h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

One extremely common factor of Devon placenames is the extra vowel that occurs in the middle of such names as Babbacombe, Challacombe, Parracombe, Staddiscombe etc…

I have often heard the saying that “Devon speech will not tolerate two consonants together” and I understand that this practice is called epenthesis. This is not a hard and fast rule of course, but after a quick review I would estimate that around one half of Devon’s “combe” placenames exhibit this form.

Whilst the “combe” suffix is found in Devon placenames more often than anywhere else, it does appear in other counties. However where “combe” placenames do occur further east they rarely use epenthesis (eg Gatcombe).

Even in Dorset and Somerset placenames showing epenthesis are a small minority, and further east I am not sure you will find any.

I have recently been advised that this form of epenthesis is an obvious marker of Celtic language development in the eleventh century.

If this is so then it might explain why Devon’s placenames are different, and provide additional evidence that the Celtic language survived in Devon until at least this time (and extensively as well as epenthesis occurs in all corners of Devon).

Of course epenthesis does not just occur with “combe” placenames (eg Darracott).

It is thought that the “cott” suffix is generally Saxon for dwelling (eg cottage) although it may also derive from the Celtic “coet”, meaning wood.

But if a Celtic language influence such as epenthesis was applied to Saxon placenames as well as Brythonic it suggests that the interplay between the languages was a little more “bi-directional” than usually thought.

Any thoughts or comments??

Ozzie Exile,

Our (academic linguist) source for this information states that the use of epenthesis in Cornish dates from about 1100, so that would place it at about the beginning of the 12th century.

He also mentions the transition from ‘-oc’ to ‘-ec’ as the adjective-forming suffix at about the same time. This later (post 1100) form can also be found in a number of Devon place names. A couple of names where this etymology has been attested (by Coates) are ‘Dowrich’ (near Crediton) and ‘Gaverick’ (near Ilsington).

The ‘-ec’ suffix (usually appearing in place-names as ‘-ick’) can also be found in some of the place-names of East Cornwall, where it is generally agreed that the Cornish language survived into the 16th century. However, in both East Cornwall and in Devon, the earlier form ‘-oc’ also survived in such names as ‘Deviock’ and ‘Sheviock’ in East Cornwall, and ‘Dunchideock’ and ‘Hemyock’ in Devon.

It would seem to me that the use of epenthesis and the appearance of the ‘-ec’ adjectival suffix form in Devon place-names amounts to strong evidence that Brythonic speech survived in parts of Devon into the 12th century and beyond.

Plymouth & Ozzie Exile.

During My geneology research,I've come across many placenames that either no longer exist,or bare little resemblance too today.But first on the subject of Tre',PlymGuy did some research on this some months before his answer on :- http://community.channel4.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/4476000511/m/801605747/p/1
and found over 30.
I have several old Devon maps and one by 'Johan Blaeu' 1600c showing Isca Dumnonii and approx' 8 mls west a large area called 'The Damnonii' ?.
Mortimer's list manorial units of Devon 1086-1922 gives some incite to how names have changed : http://www.mortimer.co.uk/manors/
The best free site I've found is : http://www.a2a.org.uk/default.asp
you can search by Surname or Area and covers approx' 1,000 yrs,it shows placenames as they were spelt often with modern name as well,land owners,Knights,marriages etc' a snapshot in time.

I forgot to add this Link of Deed extracts,it gives original placename spellings as found,with i'ts modern counterpart.Also what was the birth of Surnames for many can be seen and there association with the land.
http://www.law.harvard.edu/library/collections/special/manuscripts/deeds/deeds1.php

This epenthesis explanation certainly sheds some light on some the place names that while not clearly of Celtic origin, have this oddity of spelling and sound.

As Plymouth Exile points out a good benchmark to use is Cornwall, as it can be said with confidence that place name traditions and conventions remained predominantly Celtic right into modern times. East Cornwall is regarded as a place where the language was ‘frozen’ in time at the point of extinction, though I thought this occurred in the 13th century; but if as PE says, it survived into the 1500s, that makes later medieval survival in Devon—where people would have had to have traded with their Cornish neighbours—even more likely. There is also the geographical point of the Tamar. In the north east area of Cornwall, where the river is not very wide and is bridged frequently, there would have been much more interaction between the two sides; whereas in the south, the river’s width is vast and until modern times, had to be crossed by ferry.

