Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/157

 9 th S. I. FEB. 19, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

149

invaders on the Welsh coast ; but it may be open to some doubt, especially as regard Swansea, whether it is quite safe to continue this teaching on the same lines in the absena of more positive proof, a proof which 1 wanting in nearly all the following authoritie who have tried their hands at the task o discovering the true origin of the name.

Camdeii, writing in the time of Queen Elizabeth, says the name signifies the "Swine of the Sea," and in order to justify the fitness of this definition he adds that porpoises abound in the bay. This definition is unsup ported by facts, and it is, moreover, a merely phonological fancy.

Hearne, in his 'Itinerary' in 1722, say* " King Swanus, his fleet drowned at Swena wick, alias Swanesy, i. e., Swanus Sea" but he adduces no historical evidence in support of his assumption, and has apparently con- founded Swansea with Swanage, a corruption of Swenawick, on the south coast of England This definition also appears to be a phono- logical fancy.

Edmunds, in his ' History of Place-Names, is of opinion that the name is derived from Sweyn, King of Denmark, and he explains it in this way : Swans-ea, Sweyn's water or harbour, but gives no historical proof in sup- port. He appears to have followed Hearne, but with a slight variation.

Col. Grant Francis, in his 'Charters of Swansea,' condemns Camden's definition as contrary to facts, and claims credit for originating the idea that it was of Danish origin, and he assumes that it might be found to coincide with some historical circumstances of a local character in fact, that Swansea, as now written, simply concealed the two words Sweyn and eie or ey, that is, Sweyn's inlet, water, or haven. He also produces no his- torical evidence in support, but proceeds upon a mere assumption.

Blackie, in his ' Dictionary of Place-Names,' says the name means Sweyn's town on the water, from Sweyn, King of Denmark, and ea, ey, or ay, Anglo-Saxon affixes, meaning island, running water, &c. This is also an assertion without historical proof. t Canon Taylor, in his ' Words and Places,' is discreetly silent, and makes no reference whatever to the place. This is the more remarkable as he ranks as one of the best authorities on this particular subject. Is his silence due to his inability to obtain sufficient historical data to found a theory ? He, however, remarks upon Swanage, on the south coast of England, that it is a corruption of Swenawick, and quotes from the ' Saxon Chronicles,' A.D. 877, of the defeat of a Danish fleet at Swena-

wick, on the south coast, and says it has been conjectured, with some probability, that a chief bearing the common Dutch name of Sweyn may have been in command, from whom was derived Sweyn's Eye, and that Swanage is simply a phonetic corruption of Swenawick.

Col. Morgan, in his ' Pamphlet on the Name of Swansea,' suggests that Swansea is a cor- ruption of some Welsh name, and that that name was Sein Henyd or Seinghenyd, the Welsh name of Swansea mentioned in ' Brut y Tywysogion' in A.D. 1215. The name of Swansea as used by the Normans in that year was Sweyne-he, a fair imitation of Sein Henyd. The pronunciation of Sein Henyd and Sweyne-he was almost identical, granting a fair allowance for linguistic differences. If Sweyne-he was then pronounced as Sweyn-e-he in three syllables, it would be as near to the original as could be expected from a Norman or a Saxon.

It would occupy too much space to follow Col. Morgan in his history of the Welsh name Sein Henyd and the Norman form of it, Sweyne-he. These particulars can best be learnt by a perusal of the pamphlet, and the same may be said of my pamphlet criticizing and endorsing his views. It is a remarkable fact that nearly all the foregoing philologists have adopted the Danish theory of origin without producing a single historical fact in support. It never occurred to them, probably, that the name of a Welsh town might be braced to a Celtic source all have treated the subject from an English point of view a common mistake with English philologists, and, indeed, I cannot see how it is possible tor them to trace the origin of a Welsh aame, as Swansea is, without a knowledge of the Welsh language, both grammatical and constructive. Col. Morgan dissents from all the other authorities above named, and says that Swansea is a Welsh name, and traces its origin to Sein Henyd, and I think t would be a difficult matter to disprove his assertion.

It is not difficult, I think, to account for
 * he presence of Sweyn in Sweyne-he, as we

may safely assume that it is in substitution f Sein in Sein Henyd, from the Norse word Sveinn, which PROF. SKEAT refers to in his note. E. EGBERTS.

3, Brunswick Villas, Swansea.

"ONE TOUCH OP NATURE" (8 th S. xii/606:

th S. i. 93). Truly MR. SPENCE was justified

n renewing at 8 th S. xi. 423 the protest

gainst the habitual misapplication of these

ords and their context. It might be well

do this periodically say in January and