WALES WIDE WEB UNDERSTANDING PLACE NAMES IN WALES

Place names in Wales are more descriptive than in most parts of the United Kingdom. Without having to be a language expert, it is interesting to see how place names are built up of parts which describe the locality. The following is a list of useful elements; needless to say that there are many other Welsh language words featuring in place names, but this give you some idea of how the names are formed. When you read this list, the topology of Wales is suggested, with mountains, valleys, rivers, rocks, plains, bogs and marshes. While the scenery is not measureably the most extreme in the world, there is an enormous and interesting variety in a comparatively small region, which generally inspires an indelible fondness in those brought up there. It is said that you can take the boy out of Wales, but you will never take Wales out of the boy! (They don't have much to say about girls!)

Beware!! As in most languages, the form of some words changes according to the surrounding words in the sentence. In Welsh, often the first letter changes, so you can end up entirely at the wrong end of the alphabet when you try to look them up. For example, "mawr" and "fawr" both mean "big", and are derived from the same root. Therefore when you look up a word, if you don't find it straight away, try browsing.

A useful conjunction, which crops up all over the place, is "y" or "yr". This means "of the" or "belonging to".

Element	Meaning	Element	Meaning
aber	Estuary or confluence	allt	Hillside, hill slope, wood
afon	River	bach/fach	Lesser, little or small
ban	Bare hill, beacon or peak	bedd	Grave
bedwen	Bitch	betws	House of prayer, chapel of peace
blaen	End., head, head of valley, reiver source, upland	borth/porth	Gate, harbour or port
bro	Region	bron	Hill-breast, hill side, hill slope
bryn	Hill	bwlch	Gap or pass
cae	Enclosure or closed field	caer	Camp, fort, fortress or stronghold
carn	Cairn, mountain, prominence or rock	carreg/cerrig	Rock(s) or stone(s)
castell	Castle	cefn	Ridge
clwyd	Gate	coch/goch	Red
coed	Forest, trees or wood	cors	Bog or marshy ground
craig	Rock	croes/groes	Cross or crossroads
cwm	Coombe or valley	cymer	Confluence or junction
dinas	Hill fort or town	dol	Meadow
du	Black	dwr	Water
duffryn	Vale	evail	Smithy
eglwys	Church	esgair	Long ridge
felin/melin	Mill	.	.
ffordd	Road or way	ffynnon	Spring or well
gelli	Grove	glan	Bank, hillock or river bank
glyn	Deep valley or glen	gwaun	Common land, moor or mountain pasture
gwern	Bog, Alder grove, swamp	hafod	Summer dwelling
hendre	Winter dwelling	hir	Long
isaf	Lower or lowest	llan	Church or enclosure
llwyn	Bush or grove	llyn	Lake
llys	Court, hall or mansion	maen	Stone
maes	Open field or plain	mawr/fawr	Big
melin	Mill	mool	Bare hill
mynydd	Moorland or mountain	nant	Brook
neuadd	Hall	newydd	New
pandy	Fulling mill	pant	Hollow or valley
pen	End, head or top	pistyll	Water spout or waterfall
plas	Hall or mansion	pont	Bridge
pwll/pil	Pool	rhaeadr	Waterfall
rhiw	Hill or slope	rhos	Moor or marshland
rhyl	Ford	sarn	Causeway
ton	Grassland or lea	traeth	Beach, shore or strand
tref/tre	Hamlet, homestead or town	troed	Base or foot
ty	House	uchaf	Higher, highest, upper
ynys	Holm, island or water-meadow	ystrad	Low flat land, vale or valley floor

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http://www.grossi.co.uk/wales/pnames.htm
Updated: 27/9/99