Jacob Williams https://jacobwilliams.com

Sunday 30th December, 2018

Terrible with names

As December nears its end I imagine most bloggers, like me, annually revisit posts they never got round to publishing.

Only two failed to escape my drafts folder this year – the first of which I reproduce below, the other, tomorrow.

This one I never published because, in the face of opposition – or so I thought – the Welsh Language Commissioner rowed back on the plans which inspired the post.

It was the then draft proposal which, among other place name changes, would have seen ‘Cresselly’ trumped by ‘Creseli’ in the record of standardised Welsh place names.

The local opposition included a representation by two of my blog’s correspondents, to one of whom the commission replied saying:

“We are updating the List of Standardised Welsh Place-names in response to comments and enquires from the public and preparing a list of names for our Panel to consider anew/reconsider. Some of the Pembrokeshire names you mention have already been noted and will be discussed with the Panel. In fact we have decided to unpublish a handful of the names (Creseli, Begeli etc) until we are able to discuss the response further with the Panel. I hope that you will welcome this decision.”

And they certainly did remove ‘Creseli,’ ‘Cilgeti’ and ‘Begeli’ from their proposals at that time – I know because I checked, and consequently never published what I had written.

I thought the war was won, and that it was the locals wot won it!

That was until, following my annual look through the JW archives I did a bit more poking around.

Six months on, I’ve discovered that, since the summer these esteemed fellows of the commission had not only put their previously-withdrawn proposals back on the table, but without notifying my correspondent had approved them!

If we’re being honest, the work of this outfit will be of no practical consequence to these communities, and whatever its agenda-driven learnéd fellows say or do, they won’t really change anything – and that’s probably another reason I never gave this the oxygen of publicity at the time.

No doubt some of my readers will be of the view that ‘it should have been left unsaid,’ to which I say on this, the sixth day of Christmas: “Bah! Hwmbwg!”

June, 2018

Terrible with names

The Western Telegraph’s recent story on the Welsh Government’s contrivance to “standardise the spelling of place names across Wales” and the opposition with which it’s been met locally is well worth reading.

The Welsh Language Commissioner – somewhat strangely both the name of an office and an all-powerful title-holder (incumbent: Meri Huws) – aims to “eliminate multiple spellings of the same name” resulting in proposals which the WT says: “in south Pembrokeshire have been met with criticism for not taking into account their historical origins.”

These include that ‘Cresselly’ should yield to ‘Creseli.’

In an email sent to me by local residents who have registered their opposition, they’re told by a commissioner employee – with the title of doctor, no less – that: “a panel of experts in the field” advise the commissioner so that each recommendation “is made on a firm scholarly basis.”

Seemingly contradicting this ‘scholarly’ approach, the doctor continues: “…we don’t have the capacity to consult locally on all the place-names across Wales and therefore depend on the local authority in question to represent the opinions and current usage of local people living in these communities.”

Accordingly, a preliminary proposal was run past Pembrokeshire County Council in 2011 – to which no response was received:

“We shall contact the Local Authority again to seek their advice and evidence on current usage. The work on Pembrokeshire is ongoing as to date we have only discussed the larger settlement names and there are a list of smaller settlements where we require further evidence and research before forming our recommendations.”

I’m neither a Welsh speaker nor reader of Welsh language publications but, even so, in my six years as county councillor for Cresselly I cannot recall any knowledge of or reference to ‘Creseli.’

However I have seen misspellings – like the one made by the Western Telegraph whose article in one instance refers to ‘Creselly!’

With Morgans, Griffithses, Richardses and Harrieses among my bloodline, my family tree is pretty rooted in south-Pembrokeshire, so if the use of ‘Creseli’ is on a par with ‘Cresselly,’ it’s either passed me by uniquely or, as I believe to be the case, ‘Cresselly’ really is the only way this most cricketing of communities is spelt.

We’re told that the council won’t be forced, if the proposals are approved, to change road signs or other references under its remit from ‘Cresselly’ to ‘Creseli’ – as just one example locally – but the idea behind this story does matter socially and culturally.

