Place-Names of Carmarthenshire

9781860571572
    Delivery time:Out 4 August 2022
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  • Description


Place-Names of Carmarthenshire  is the first publication to investigate all major place-names in the historic county of   Carmarthen (1536-1974), including the westerly parts of the county transferred to modern Pembrokeshire after 1996.

Tracing the history of Welsh place-names casts light upon the ways in which our ancestors lived and how they thought about the world around them. The meaning of place-names,  however, is not always easy to determine because their     written and spoken forms have often changed over time and particularly when the language in a particular location switched from Welsh to English. Fortunately, Carmarthenshire was not so markedly affected in this respect as many other parts of Wales but it is still easy to be mislead by modern spellings:

Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen) does not recall the name of the mythological Myrddin (Merlin) in the Arthurian tales but is  derived from morddin (môr / ‘seaand din / ‘fort’) describing a  Roman maritime fort - the precursor of the medieval borough;

Llanboidy does not contain a llan (‘church’) but rather a nant (‘stream’) located near a beudy (‘cow-shed’);

Castelldwyran actually means ‘Durant’s castle’, being composed of castell (‘castle’) and an Anglo-Norman personal name Durant, rather than dwyran    (‘two-thirds’).

Illustrated with many images of the county, Place-Names of   Carmarthenshire examines more than 920 place-names and   features a 1,000-entry Glossary of  place-name elements,    personal names and rivers, and is the result of the author’s detailed  research in archives and reference libraries.


Richard Morgan is a former archivist at Powys Archives and Glamorgan Archives. He co-authored the Dictionary of the Place-Names of Wales (2007, 2008) with Professor Hywel Wyn Owen, and is the author of Place-Names of Glamorgan (Welsh   Academic Press 2018).




CONTENTS

Acknowledgements
List of illustrations
Preface
Introduction:

     Carmarthenshire Place-Names: study and survey
     Carmarthenshire Place-Names: research and analysis
    
Map 1 Medieval Carmarthenshire
    
Map 2 English influence before 1500
     Selection of names
    
Map 3: County boundary 1536-1974
    
Map 4: Unitary authorites from 2003
     Editorial method

Guide to the International Phonetic Alphabet

Abbreviations and Bibliography

Online Databases and Reference Resources

Glossary:
      Common Place-Name Elements
      Personal Names and Surnames
      River-names

A Aberarad to Ashfield

B Babel to Bynea

C Caeo to Cywyn

D Dafen to Dynevor

E East Marsh to Esgob

F Faenor to Furnace

G Ganol to Gwynfe

H Halfpenny Furze to Horeb

I Iddole to Is-morlais

J Johnstown

K Kidwelly to Kingsland

L Lacques to Loughor

M Mabelfyw to Myrtle Hill

N Nant Aeron to Newton

P Pantarfon to Pysgotwr

R Ram to Roche Castle

S Salem to Sylgen

T Tachlouan to Tywi

U Upper Brynaman to Uwch Sawdde

W Waun Baglam to Wysg
Y Ydw to Ystumgwili

List of subscribers

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