North east Cornwall has many more English place names than other parts of the county, which shows English cultural influence was seeping across the river. On the other side in north Devon, there are noticeable scatterings of Brythonic/Old Cornish place names that show the indigenous culture and language maybe not dominant, but at the very least clinging on.

If as both OE and PE argue the elements in some Devon placenames reflect changes that are known to have occurred in Celtic languages after the 10th century then this provides good evidence to refute the notion that the Devon Celts were expelled as one ethnic body. I know there are many other reasons to doubt this belief, but it clings on in mainstream opinion.

However, the lack of any later medieval, or post-medieval Celtic place names, such as are found in Cornwall, and the lack of a set of distinctively Celtic surnames in Devon, strongly suggests the Celtic language was completely extinct by the 15th century. By this point, most people in England had adopted surnames, and records start to show them. In Cornwall many of the past and present surnames are from the Cornish language, clearly showing Cornish was still the common speech and that people identified themselves using it. In Devon this did not happen; there may have been a few vestigial speakers, but not enough to provide a body of distinct Celtic language surnames that could be passed down to future generations, as happened in Cornwall where such surnames have survived centuries after Cornish died out as a spoken language in most places.

If the place name evidence discussed shows that Cornish/Brythonic was still a dynamic, evolving language in 11th and 12th century Devon, this overturns the notion that the anglicisation of Devon was caused by the earlier Saxon invasion and a strategy of deliberate 'ethnic cleansing'. It probably had more to do with a changing political and economic scene in which living Celtic language and culture slowly faded away as a result of Devon being appended to the English state. This process was repeated over a much longer time scale in Cornwall, culminating in the eventual extinction of the language, and the emergence of a completely English speaking population using a West Country dialect. The difference with Cornwall being that, by the time Cornish was under threat, there were people sufficiently educated and motivated to write it down, and the language’s later survival gave it the opportunity—the historical, literate period—to stamp itself forever on the Cornish place names and surnames that survive today.

Bleidh,

Thanks for posting the Deed records, I saw that Loxbeare was recorded in 1392 as Loghetorre. If that version had survived and been fixed, I am sure that would be regarded as a Celtic place name. On the other side, Washfield is written as Waischfelde, which could easily be accepted, had it remained that same, as a place name of somewhere in Germany! Maybe at that time, just as the Celtic language may have been ending in Devon, the place names were much more distinct, reflecting their different cultural origins, and as the Celtic language disappeared, and English itself was changing to a less Germanic character (as discussed here with Middle English), they slowly began to merge into each other.

Ozzie Exile, regarding Darracott.

The ‘coed’ or ‘coet’ explanation might make more sense with this ‘cott’. The ‘darra’ may refer to oak trees. In Devon there are incidences of Derril, Derry, Derri and Dart which are all believed to refer to oak woods. Also, ‘coet’ means ‘wood’ in the Breton language, linking the element, given the where the Bretons came from, to Devon and Cornwall; Cornwall also having many ‘cott’ place names that are attributed, by those proposing a Cornish derivation, to the Celtic word for ‘wood’.

Bleidh,

Thanks for supplying the link to the Devon manor names. By including the ‘lost’ names included in the list, it has enabled me to increase my list of Devon ‘tre’ names to 39. I have no doubts that once I have examined all of the Devon OS 1:25,000 maps, this figure will rise into the 40s.

ExeValleyBoy,

You have raised the interesting subject of surnames in your comparison between Devon and Cornwall. Before the general advent of surnames, individuals tended to be identified by either their trade/profession or by the name of their abode. An example of the former would be ‘William the baker’, and of the latter would be ‘Roger of Pengelly’. It is likely therefore that when surnames came in, that William would have become ‘William Baker’, and Roger would have become ‘Roger Pengelly’.