It will make a difference – and be in no doubt that it is designed to make a difference – if future sat-navs, online references or old-fashioned paper maps refer to ‘Creseli’ exclusively: their cartographers having acquired their naming data from resources they unquestioningly take to be authoritative.

Creseli, remember, a name which isn’t used by the area’s English-tongued inhabitants, who are well-used to seeing bilingual signs including this one in neighbouring Jeffreyston:

Cresselly appears alone on this otherwise bilingual Jeffreyston signpost

Cresselly/Creseli is certainly not a case of standardising by usage or righting past wrongs like Llanelly/Llanelli, the latter of which is now the only spelling you’ll see used anywhere for Carmarthenshire’s and formerly Dyfed’s most populous town.

Such proposals, far from being ‘scholarly,’ would see the stealthy imposition of changes by government pen-pushers, and not by usage, local custom, and certainly not by popular demand.

These quangos should just come out with it – admit that they’ve got a political agenda – but they never will, claiming they’re doing a public service.

Locally this also includes their desire to see Kilgetty and Begelly give way to Cilgeti and Begeli – the latter of which, says local historian, author and Cresselly resident Rob Scourfield, is recommended: “even though the origin – again Welsh – is thought to be ‘Bugeildy’ (Shepherd’s house).”

I happen to know Rob and have done for many years, long before we became associated through his membership of Jeffreyston Community Council, which forms part of the East Williamston county council ward I’ve represented since 2012.

Mr. Scourfield’s well-penned history books cover architecture and culture from Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Powys.

His joint effort with Keith Johnson, Below the Landsker (2008) on the rich lingo below the Landsker Line is not just fascinatingly entertaining, but surely the best retrospective authority on the quirky linguistic history unique to this part of both Wales and the English-speaking world.

It’s difficult to see how Mr. Scourfield’s assessment of local history and lexicography could be ignored – and hopefully it won’t be as part of the Welsh Language Commissioner’s ‘scholarly’ approach to standardising names.

But can we really have any confidence in these self-admittedly resource-lacking and agenda-driven quangocrats?

Local MP Simon Hart has to be on to something when he says: “Local experts dispute the accuracy of these claims and as such they risk alienating the local community rather than inspiring people to unite around the language – that cannot be wise.”

It is interesting to note that, where there are very close differences between English and Welsh versions of place names, the commissioner’s anonymous ‘spokesperson’ openly admits to the Western Telegraph that Welsh takes priority:

“The Panel’s Guidelines state that if the difference between the Welsh form and the ‘English’ form consists of only one or two letters, the use of a single form is recommended, with preference being given to the Welsh form.”

So they possess enough self-awareness to realise they can’t hide their lack of objectivity, but perhaps not quite enough to see how such an approach could create tensions where previously none existed.

Just imagine the uproar if it was ever revealed that a view had been reached privately – not to mention boasted to the press – that similar-sounding English versions of place names should take precedence over the Welsh!

If a scientific or scholarly approach was taken, as claimed, bias in favour of one language over the other would be irrelevant – it should be determined by the facts and circumstances on the ground.

This exercise would do well to remember that the Landsker Line broadly delineates a part of Wales where the Welsh language doesn’t strongly feature in the daily lives of its no-less-Welsh natives, and that speaking the Welsh language doesn’t make a Welsh person more Welsh.

The WT’s online article concludes: “The spokesperson added that the place name standardisation panel is always open to discussion.”

If the responses to date are reflective of local public opinion – and I think they are – then the commissioner and her esteemed scholarly panel of experts might be even more widely open to ridicule.

Further reading:

I reproduce in full the emails sent by the commission to two local residents, who shared them with me, following their own representations:

Thank you for contacting the Welsh Language Commissioner and for your interest in the work of standardising place-names.

