Just came across this and thought it worth sharing (especially for London SSiWers - your tube journeys will never be the same!)
Brynwimbl - I love it!
O, this is hilarious!
However some are easy to catch like BrodyrdduâŚCroesbrenin (ha ha!), but others I canât really figure.
For example:
Turnham Green = Maes Ynystroi. Ok maes and troi, but why ynys?
Chiswick Park = Parc Cawsfferm. Does it play with the sound of chis=cheese? But how does wick become fferm?
Wimbledon = Brynwimbwl how does it turn into that? @KateM ?
Not that it is necessary, but just curious now since I enjoy this way of playing with words.
The ynys doesnât necessarily mean âislandâ (as we usually think), it can mean âriver meadowâ or even a raised area in wet ground, or dry ground in a marsh - I presume Turnham met that criteria at some point.
Chiswick was first recorded c1000 as the Old English Ceswican meaning âCheese Farmâ
The name Wimbledon means âWynnmanâs hillâ, but âWynnmanâ has got mangled into âWimbleâ over the centuries.
Oh ok, thanks!
So the answer for those that are not obvious might be in the origin of the English name then. Itâs going to be a long research, i can entertain myself for a couple of months.
Oh yes, place names are fascinating in all languages!
Aha, I just found this too and was wondering if any SSiW people had come across it yet! It does make me wonder if Mr Smith has maybe a little too much time on his hands, but itâs just brilliant. (And no, Iâll never look at the Tube map in quite the same way again, even though I barely know a few words of Welsh so far.)
Mind you, this has now inspired me to take up the challenge of translating the entire Tube map into Cornish⌠(Seriously, thereâs a very avid lot of Cornish speakers and learners in and around London, so it IS a useful idea. Sort of.)
Thatâs brilliant! There are some fantastic translations in there! âFfynnonystwnâ for Stockwell and âStryd Triporthladd Fawrâ for Great Portland Street. I wish heâd changed âMorningtonâ to âtreforeâ or something similar. But this is keeping me very entertained
I also didnât realise that Llinos is the name of a bird (Finch in English) and I have now learnt what Llannerch Vineyard is gamed after (a glade or clearing). I love the name Llannerch Llinos for Finchley.
I thought the same, so I did a bit of searching online and found that the name Mornington (the crescent itself and the station were named after the Earl of Mornington) comes originally from a village in County Meath and is an Anglicisation of the Irish Baile UĂ MhornĂĄin , meaning âTown of the Marinerâ. So if we want to take it right back to its Celtic roots, itâs really Treforwr.
Oh good digging! I like Treforwr too!
So do I. Actually I did the Cornish first â Trevarner â and looked up the Welsh. (No, I havenât had time to re-do the entire map in Cornish yet⌠)
Ron iân arfer byw yn Llannerchllinos blynyddoedd yn ol! Love it.
If I had ever lived somewhere without a Welsh name, this would certainly pique my interest in finding a Welsh name for it!
My home town of Monmouth - Trefynwy in Welsh today - had an older Welsh name of Abermynwy, âmouth of the Monnowâ, of which, of course, Monmouth is a closer translation than âTown of the Monnowâ. But then if theyâd stuck to Abermynwy, I wouldnât have learnt the mutations for T so quickly⌠o Drefynwy, yn Nhrefynwy, a ThrefynwyâŚ
Iâve never lived in a town with a Welsh name, even though my current village of Uralla could be pronounced in the Welsh way. My place of birth is Helmond - low mound/tumulus - so it is now Iselgrug
Well, this map has certainly got around a bit. I live in London and my four adult children donât follow anything Welsh but, this morning, after discovering my son had stayed over (late party somewhere in Brixton) the first thing he said to me was âhave you seen the Welsh tube mapâ!
I live in Thornbury (near Bristol). What about Tredraenen? Or probably Treddraenen? (or some other better suggestion?)
Apparently, Thornbury was originally derived from the Old English thorn broc which means âthe stream by the thornsâ, so how about Nantyddraenen?
Nantyddraenen sounds good. I shall have to get some stickers made up to stick on the town signâs. âCroeso i Nantyddraenenâ! I wonder if there is some sort of official register or list where alternative names in Welsh can be registered?
This is the only one that springs to mind, but Iâm not sure they cover as far as Thornbury - sorry - Nantyddraenen!
https://www.cymdeithasenwaulleoedd.cymru/en/