learn Brythonic. It was probably a very different situation when the Vikings took over Normandy.The Old French spoken at the time was probably regarded by the Vikings as a form of "modern" informal Latin, so they learned to speak it. Latin was still the lingua franca of Europe until at least 1500.
There are different places across England calls Wells (or some variant or compound thereof). Of course it might be that there were literally wells there, but this sound odd as there would have been wells everywhere where there was human settlement, so it would not have been a distinguishing feature. Could Wells also indicate that something was Welsh? What about Witshire, which partially overlapped with the Mendips you mention, but also with ancient British monuments such as Avebury. Could the Will of Wiltshire indicate this was Welsh land?
Wilt is from the town name Wilton. This is probably from Willow. But there are Wiltons all over, so different oned could be from different meanings (Well, Willow, Welsh, Wall).
You should write a book on this very subject, boyo bâch. You really should.
Sounds like a good one. If I can get this channel up to a full-time gig and then spare the time.
Bromwich - Wich is saxon for salt mine
Ben, could you extrapolate the city of Gotham to mean simply Goat home in Frisiann or Saxon ?
Goat hamlet (village), town.
halo Cymru co-oghaichean!
Not so sure about bodle being Welsh. As we know from Tolkien, the word Hobbit is from Anglo Saxon Hol bytla, hole dweller. This would imply the Anglo Saxon word bytla is a cognate of the Welsh byw and that the two would share an etymology, if not be directly loaned. Wiktionary however says that bytla is not dweller but builder. This would still work for place names of course, but it's odd that Tolkien should have played a red herring here unless he was trying to Welshify old English. .
Strictly speaking anything named before the 6th century is Brythonic as "Wales" didn't exist (and neither did "England"). Names like "Chysauster" are clearly neither Welsh nor English. "Wealas" is an Anglo-Saxon exonym probably derived from Proto-West Germanic *walh, from Proto-Germanic *walhaz, so any name derivative of that probably isn't Welsh, although I accept the argument that Britons probably lived there. Without attestations, it's hard to tell whether some of these names are original or more recent translations into Welsh.
It is our responsibility as Welsh people to care for and grow our inheritance, which is the continuation of Welsh from our Brythonic roots. Thanks for taking the time fellow.
Surprising to find so many Welsh connections in England. Would these place names have preceded the split between the Welsh and the Cornish languages?
Many and most, yes. But not all.
A glance at the the English Place-Name Society's two Sussex volumes (CUP 1930) will show that all the etymologies in this video are plainly wrong. Ponts Green is actually connected to a man called Ponte who lived in 1405 (p.479). Bodlestreet Green comes from a surname Bothel, well recorded in the area (p.480). Penhurst cannot come from Celtic penn because the early spellings are always Pene- (p.476). I could go on. Llywelyn makes the common error of trying to deduce etymologies from the modern form of the name. It should of course be done from the earliest recorded forms of the name.
Most of those who have come up with the official etymologies and histories on this island have had such an Anglocentric view they skew many thing in their ignorance of native British cultures to benefit a nostalgic form of English Nationalism, and even often to aggrandisize their own view of Englishness.
@@BenLlywelyn That would not apply to Mawer, Stenton, and Gover who wrote the Sussex volumes. These great scholars were only too keen to seek evidence of Celtic names in mostly English territory. Moreover, they had a deep knowledge of language history. They worked rigorously and proposed theories actually supported by the evidence which they displayed. No-one should propose new theories without first mastering books like this. What they propose are in no sense "official etymologies", just the best available explanation from the surviving evidence. You have to say precisely why they are wrong before arguing that something new is needed. It is unscientific to just say that a name (in its modern form) "looks Celtic". Whether it's Celtic or not depends on a deep analysis of the historical record of the spellings of the name. If you ignore this principle and descend into pseudo-science, you can easily find just as many names which e.g. "look Greek" as those which "look Celtic". (And also, the name of the Downs is Old English dūn 'hill', not Celtic. This is supported by a huge number of parallels all over England.)