The Welsh Language Commissioner has a responsibility to provide recommendations on the standard forms of Welsh place-names and provide advice on related matters to individuals and organisations. The Commissioner has convened a panel of experts in the field to advise the Commissioner on standard forms and related matters in order to ensure that each recommendation given in the name of the Welsh Language Commissioner is made on a firm scholarly basis. The Panel gives due regard to the meaning, history and etymology of place-names as well as current usage when forming its recommendations and follows specific guidelines: Guidelines for Standardising Place-names in Wales.

I should emphasise that the forms that appear on our List of Standardised Welsh Place-names are recommendations and that the resource is a type of dictionary enabling people to check the standard spelling of place-names. Local authorities are ultimately responsible for deciding on the forms they use, however the Commissioner aims to work with local authorities, the Welsh Government and the Ordnance Survey to ensure consistency, orthographic and historic accuracy throughout Wales.

I should also emphasise that we don’t have the capacity to consult locally on all the place-names across Wales and therefore depend on the local authority in question to represent the opinions and current usage of local people living in these communities. We then rely on our Place-names Standardisation Panel, whose members are all experts in the field of place-names or Welsh orthography, to consider the compiled research and form recommendations on the standard spellings. This is the process that we followed with Pembrokeshire’s place-names. The Welsh Language Board submitted preliminary recommendations to Pembrokeshire County Council in 2011 however we did not receive any response to our recommendations. We shall contact the Local Authority again to seek their advice and evidence on current usage. The work on Pembrokeshire is ongoing as to date we have only discussed the larger settlement names and there are a list of smaller settlements where we require further evidence and research before forming our recommendations.

Should you have any particular names that you would like to discuss, you would be very welcome to contact us to gain more information.

Thank you for contacting us and for sharing local opinion regarding the names of South Pembrokeshire. We really do appreciate your interest in the project. As we do not have the capacity to consult locally on all the place-names across Wales and depend largely on local authorities to represent the opinions and current usage of local people, we are always very glad to receive local knowledge.

We certainly appreciate the points you have made and will be raising these concerns with our Place-names Standardisation Panel in its next meeting in the autumn. We are updating the List of Standardised Welsh Place-names in response to comments and enquires from the public and preparing a list of names for our Panel to consider anew/reconsider. Some of the Pembrokeshire names you mention have already been noted and will be discussed with the Panel. In fact we have decided to unpublish a handful of the names (Creseli, Begeli etc) until we are able to discuss the response further with the Panel. I hope that you will welcome this decision.

I’d like to address in greater detail two of the names that you refer to. Although Tredemel is, as you rightly note, a translation of Templeton, this Welsh form was first recorded in 1867 according to our records. The Panel recommends both Tredemel and Templeton as standard forms as it considers that the Welsh form is now well-established: both forms are already in use by the local authority and are also used by B. G. Charles and by E. Llwyd Williams in Crwydro Sir Benfro, for example. The Panel originally recommended the form Tredemel (not the standardised Tredeml) in 2011 as this was the form used by B.G. Charles and it had evidence that the pronunciation was still current. However a quick Google search now suggests that the form Tredeml has more currency and has been adopted by both the Local Authority and the Community Council. No living language is static of course and place-names – as part of the language – are also in a state of flux. It appears that there is a case therefore to revisit this recommendation and we will add this name to the list of names to consider further in the autumn.

Ystagbwll is another ‘translation’ where there has been some discussion around the Welsh form. There is reference to this Welsh form in the Dictionary of the Place-names of Wales (Gomer, 2007) noting that ‘recently, the cymricized Ystagbwll has had some limited currency’. The forms Ystagbwll and Stackpole are currently used by the local authority and therefore the Panel also recommends both forms. The following Wikipedia article shows the form Ystangbwll on signage but notes that Ystagbwll is the form used on the local authority’s website: https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_Stagbwll

I am glad that we have established contact and would appreciate being able to contact you directly should we need any local knowledge as we continue to discuss Pembrokeshire names if I may? Our work on Pembrokeshire names is ongoing and we need to turn our attention to many minor settlements in due course.

Thank you again for your comments and for your willingness to assist us with this work.