This is why the percentage of Brythonic surnames is so high in Cornwall. Many Cornishmen adopted surnames based on the names of their local hamlets/farms. This explains the high proportion of Cornish surnames beginning with ‘Tre-‘ or ‘Pen-‘. In fact, the same sort of thing happened in Devon, which is why surnames ending in ‘-cott’ or ‘-combe’ are so typical in Devon. While ‘-combe’ surnames can definitely be said to be of Brythonic origin (at least in part), ‘-cott’ surnames are a bit less certain, although if the original place-name had the etymology ‘-coet’ (‘wood’), then these surnames could also be counted as Brythonic in origin also. There is also the common Devon surname ‘Cann’, which is a Brythonic word meaning ‘white’. For some reason, this process did not happen as much in Wales, where ‘Pen-‘ and ‘Tre-‘ (or even ‘Cwm-‘) surnames are much rarer. Here, sons were given an ancestral name, so we saw names such as ‘William ap Richard’ (meaning ‘William son of Richard’). When surnames came in, the term ‘ap’ was abbreviated to ‘p’ and was appended to the front of the father’s name as a prefix, hence ‘William Prichard’.

I think we can definitely rule out any ‘ethnic cleansing’ event in Devon, and although the Brythonic language has long since departed, it has left a strong legacy in both place-names and derived surnames. According to modern research into “The Celtic Englishes”, it has also left a distinctive presence in local dialects and grammatical usage. Celtic culture has fared somewhat better, in that many of the distinctively Devonian cultural survivals into the last two centuries have clear Celtic origins, e.g. Devon Wrestling, Out Hurling, Devon Step Dancing and Crying-the-Neck harvest ceremonies. Incidentally, does anyone know of a distinctively Saxon cultural survival in Devon, as I can’t say that I do?

The main reason that the Cornish language has been revived in Cornwall (to a limited extent), is because it survived long enough in West Cornwall for a few texts to have been preserved. If the language had become extinct in West Cornwall at the same time that it did in East Cornwall (or Devon), then it is improbable that any written examples would have remained to enable a revival to occur.

This is one of a number of examples I've come across on http://www.a2a.org.uk/default.asp

All Saints

Catalogue Ref. P/AS
Creator(s):
Church of England, All Saints Parish, Bristol

[Access Conditions]
THESE RECORDS ARE IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE FOR RESEARCH

FEOFFMENTS

FILE - Inventory. Bottom left-hand part of four-part cyrograph. English. - ref. P/AS/D/F 10 - date: 1457
[from Scope and Content] Item more for every daye ij lityll' staynyd clothis that servyth the seyd' awter. Item a paxe with avernakyll' y keveryd wyth glas, for every daye. Item ij misters with ij keyys that longyth' to the seyde awter, to serve and to putte in his vestementes and ornamentes that longyth' to the seyde awter. Item a cannevas to the seyde awter, to hele hym' wyth all'.
________________________________________________________________________

http://www.ancestryuk.com/ and check 'What's in a name', without piecemeal geneological research,Surnames provide us with much less than we think,implemented by the Normans to keep track of large numbers of people for 'TAX' and retribution for non payment would of been swift and fatal as an example to all.The powerfull Normon Barons Both sides of the tamar would have had power absolute.Surnames for many may not have been one of choice,but possibly what your tax man gave you.
This Link :- http://www.old-maps.co.uk/ click Gazetteer and area of choice.
This may also be of use :- http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~genmaps/genfiles/COU_Pages/ENG_pages/dev.htm

Plymouth Exile,

I can see what you mean with the surnames; that they often came from a place name. But I think overall the origin of most Devon place names and surnames is English, and that situation was well established in 1500, whereas in Cornwall the opposite was and is true. My point being that I think it is important to establish some idea of just how long the Celtic language survived in Devon. Records clearly show it was not in existence (or had become so rare, as to be invisible) by 1500. What I would like to know is when, if we edge back in time from that definite “gone” point of 1500, we would start to pick up on some discernible signs of surviving Celtic language.

The Devon ‘tre’ place names offer some of the best evidence for survival, as in Cornwall ‘tre’ names are a kind of gold standard for the presence of Cornish speech. As yet, I have not been able to find any information about when the Devon ‘tre’ settlements were created. Is there any evidence for any of them having been founded after the Norman Conquest? If so, then that would be firm evidence for Celtic speech having survived the Anglo-Saxon period.