By the way, for anyone who wants to look at a properly-done study of potential Celtic place-names in England, the place to go is Coates & Horovitz, Celtic Voices, English Places (Shaun Tyas 2000). There is a map for Sussex on p.389, and the only candidates are Critchfield, Chiltington, Friday's Church, Andredesweald, Lewes, and Firle. Lewes can be removed since the book on that place-name by Forsberg (Uppsala University, 1997) shows it to be English. And even though the authors of CVEP are highly respected, the results are still controversial and not accepted by some Celtic scholars. On the word "tye", there are three books by Karl Bischoff just on this one word (Der Tie 1971, Der Tie II 1972, Nachträge zur Tie 1978) which overwhelming prove it to be Germanic. Definitely no connection to modern Welsh tŷ.
@@keithbriggs6698 Cheers.
The Pene from Penhurst is given as a name but Pene doesn't appear to be an Anglo-Saxon name. It seems more like the British name Penda which was borne by a Mercian king and appears in a list of men from Northumberland where the name is specified as being British (taken from the wiki page for Penda of Mercia). So even if this is not penn it could well be named for a British person. It could still be referring to penn though with the mistaken meaning of the name occurring early on. It would make it a tautology like Chetwood and the e at the end could be a local pronunciation that made penn sound like pene at a time when most were illiterate. So if you're an Anglo-Saxon scribe, or a Norman one writing down smallholdings for the Doomsday Book how are you to know that the local Penehest should actually be spelt Penhest or Pennhest? We're talking centuries after the British language likely died out in the region. Just to clarify, a hyrst is a mound, presumably noteworthy as a landmark. It could be a small wood, a hillock or even a sandbar but generally a mound with trees. That would make the pen fit in well with the topography.
Good point about looking at the older names before trying to decipher a modern place name.
The whole Wales comes from Saxon is an apocryphal etymology, the word wales is actually a Welsh word not Saxon and the Saxon word from which the claim is made that the word Wales derived from actually probably derived from the Welsh word.
The word Wales is the soft mutated version of Gwales, so yr wales.
Gwales means lands of the Gâl.
Gwales = Gwâl + es
Es being a Welsh pluralisation suffix.
Gwâl means land of the Gâl and is a compound of Gwa + Gâl
Gwa means - that is inceptive as to motion or direction, that throws from, that is the base or origin, the ground.
Gâl being the Welsh name for the collective of Welsh people and the appellative for the Gâl was Brython.
When some of the Gâl migrated south from Britain into continental Europe and spread over centuries, they were who became known as the Galli to the Romans and their lands were known as Gallia but to those “Galli” it would have been Gwales or some form of Gwâl/Wâl.
The French would frankify the word to Gaulle which became Gaul in English.
To corroborate this we only need look at what other countries call Wales in their native language, for example
Pays de Galles - French
Pays de Galles - Lingala
Pays de Galles - Malagasy
País de Gales - Portuguese
Gales - Basque
Gal·les - Catalan
Galles - Corsican
Gales - Galician
Galles - Italian
Țara Galilor - Romanian
Gales - Spanish
Gal Ülkesi - Turkish
Galler - Turkish
Gal - Turkish
Gales Llaqtapi - Quechua
Gales Suyu - Quechua
Gales Markanxa - Aymara
Gales Jamana Na - Bambara
Gales-pe - Guarani
Gales - Iloko
They all refer to Wales as the land(s)/country of the Gâl and they would not do that if “Wales” wasn’t the origin/motherland of the Gâl, in Welsh Gwa is also used as a prefix to mean a beginning, so Gwal can also mean a beginning/origin of the Gâl.
