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

Reported today.....

"Cornwall Council is considering plans to spend half a million pounds a year on developing the Cornish language.

The council is putting together a bid for £400,000 a year of funding from central government with Cornwall Council putting in a further £100,000 a year.

The chairman of the committee that looked at the plans said the Cornish language was good for the economy and made Cornwall not “like Devon”."

Read more: http://www.westbriton.co.uk/Cornwall-Council-plans-spend-500-000-year-Cornish/story-20211791-detail
/story.html#ixzz2lmWGVfgI

I'll try that link again...


http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Cornwall-Council-plans-spend-500-000-year-Cornish/story-20211791-detail/story.html#axzz2lmOywjFE

This shows a total lack of knowledge of Devon history, genetic heritage, and place name derivations:-

“Mr Dwelly said the presence of the Cornish language was appealing to visitors and part of what makes Cornwall “a special place”.
“We don’t want to be just any old Westcountry place with English place names like Devon, he said.”

Clearly Mr Dwelly hasn’t read “CELTIC VOICES ENGLISH PLACES”, by Richard Coates and Andrew Breeze, which examines the extent to which place names in England are Celtic in origin. Unlike other counties in southern England, there is a whole chapter dedicated to Devon places with Celtic names, and the authors admit that their list only represents major place names. Although Coates and Breeze identify numerous major place names in Devon as having Celtic (mainly Brythonic) origins, the vast majority of Celtic place names in Devon are those of minor places, such as small villages, hamlets and farms.

The most common place name element in Devon is the Brythonic “combe/coombe” (Welsh: “cwm”, Breton: “komm”), meaning “valley”. This is to be found in hundreds of Devon’s minor place names and several major names, as well as in Cornwall.

Other Brythonic place name elements commonly found in Devon include “cors” (meaning ‘reeds’ or ‘bog’), “dun” (meaning ‘hill’ or ‘hillfort’), “pol” (meaning ‘pool’), “pen” (meaning ‘head’ or ‘headland’), “liss” (meaning ‘court’), “tre” (meaning ‘farm’), “lan” (meaning ‘churchyard’), “nimed” (meaning ‘sacred grove’), “main” (meaning ‘large rock’), “ros” (meaning ‘moor’), and “tor” (meaning ‘rock tower’).

Mr. Dwelly clearly needs to remove his blinkers.

Plymouth Exile:

Thank you for your clear and concise post, I thought you might pick up on that line of Cllr Dwelly's regarding place-names.

I've not read Coates and Breeze yet, but shall do so very soon.

The problem seems to be: just how do we get Cllr Dwelly and Cornwall County Council to read it?

Also, whilst I like to see the old language promoted, I do wonder about spending quite so much money on it in the present financial climate.

Reading between the lines, the 'apparent' justification for this decision is SIMPLY COMMERCIAL - namely TOURISM.

I would not want to deny Cornwall any tourism income, and (to be fair) Cornwall's place-names do have more celtic elements than Devon. Furthermore, Devon's place-names typically have a more "anglicised" spelling to those in west Cornwall.

However, it is irritating that certain of our brethren to the west continue to ignore the fact that Devon has a wealth of Celtic place-names. These range from the abundant "Combe" and "Tor", which are far more common in Devon than in Cornwall, to numerous 'Pen-", 'Tre-" and "Lan-" elements, and to celtic saint dedications, such as St Budeaux, St Petrock, Etc... (Which are also more common in Devon than in Cornwall).

A triumph of marketing over reality perhaps.

The attached site shows a number of maps showing placename distribution.

"Combe" or its many variants, including "Cwm", was selected to illustrate the Brythonic influence.

http://www.stevefaeembra.com/blog/2016/1/10/toponymy-mapping-place-name-patterns-in-great-britain-with-qgis

It shows a remarkable pattern running north/south through Wales and, with equivalent frequency, through Devon.

Combe also appears, but with much less frequency, throughout the rest of southwest Britain.

It is also less frequent in Cornwall, particularly further west, and this is also true of the far west of Wales. I find this pattern interesting.

BTW, it is a pity that the cartographer did not include "Lan" in his other map showing "Llan", as it would have picked up a number of names from Devon and Cornwall.

As you rightly say, the non inclusion of Lan names with the Welsh Llan names is odd, as he does include Combe/Coombe with the Welsh Cwm