I realise that this is not a way of showing the whole picture of late Cornish speech in Devon. I believe that in north west Devon some degree of Cornish speech must have survived, possibly even beyond 1500 (depending, of course, on how long it actually lasted in east Cornwall), given that the Devonian and Cornish communities are literally side by side, separated by only a very narrow river. What would have happened if two people had married, and one spoke mainly Cornish and the other English? I cannot imagine that such relationships did not occur. The English speaker would surely have learnt a little Cornish, and the Cornish speaker a little English. The point being, for some time after Cornish’s extinction on the Devon side, it would have been constantly brought back over the river, in dribs and drabs, by means of trade, friendship and marriage. I am sure this must have gone on until the language was pushed so far westwards that contact between Devonians and Cornish speakers was severed.

Some date the start of the demise of the Cornish language from Cornwall’s post-Reformation loss of contact with Brittany; where the Bretons had more autonomy (only formally joining France in 1532) and the native language was in a stronger position. On the Devon-Cornwall border, at a much earlier point than the Reformation, any remaining Cornish speakers must have become increasingly isolated and sidelined as the language’s main body of speakers shifted further and further westwards.

As you have pointed out, regarding culture, Celtic customs survived the loss of the language, and it is accepted that the Devon dialect hides Celtic secrets, and can be seen, if not as Celtic speech, but Celtic-influenced speech.

I am inclined to think that the largest loss of surviving Celtic culture in Devon probably stemmed from the destruction and violence surrounding the Reformation. I mentioned above that this event is seen by many in Cornwall at the point at which they began to lose their language and culture, but it badly effected Devon too. Despite the Reformation Devon’s main Celtic legacy survives in its church dedications, and the inclusion of Celtic religious figures and terms in its place names. Who knows what written material, relating to late Celtic Devon, was lost when the monasteries were closed and their ancient libraries ransacked?

The antiquarian Bale, writing in 1587, describes an appalling destruction of culture;

“A greate nombre of them whyche purchased those superstycyouse mansyons (Monasteries) reserved of those librarye bookes some to serve their jakes, some to scoure theyr candelstyckes, and some to rubbe theyr bootes. Some they solde to the grossers and sope sellers, and some they sent over see to ye booke bynders, not in small nombre, but at tymes whole shyppes full, to ye, wonderynge of foren nacyons. Yea ye. Universytees of thys realme are not alle clere in thys detestable fact. But cursed is that bellye whyche seketh to be fedde with suche ungodlye gaynes, and so depelye shameth hys natural conterye. I knowe a merchant manne, whych shall at thys tyme be namelesse, that boughte ye contentes of two noble lybraryes for forty shyllynges pryce : a shame it is to be spoken. Thys stuffe hathe heoccupyed in ye stede of greye paper, by ye, space of more than these ten yeares, and yet he bathe store ynoughe for as manye years to come. A prodygyous example is thys, and to be abhorred of all men whyche love theyr nacyon as they shoulde do. The monkes kepte them undre dust, ye, ydle-headed prestes regarded them not, theyr latter owners have most shamefully abused them, and ye covetouse merchantes have solde them away into foren nacyons for moneye.”

The quantity of ancient manuscripts lost and destroyed was huge, the cultural loss incalculable. If today we do not know much about the early history of our own country, this is probably the reason why. I can see the works of many venerable Bedes being used to scour candlesticks and clean boots.

As the writer describes, if not destroyed, many of the books were sold abroad. Perhaps in some ancient libraries of Europe some as yet unseen Cornish or Brythonic manuscripts from Devon or Cornwall lie gathering dust, unread for centuries.

ExeValleyBoy,

The question of when the Brythonic language become extinct as a spoken language in Devon is a good one. Of course, languages do not suddenly become extinct. They gradually fade away, but when did that process occur in Devon?