The beauty of the Welsh language is that the seemingly unconnected multiple definitions of a word were meant to be used in conjunction with each other not as separate definitions hence why their are often numerous Welsh words for the same thing, over the centuries the language has become basic and only one definition is applied at a time when translating the word when all the definitions should be used, it’s hard to explain because it’s not used in English, so I will try to give an example.
Gwâl as I have shown is a compound of Gwa + Gâl and Gwa can mean ground/base/origin and it can also mean a beginning, seemingly unrelated definitions and used individually but the truest definition would be an amalgamation of it all, so a beginning ground, a base ground, an origin ground, an origin base, all things that imply the same thing a land of origin, so if Wales is the land of origin of the Gâl then that’s why Wales is known as the land(s) country of the Gâl in so many different languages in different countries because they all know this to be the case historically as opposed to the modern false history we are taught but there is a reason for this false history and subsequent false etymology of Wales but that’s a whole other issue which took hold in the 18th century when the Germanic monarchy and loyalist establishment had to quell the Jacobite rebellions and this was done by gaslighting the people into a Anglo-Saxon/Romano supremacy myth but that’s a topic on its own
Diolch yn fawr iawn!
Croeso.
Pont in Welsh =. Pontus in Latin . The Romans were very much aware of the similarities between Latin and the Celtic languages .
It's not pontus, it's pons/pontis.
microphone is too sensitive man. few dodgy connections and allusions in the toponyms but equally some really interesting suggestions too. pretty decent content 👍
Thank you. The mic has improved since and am getting better for you. Glad you liked it.
Anglo Saxon may just mean one tribe from Jutland who were in fact As Brythonic as the Britons of what would become known as Wales. The Cimbri Tribe of Jutland. Would make sense as to why 1. They wrongly attribute everything to the Germanics and 2. Why all their leaders had Brythonic style names. It would also explain why they were invited over.
Those from the lands between Jutland and Frisia were Germanic.
I'm going to have to shut down your etymology of "Cheddar" :D We know that "Deep valley" produces "Dyfnant", so you'd have to demonstrate how your proposed "Ceu Dŵr" becomes OE "Ceodor". Cheddar has been occupied since Neolithic times and it became a village due to Roman occupation. The area has many obvious Brythonic place names like "Pennard" and we know it resisted Saxon occupation until the 6th century, nevertheless I think you're being a bit hopeful with some of your etymologies.
I don't see any proof the Saxon Ceodor (which mean cavity / ravine) was either native to Saxon nor nor appropriated from British and used as an altered form in Saxon. Which, if looking at Welsh places like Ceunant, and Glasgow, is clearly whar happened. Many Saxon places were just taken from Old Welsh and British names and altered into Saxon words or sounds familiar to them - Like Braintree from Brandre or Braintre/le.
@@BenLlywelyn ok, but the accepted etymology is that "Cheddar" comes from the Old English. Now I fully understand that the linguistic orthodoxy is somewhat deaf to Celtic languages. It's also true that many historical Saxons appear to have Brythonic names. Thanks for explaining. Is this just a personal opinion or is it supported by other scholars. I'm asking because this is my neck of the woods and I want to sure of my ground before getting into arg...I mean...discussions :)
we have an ongoing debate about the provenance of "Glastonbury" - many people link "glas" with the colour, which has been adopted by Glastonbury Abbey (a kind of teal I guess), but the "ton" and "bury" parts are definitely OE. So there's an argument that these are soundalikes for "Glastennen", which is a slightly obscure Cornish word for Holm Oak. The alternative name of "Ynys Witrin" may well be a) relatively modern and b) apply to somewhere else, much like "Avalon". Again, orthodox history will tell you the modern town of Glastonbury was founded by the Saxons. People are starting to realise that those people we used to call "Romans" were mostly Britons (in Britain that is). I think there has been a fair bit of cultural blind-siding going on.
