108 NOMENCLATURE. 



easy, simple renderings, which suggest themselves at once to those 

 acquainted with the language, that did not altogether cease to be 

 spoken till the middle of the last century, — that is, in fact, till the 

 various estates, farms, hills, moors, fields, lanes, houses, springs, 

 &c., had received names in the vernacular, and these names, signi- 

 ficant and descriptive words for the most part, had been recorded 

 in books, majDs, surveys, conveyances, and other documents ; which 

 names, to preserve the identity of the places mentioned, are them- 

 selves maintained, though seemingly, for want of acquaintance mth 

 the old language, unsignificant and uncouth.* 



Previous to the Saxon invasion, as every one knows, the mass 

 of people in Britain was Celtic and spoke the Celtic language. As 

 the Celts, who wished to preserve their independence, receded 

 before the Teuton invader, their language was confined within 

 ever-narrowing limits. We know they betook themselves to the 

 mountain fastnesses, the retired nooks and corners, and the more 

 inaccessible parts of the island ; the Gaels to the highlands of 

 Scotland ; the Cymri, chiefly, to the mountains of Wales, and to 

 these remote western parts, where they were called by their Saxon 

 neighbours " The Wealas " (Welsh or foreigners) " in the Corner," 

 and their country " Cornwealas." In consequence of this Corn- 

 Wales being more accessible than that other Wales, she did not 

 retain her independence so long, and the purelj^ Celtic character of 

 her language was sooner corrupted by the admission and inter- 

 mixture of Teutonic words and roots. 



* They are not, however, always preserved unchanged. I give, further 

 on, examples from another county, of ordinary names being altered, in all 

 Ijrobability because of altered circumstances. Here I would give an instance 

 or two of old names being changed, mostly because they were not understood. 

 Looking through the old Eate-book for the parish of Gwennap, I found Cus- 

 garne Wartha and Cusgarne Wollas gradually giving way to Higher Cusgarne 

 and Lower Cusgarne. (At a Lecture to the Institute at Carharrack, on Cornish 

 Names, no one present could tell me which was Cusgarne Wartha and which 

 Cusgarne Wollas). In the same document I found that what is now called 

 Crofthandy was, one hundred years ago, Croft-an-gwith=the Croft tvith a 

 tree in it. Actually I found it once written " Croft & 7vith." Treskerhy, 

 which one might fancy contained both the Celtic praefix tre and the Danish 

 suffix ?)?/, was Tolskerhit. In the same way Trezouian, pronoi^nced Trezobian 

 (little town), street, Truro, has been supplanted by Goodwives-lane ; and I 

 have been told that Cambridge, in Illogan, was formedy called Carnbroze. 

 Hence it is plain that to get at the genuine original meaning of a name, it 

 is necessary to know the archaic mode of spelling. Cambridge is " Crooked- 

 bridge," or " the bridge over the crooked river" ; but Carnbroze is " the great 

 rock." 