A number of Devon writers and historians (plus a Bard of the Cornish Gorseth) have stated that Cornish was still being spoken in South and West Devon during the reign of Edward I, which would imply the early 14th century. These accounts can be traced back to at least one early (17th century) chronicler, Tristram Risdon, whose ancestors came to Devon (from Gloucestershire) in the 14th century. I have seen it written (but I cannot remember where) that Risdon’s accounts of Devon’s history were drawn in part from a family archive. If that archive dated back to the arrival of the Risdon family in Devon, then the account of Cornish being spoken in the 14th century could well have been as a result of first-hand contact with such speakers by the Risdons. There could well be other early sources, but I have not come across them.

There are those who doubt the validity of Risdon’s account, and some even doubt whether Brythonic speech survived in Devon later than the Norman Conquest. It is therefore important to find corroborative evidence for Risdon’s claim. No one has ever found any Brythonic manuscripts in Devon, dating back to this period, but that is not surprising, as even the earliest known Cornish texts (in Cornwall) were from no earlier than the mid 14th century, and these originated from the western end of Cornwall, where the language was still in a fairly healthy state at that time.

The eminent Devon historian, the late Professor W.G. Hoskins, perhaps gave us a clue, when he stated that a number of Devon’s Celtic place-names were first recorded in the 13th century. Of course it is possible that these names were earlier ones, but were omitted from previous records (such as the Domesday Book) for some unknown reason, although this is unlikely. However, the “Crown Pleas of the Devon Eyre (1238)” contains some intriguing references to a number of men referred to as ‘Welshmen’, e.g. “Robert the Welshman”, “William the Welshman”, etc. In the 13th century, the term ‘Welshman’ did not necessarily imply a native of Wales, as it was mainly used in England to identify any man who spoke a Brythonic language. It is therefore probable that these references to ‘Welshmen’ were to native inhabitants of Devon who still spoke a Brythonic tongue at that time. If this was the case, it would constitute compelling evidence for Brythonic survival in Devon at least into the 13th century.

It has come to light very recently that a closer examination of the format of known Brythonic place-names in Devon could give clues as to when the language expired in Devon. This information came from a Celtic languages scholar in Aberystwyth, who was trying to argue that Brythonic speech did not survive in Devon beyond 1000AD. He contended that the language in Devon must have followed the same development path as it did in Cornwall, and that as there were distinct markers, which separated Middle Cornish from Old Cornish, the absence of these markers from any Devon place-names constituted strong evidence that the language in Devon did not survive past the transition between Old and Middle Cornish. He dated the transition to about 1100AD. These marker shifts included the following sound transitions: ‘-nt’ to ‘-ns’ (e.g. ‘nant’ became ‘nans’, and ‘pont’ became ‘pons’), ‘-d’ to ‘-s’ (e.g. ‘ryd’ became ‘rys’) and the adjective forming suffix ‘-oc’ became ‘-ec’ (the ‘–ec’ suffix is often found in the form ‘-ick’, e.g. ‘Tredinnoc’ became the present form ‘Tredinnick’). I pointed out that the Cornish place-name etymology scholar, Oliver Padel, dated this transition to sometime during the 12th century, but he also noted that in East Cornwall (in particular), the Old Cornish form of names frequently survived much later than this (often until the present day), despite the language surviving into the 15th/16th centuries in most of East Cornwall, and that it was therefore likely that it also survived the Old/Middle transition period in Devon. The Aberystwyth scholar responded by pointing out that there were a few cases in East Cornwall where the Middle Cornish form was adopted and retained, and that this constituted strong evidence that the Cornish language survived past the 12th century transition point in East Cornwall, but he argued that the total lack of such Middle Cornish forms in Devon place-names clearly showed that Brythonic had not survived beyond the 12th century in Devon. He also asserted that ‘epenthesis’ (insertion of a vowel into consonant groups) was another clear indicator of the transition.