The etymologies of which I am most suspicious are the supposed Saxon place names named after their founders. I think this is another codeword for "don't know" tbh
Of course it is supposition, but the predating p Celtic languages were often adopted by the invading English, and anglicised. Coombe or Comb was adopted early into West saxon as Cumb, but was not an English word, probably as the invading English didn't have a word for a deep, narrow valley. Strange that though cum is a Cornish word for a small valley, the main word used for a valley in Cornish placenames is nant or nans, with strat for a wide valley (found as straze in modern placenames), and glynn for a deep, wide valley, and pant or bant for a shallow, wide valley. I think the p Celtic origin of 'cheddar' holds water.
The Britons will always survive, the beauty and mystique of their women enrapture men of any creed
A fair complement to the womenfolk.
Medieval Latin crannoca, crannocus, of Celtic origin; akin to Welsh crynog crannock
Indo-European friends.
@@BenLlywelyn I was born naturally or unnaturally curious about the meaning of words & names. I was stumped for most of my life about what "Bolton" meant. Baaltân was not a good name after the Roman Church came.
"'Bealtaine' is said to derive from Old Irish, meaning 'bright fire' (the Celtic sun and healer god was Belenus). A great bonfire would be lit in or around May 1st, signifying the start of the festival."
In fact Bal is an Armenian word for the sweet cherry which originated on the North Coast of Anatolia. It was a favored treat & an important source of Vitamin C. It was made into wine & dried for use over the winter as in fruitcake! Cherries are very finicky to grow commercially because they need good conditions in the growing season & a sufficient number of days below freezing to trigger the bloom in the Spring. That is how Baal became both the Weather God & the Sweet Lord as the Beatles say!
My Dad's family originally came from the North West near Chorley. Our surname is anglicised celtic meaning a mound of stones. My DNA is predominantly British & Welsh with Irish from my mothers side so I consider myself British not English.
Identity on these islands is often a long, multi-sided mixture.
Moel Fryn = Malvern?
Yes indeed.
Ardderchog. Diolch yn fawr.
Ysblennydd. Croeso.
The people who are all like "trust me bro the anglo-saxon conquests were mostly peaceful, they were just immigrants" annoy me so much.
The Saxon conquest was a mix of bloodshed and peaceful economics with a legal discrimination system.
🎎
🚶🚶♀️🚶♂️🐑
@@BenLlywelyn
Many thanks for joining, Anne.
Uther Pendragon’s castle near the River Eden.
The Eden River valley was nearly the cradle of a British reconquest.
There seems to be a lot of apologia for the Anglo-saxons, implying that everyone joined peacefully and because the elite spoke anglo-saxon everyone started speaking it. This seems preposterous to me. Of course the Anglo-saxons didn't kill everyone but if a warband comes in and confiscates your land and forces you to flee or into slavery or serfdom and kills those who resist then that is genocide as far as I'm concerned. Imo there really seems to (at least at times and in some places) have been a concerted effort to stamp out celtic identity/culture. And when it wasn't actively fought against it was at least discriminated against, we have evidence of that.
We must keep in mind England was not 1 thing in the period. Mercia was initially a hybrid Brythonic Germanic kingdom, and there was a Brythonic Kingdom around Lincoln that slowly switch languaged. As well as near London. And Jutes, Angles and Saxons were each a bit different on approach on top of this.
What about Surrey , the experts know it but refuse to acknowledge it , it’s mentioned in medieval documents in Latin , Surrey - in Latin is Ealde Cyrcenas - which is the old Syrians, this refers to the Albyne migration of 1600 bc from Western Syria , and UR , this is first migration then the Brutus migration 500 bc the same people who arrived later, The Welsh annals ( Nennius) mentions it , these are the Khymri migrations Cymry , Edward Lhwud’s invention of the Welsh being Celts is totally wrong, the Welsh are not Celts
There is no DNA evidence to support Welsh or Cornish came from Syria. There are odd similarities between Welsh and Hebrew structurally, I should add, but that exists between Hebrew and Irish too.