Cylchgronau Cymru

Brook around Guilsfield.11 Some changes were the work of nature but alterations, extensions and diversions in the form of ditches, dykes,12 pools, channels, culverts and mill-races were the concomitants of new agricultural practices, of the harnessing of water-power, of the building of settlements and of the construction of canals. The enclosure maps for the area already men- tioned, the Deytheur townships, provide several examples of fabricated water courses and which can be identified by their names, e.g. Rhysnant Drain, Idle Lane Drain and Llandrinio Rhos Drain. Often the presence of Pwll in a name, e.g. South Pwll on the bounds of the Township of Haughton, records interference by man. In compiling the List my aim has been to record every name which I have come across, to refer where necessary to relevant documentation, to attempt a translation into English and, where again considered necessary, to comment on development and meaning. Etymologies are only discussed when they support an explanation or a suggestion: they are not treated in depth. The names themselves, nevertheless, should be of interest and use to serious students of etymology and linguistics. Translating has not been a straightforward task. The most frequent word of all has caused trouble. I refer to nant which in current Welsh is feminine and means stream, brook. In earlier Welsh it had this meaning and also the meaning of valley, usually a small one. It is a very old word; it occurs in place-names in France today as a relic of the Celtic speech of ancient Gaul. Even at that stage it had its two meanings though valley was the dominant one. Nant = valley tended to be masculine and to denote the same kind of terrain as cwm. A name such as Nant Cwm Dyfnant exemplifies the difficulty caused by the two meanings. In some instances the meaning is settled by the presence or the absence of a stream. One comes across several Sychnant (e.g. SH9504) where sych (dry) indicates that it is a valley without a stream in it. When it occurs in hybrid names there is nothing to guide the translator. Is Nant y Caws Brook the stream in the valley of the cheese or are nant and brook tautological? The compound ceunant (< cau + nant) can be equally ambiguous. It can mean either a valley with precipitous sides or a stream by high and steep banks. I believe that Nant y Ceunant Bach is an example of the first meaning and Ceunant Cross of the second. Ceunant Clochnant is an example of a complicated use of nant and its compound. Other words which presents the translator with difficulties are those which denote different kinds of terrain. The ones in the List are gweun/gwaen, gwern, ffridd, and rhos. If cors, mignen and mawnog are added to these, we have a range of meanings which overlap and which span from quagmire to pasture. Dictionaries do not always indicate the exact meaning which these words have in a particular locality. One should ask an indigenous speaker to point out examples of gwern and gwaen, of ffridd and rhos. The usual generic words which appear in stream names are afon and nant and river and brook. It is interesting to note that in bilingual districts the appositions afon-river and nant-brook are not always found, e.g., in English speech Afon Garno is Carno Brook. Other generics are used now and again. When ffos and pwll are used, they generally imply that the watercourse is to some degree manmade. Other Welsh words sometimes met are ceunnant (v. supra), aber and the localised ole. In English, especially in the accounts of perambulations, we come across rills and prills. The Latin documents have rivulus, amnis and ripa. he enclosure maps which show these developments are those for the eastern areas of the county. In the schedules for Guilsfield, for example. ill ISOO there is a section entitled Works of Drainage and Embankment. "The constructors of Offa's Dyke interferred with the courses of streams, v. Offa's Dyke, 94 & 102.