Unfortunately for the guy concerned, he had shot himself in the foot, as he had not done his homework concerning Devon place-names. If he had, he would have discovered that these same linguistic changes were to be found in a number of the Brythonic place-names of Devon. I know of no instances of ‘nant’ or ‘nans’ names in Devon (or of ‘ryd’ or ‘rys’ names), but there are a few ‘pons’ names (e.g. ‘Ponsworthy’), but none of the earlier ‘pont’ names. Although the usual adjectival suffix in Devon names (as is the case in East Cornwall) is the older ‘-oc’ (e.g. ‘Hemyock’), a number of the Middle Cornish ‘-ec’ examples are also evident (e.g. ‘Gaverick’, which has attested Brythonic etymology). The real giveaway was ‘epenthesis’, which is a very common feature in Devon names (especially ‘combe’ names; amounting to about 50% of the total number), e.g. ‘Lannacombe’, ‘Mothecombe’, ‘Lydacott’, etc. If the existence of a minority of the later (Middle Cornish) forms constitutes strong evidence of post-12th century survival of Cornish speech in East Cornwall, then the same must logically apply in Devon.

Later transitions, which occurred during the 16th and 17th centuries, were associated with the change to Late Cornish. None of these (e.g. the change from ‘-nn’ to ‘-dn’, as in the change from ‘pen’ to ‘pedn’) are to be found in Devon (or in East Cornwall).

You are probably right to postulate that cross-Tamar interaction would have kept the language alive in the border regions beyond the 14th century. There was certainly cross-Tamar cooperation at the time of the 1496, 1497 and 1549 rebellions. However, your example of North West Devon and North East Cornwall is probably not a good one, as there is a triangle of land between the Rivers Ottery and Tamar in North East Cornwall, which is notable for its paucity of Brythonic/Cornish place-names. In fact the percentage of ‘Cornish’ names in this district actually appears to be lower than that in the neighbouring coastal region of North West Devon, where there is a cluster of names of known Brythonic etymology (e.g. ‘Trellick’, ‘Clovelly’, ‘Rosedown’, ‘Portledge’, ‘Cartland’ and ‘Landcross’). It is thought that the triangle of land in North East Cornwall was the first district of Cornwall to experience Saxon settlement, and that the Cornish language expired early here (probably earlier than in South and West Devon).

The weight of evidence for Brythonic survival into the 14th century in areas of South and West Devon (as stated by Risdon), looks to be compelling, when one considers the place-names which were not recorded until the 13th century, at a time when a number of men in Devon were being referred to as ‘Welshmen’, and the fact that a number of Devon’s place-names incorporate linguistic changes, which did not occur until the 12th century.

>Incidentally, does anyone know of a distinctively Saxon cultural survival in Devon, as I can’t say that I do?

I don't know enough about Devon folklore and customs to be able to answer that question, I'm afraid, but I did read on the website I linked to on the Little Britayne thread that a weather-vane shaped like a wyvern had been found in Exeter, and that Wyvern Barracks in Topsham Road was named after it.

Oh, and don't forget the Exeter Book - it's not folklore, but it is a cultural survival.

The Office of Portreeve at Ashburton is a still ongoing cultural survival from the Saxon period, it is described here;

http://www.ashburton.org/portreeve.htm

Also elements of Old English survive in the Devon dialect, along with traces of the original Celtic language and, apparently, of Norman French too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/southwest/series7/devon-dialect.shtml

Debate surrounds the origins of the Exeter Book, so although it represents a Saxon cultural survival, no one knows whether it was actually written in Devon. Some say that the 11th century Bishop Leofric found it at the old Saxon ecclesiastical see of Crediton and moved it with him to Exeter, but proof of its origin has yet to be established.

More on the Exeter Book, and these debates;

http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5241

Come to think of it, I'm not sure what folklore customs in England as a whole can be definitively traced back to Saxon times. The only ones I can think of are wassailing and the song "Sumer is ycoming in". Maybe Morris Dancing as well, but the origins of that are unknown.

nxylas,

Perhaps I needn't be speaking for Plymouth Exile, but I can only assume he was referring to customs which can be traced back to the Saxon invaders themselves. Because, as is clear enough, any custom in England of Celtic origin will of course, be traceable to Saxon times (i. e. pre-Norman).

Anyway, from what I know of the folk customs of England in general, there seems to be something of a scarcity of influence from Germanic traditions (probably even weaker in Devon), and an abundance of apparently Celtic influence.
This can also be seen in folk music. English tunes are generally very similar to those of the rest of the British Isles, but quite distinctively different from what is found in Germany, Holland and Scandinavia.

