240 THE ANNUAL EXCURSION. 



NOTE ON THE NAME DELABOLE. 



The name existed before tlie Norman conquest took place, therefore it probably 

 consists of old Cornish words, Celtic terms, descriptive of the locality. 



The ancient name was " T)eliau " compounded with " Bol." The true spelling 

 and signification of these expressions demand careful consideration. 



The exchequer and Exeter Domesday books record that, in the time of King 

 Edward, the confessor, Earl Moreton possessed (inter alia) two manors, Deliau 

 and Deliou, — or Delioau and Delio. These the late Eev. J. Carne identified as 

 Delabol and Delionulh, in St. Teath. Sir .John Maclean confirms his view in 

 treating of these manors in his History of Trigg Minor (vol. III., p. 120, etc.). 

 Their names, or those connected with them, appear thus at different dates : — In 

 1066, Deliau, Delio, etc., DelioboU or Delyouboll, Deliomiu-e (maur-great). 

 In 1337 — 90, Delyonewyth (newydh-new). In 1387—8, Brune had possessions in 

 DelioboU, Deliopoleyn, and Deliocarlebon. Subsequently the forms appear as 

 Dellie, Dely, Dilly, Dela— , Denny, Dina — , etc. 



In the Domesday descriptions of these manors, no mention occurs of any 

 quarries. Domesday spelling may be misleading as to some places, but these 

 names seem fairly given when the words found in other documents are compared 

 with the Domesday return. 



Mr. Borlase, in his " Age of the Saints " (R. I. C. Journal, No. XX, p. 80) 

 suggests that Deliau may be connected with the dedication, which he thinks is 

 expressed in the name of the adjoining parish. He translates Endellion as being 

 Landelian, St. Delian's, St. Telian's, St. Teilo's, and he notes Tonkin's conjecture 

 that Duloe may have been named from the same saint. 



But if a non-ecclesiastical explanation of Delio be preferred to Mr. Borlase's 

 sni'mise just quoted, Cornish glossaries must be consulted. The late Rev. Dr. 

 Bannister has not elucidated the point. The late Rev. R. Williams, however, in 

 his Cornu-Britannic Lexicon has supplied the following words, some of which may 

 possibly be found to bear upon the matter, 

 f Cornish, Tell (plural of Tol)— holes. 

 I „ Delly (a form of Telly) — to bore a hole. 



•^ ,, Delyow, or Dylyow (plural of Delen) — leaves of a tree. — Modern 

 I Welsh, giving also Dalenau — leaves of a book. 



|_ „ Dol — a dell, or dale, a vale. 

 r ,, Bal — a digging, or mine. 



< ,, Bol, Pol, Poll, — a pit, hole, or pool ; also clay, concrete, mud. 

 (. ,, Bella, —a cup, or bowl. 



If either of these words enters into the first part of the name it must possess 

 such a meaning as will suit all the terms Delio-maur, Delio-newyth, Delio-boll, 

 etc., equally well. 



It is very improbable that all these ranges of land were named from diggings 

 or holes, and more likely that the slatiness of the country was regarded as their 

 leading feature, or characteristic. Perhaps, then, Delyow (leaves) is the primary 

 derivation— referring, it may be, not to vegetation but to the leaf-like layers, or 

 flat flakes of the prevailing rock, in other words, to the laminations of the slate. 

 If this be so, each Delio manor was, according to its name, a land of slates, and 

 each district was separately distinguished by the termination given to its name. 

 One being called " the great," another " the new," etc. 



The sufiix Bol, whether from Pol, Bolla, Boll, or Bal, seems to be of sufficiently 

 plain meaning, namely : — the pit, the hollow, the hole or digging. It is attached 

 only to that one of the Delio manors in which the chief quarrying has long (no 

 one knows how long) been carried on. The slate having been carried merely on 

 men's backs, and water having most likely accumulated in the pit, the excavation 

 would not rapidly develop to any great depth. It may therefore have been 

 worked from very early times indeed. 



Delyow-boU, or Delabole, in tha,t case would signify "the flakes-pit," i.e. " the 

 slates-hole," or as it is now expressed, '' the slate quarry." 



The above remarks are hazarded by the Cox'responding Secretary for East 

 Cornwall. 



