The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-09-15
(for the Dispateh.J
~Tbc south Pr0vcrb."
- By Pol and Ire and Pen
Nm NAV know the Cornish men"

~yhc south Pr0vcrb."
by Pol and Ire and Pen
You may know the Cornish men,.
During the reign Of George III. there were
few aged persons In Cornwaii VINO sun
made use of their native tongue; but the
Cornish speech is now totally extinct. Its
literary remains are frsgmeDtary. welsh,
however, closely.related language OF the
Cymric branch OF the great Celtic stock
Ia 10. day the usual mode OF communication
employed by some two million people, and
the oniu jdiom understood by about one
tenth of that number. Its literature Is nei-
tber deficient In quantity nor insignificant
as TO quality. The Welsh have society OF
antiquarians, devoted to the preservation OF
their literature; and our American Tract
Society issues religious publications for The
use OF the Welsh miners in this country.
We mention these facts to show that we are
not yenturiDg upon a terra inc00nitd.
The Cymric, Of which the Cornish and
the Welsh ale dialects, once prevailed over
tie whole OF Britain, excepting North
Scotland, where the Gaelic is the vernacu-
lara cognate Celt idiom, best known TO
scholars as the original Of Ossian's poems,
which are no longer attributed as forgery
to Macpherson, their translator. The Erse
or Irish Is another kindred speech belong
.ing to the Celtic stock.
In Scotland we have the mountain PEAKS
Ben Nevis. Ben Lomond, Ben Ledi, etc.
In passing from Gaelic TO Cymric, a sonanl
like b changes to the corresponding surd
labiaI, Il. Accordingly, on going south
waId we encounter Penhill, Penard, and
Pen in Somerset, and notice that the high
est hill in BuckiDghamshire is called Pen,
and that one OF the most conspicuous sum-
mits in Yorkshire is Pennigant. The town
OF Inkpen in Berkshire stands on high
hill. Similarly situated are Pendleton and
Penketh in Lancashire, and Penshurst in
Sussex. In Cumberland we md Penrith-
i. e.. pen firth, "the head OF the ford y (;
and In Herefordshire Pencord, "tbe head
of the wood" In Wales we have the head
lands Penrhos, Penmaenmawr, Pembroke,
and many Others. In Cornwall (Which the
old cbroDicIers always write Corn Wales
/. e., Wales "shaped like horn ")-tbe
mountains whose names begin with Pen
are are rs numerous as the BenS OF Scot
land: we inst mention Penrhyn and PEN
dennis.
Surnsmes derived from this source that
occur to our memory at this Writing are
Penn, Pender, PcDdergrast, Pendennis,
Pennant, Pinnock, Penny, Penick, Pinck-
ney, Pipckham, PinkertoD, Pendlelon,
Pembroke, and Pemberton. We believe
these names to be expressive generally OF
locality OF residence; but as pen, like the
French chef and Italian cdpo, (Latin cdput.
Greek cephdie, "the bead,") means bead
man ms well as head land, an honorary sig-
MITIGATION may attach to it in some instances.
The other sylables about which our
friend inquiries are also locative. Pol we
take to be the Welsh p,oi, "iulet, or pool"
welsh 70, he It observed, sounds like Eng
Iisb in do and foOd.) We find this loca-
tive affix In P,olbeli 10 Wales, Wampoot in
Cumberland, aud England's second CON-
mercial city, Liverpool. Surnominally, we
have 1t Enthusiastically in Poole and Brad
pole (broad pooh and WalpOle-i. e., lake
In the aootd Uorest). Pole also (whcn not a
surname due to national extraction or to
the old pronunciation OF PauD is vario-
nym OF Pool. Pollok aud Pollock III not
diminutives OF PauD are combination OF
the Cymric p,ol and the Gaelic loch. both
meaning lake" Such an agglutiDaiion OF
synopyms drawn from different languages
is not uncommon 10 geographical areas sub.
iect to successive influxes Of different tides
,.of migration or conquest. Pullman rs also
probably "the man who lives at the put."
Remembering how easily the sound 90
passes into ee-as we see exemplifed In the
German grim. which sounds very much
like its English translation, screen I've
may detect in Peel and Peaje other forms
OF ptci. And rs we know that Saxon y
We have Pyles (Byles), Pillow, and Pills.
bury. e.. little village.
The geographical names Polbr0ok, Pol
garth, Polsden, Polsdon, and PoIstead are
probably due to the personal name Ba!der,
. northern deity, who would appear Ia
Cymric Sharpening the c0nsonants) as Pal
ter.
IRE Is the Cymric for village" 1t may
be related TO the Irish treabh, "csn," and,
more remotely, to the Latin tribus, "tribe.''
IL does not occur in Gaelic. 1t seems to
have been especially Cornish. II appears
niuety.six times In the village names OF
Cornwall. twenty times In those OF Wales,
I've times 10 Herefordshire, and sixteen
times in other border counties more than
twice as often In Cornwall as In all the rest
Of the Cymric region. We have space for
q few:
Tredegsr, Edgdr's VILLAGE; Treeyap,
Eudn's Hiiiage-Evsn being the Welsh form
OF John; Trewen Trefonen; Tretire; Tre-
broader; Trebroun; Trehorn; Tregallon |;
Trenchan Uchiltre, whence our surname
Ochitfree /; Braintree, both village and SUR
name; Treton aud Tretown, formed by
synonymous agglutination Of Cymric and
Anglo-Saxon vocables; also, Treborougb,
Of which the surBsme Trevor perhaps Is .
corruption; Trevill, Cymric and Anglo
Norman aggIutlnation. whence evidently
the surname 1reviiiian, an inbabitant OF
said rifle. The surname Trevey, which We
baye Ia Roekbridge, 10 PERHAPS q corrup.
tion OF Treby, q CymTic and Danish agglu.
ttnatior. fremont, Trenor, and Trsynor
ere other surEames illustrative OF "the
South proverb."
The surnaiDes which are derived from
aamcs Of localities constitute by far the
asrgcst division Of the subject which We
&avc undertaken 70 discuss 10 the columns
~ tho U5sp0tch. We wish to finish patro.
eymics before taking up localities; but In
che mehn fine we shall welcome every
question bat may suggest 10 us line 81
inquiry that might not otherwise have oc
e1r4eA y o., CHAHLEs Don.
-------v-'-uu n-p-~-
1ne epeslsl mall service win 10 dIscon,