That's waht I was referring to as well. Most of the other folklore motifs I thought of (corn dollies, hobby horses etc), besides the two definitely Old English ones I just mentioned were probably of Celtic origin.

At least I assume the other things I mentioned were Celtic in origin. It is hard to tell, since there is a tendency to label anything pre-1066 as "Celtic", whether it actually is or not (particularly in America - I have seen a CD called "Celtic Moods" with a picture of Stonehenge on the cover!).

Einion and Nick,

I looked up Morris Dancing, and its origins appear to be obscure. Some claim that it is ‘Moorish’ in origin (hence the name), although they cannot explain how a Moorish dance form would have found its way to Britain, or indeed point to any similar dances performed today in North Africa (the ancestral home of the Moors). Others claim a pre-Christian Celtic fertility right as the origin, but there is absolutely no evidence for this either. I have found no claims that it is Anglo-Saxon in origin. Professor Alun Howkins of Sussex University has researched the origins of Morris Dancing and cannot trace it back any earlier than the 15th century. It appears that the Tudors were very keen on it.

As for the Americans and Stonehenge, I expect that the (flawed) train of thought goes something like: Stonehenge – Druids – Celts. Americans tend to be terribly ill informed when it comes to non-American history or geography. I recently saw a TV interviewer asking a random selection of American passers-by about global terrorism and which country they thought the greatest threat came from. He then asked them to locate the country on a large world map, which was devoid of country names. It was amazing how many intelligent looking and sounding Americans had no idea where Iran was (some placing it in India), and one guy was convinced that North Korea was in Australia; he even expressed his surprise at how much bigger North Korea was than South Korea, pointing to Tasmania.

I’m sure that some of the contributors to this forum already know this but it is new information to me and I thought I would post it here for anyone who may not be aware of it and as my own small contribution to the discussion of Celtic place-names in Devon.

The very English sounding name Landkey, a village just a few miles southeast of Barnstaple, is actually Celtic. Kea was a Celtic saint and ‘llan’ is a Brythonic word meaning “holy enclosure or place devoted to religious purposes”. So, Landkey actually means St. Kea’s holy enclosure. It just goes to show how words and place names can become anglicized to the point where it is extremely difficult to determine their origin. I noticed that Landcross is mentioned above as being a Celtic Devon place name as well and I imagine (please let me know if I’m wrong) that that name probably also refers to a “llan” or holy enclosure.

By the way, I can think of a fairly recent example of epenthesis here in Newfoundland. There is a community in Trinity Bay that was renamed Whiteway sometime around 1900. It was named after Sir William Vallance Whiteway who was born in Buckyett, Devon and served as Prime Minister of Newfoundland from 1895 to 1897. Almost everybody in Trinity Bay refers to Whiteway as “Whiteaway” - pronounced “white a way”. In fact it was a long time before I realized that “Whiteaway” was not the correct spelling.

I first found out about the Celtic origin of Landkey’s name in Ralph Whitlock, “The Folklore of Devon”. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield, 1977.

Newvonian,

There are a number of ‘lann’ (Brythonic), ‘llan’ (Welsh) names in Devon, as typified by your example of ‘Landkey’. Landcross is indeed another example, which is included in the book “Celtic Voices English Places” by Richard Coates and Andrew Breeze. Coates attributes the derivation to O.J. Padel, who gives it as ‘lann+cors’, meaning ‘the religious enclosure in the reeds’. There are other names of this type, such as ‘Langage’ near Plymouth, which judging by its age is also probably a ‘lann’ name.

I was also interested in the birthplace of Sir William Vallence Whiteway. Buckyett survives today as ‘Buckyette Farm’, and it seems to contain the element ‘yett’, which was a Brythonic word meaning ‘gate’. It is possible therefore that this old Domesday manor name is from ‘bugh+yett’, meaning ‘cowgate’.

You may be interested in a couple of links concerning Devon’s Celtic heritage. The first is a more general site:-

http://users.senet.com.au/~dewnans/

The second refers more specifically to the early Brythonic language that was in use in Devon during the time that many of Devon’s place-names came into existence. It also contains a section on the derivations of Devon’s Brythonic place-names:-

http://members.fortunecity.com/gerdewnansek/#