Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/379

 S th S. I. MAY 7, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

371

he foregoing is the right process of th ihange it will explain how Sant Cenyd became iein Henyd, the Welsh name of Swansea ir 215; and as Col. Morgan clearly proves the ideographical identity of Swansea and Sein ' 3nyd that the two names, one English anc other Welsh, represented one and th le town it follows that we have a very )ng justification for assuming that th vocable Sein for Sant is a factor in the name nnd that it is connected with Sant Cenyd but I cannot find that one of the advocate* of Sweyn has been able to produce any evidence, historical or otherwise, for its pre sence in the name, and unless this is done J fail to see how this theory can be maintained Swansea town, as such, does not seem to have been in existence when the Normans conquered Gower towards the close of the eleventh century. The town probably was built and grew under the protection afforded by the castle built by them, which was the case in many other instances. A name for the new town had then to be found, which, as a rule, the Normans called after that of the surrounding district, which in this case was known as Sein Henyd or Sengenny, so called after Sant Cenyd, who, according to lolo MSS., founded a church and established a monastery in the immediate locality. Thus they called Aber Honddu, Brecknock; Aber Teivy, Cardigan ; and Aber Taivy, Sein Henyd or Swansea.

It is not clear how the Welsh pronounced Sein, but some specimens of the Gower dialect induce me to think that it was more like Swyin. John Owen was in 1360 written John Owayn; and until recently, if a Gower woman were asked if she was going to Swansea, she would reply, " Amt g wain to-day" am not going to-day. In Welsh words borrowed from the Latin it is well known that e in the latter is converted into wy in the former, as frenum, ff rwyn, bridle; cera, cwyr, wax; toga, twyg, a garment; ecclesia, eghuys, church; and from the following, which appears in Y Cymmrodor, vol. viii. part ii. p. 189, a similar rule prevailed as to sanctaidd :

Y fferen sul os keffi A dwr swyn a bara gwedi Gwynfydedig wyd os keffi.

Dwr Swyn means holy water, otherwise dwr sanctaidd (sanctus in Latin). f As regards Henyd, we have words in Welsh in which the last part has been dropped out, as henoid, to-night, is now heno; and probably Henyd became Heny, as evidenced by Sen- genny, another dialectal form of the name. Another uncertainty arises as to how the

n in Henyd was written in MSS. of the middle centuries. It was sometimes written as u, and was distinguishable from the latter by the sense only as tyuer, tyner, tender; uerthy, nerthu, to strengthen.

The geographical identity of Swansea and Sein Henyd having been proved beyond a doubt, and the probability of the dialectal influences of the district being factors in producing the changes in the pronunciation and orthography of the name, I think we are on safer grounds in believing that Sant Cenyd s name was the origin of Swansea than in believing the assumption, based upon the similarity of sound only, that it originated in the name of some supposed Norse pirate of the common name of Siveyn and ey, an island. ' E. ROBERTS.

Brunswick Villas, Swansea.

Since ME. ROBERTS has, I am glad to see, taken up the defence of the Sein Henyd derivation of this place-name, I shall say nothing more about it for the present. But PROF. SKEAT'S challenge is a different matter, and he shall have his * k one example at least." The instance I adduce is swop. In Mr. Farmer's ' Slang and its Analogues ' I find that the adjuration "so help me" assumes the forms "s'elpme" ('Ingoldsby Legends': ' The Dead Drummer') and " S'Help me " (Mr. Jas. Payn, ' A Confidential Agent,' ch. xix.), though I fancy the latter is a Jewish cor- ruption. Mr. Farmer also has "swelp," but he gives no quotation for that. In the Daily News for 21 February it is stated that a lady made the following remark to the magistrate at Marylebone Police Court: "Well, if you don't give it him, I '11 do it, swop me bob ! "

I add here, though it is not strictly in point, the English Llantwit for Welsh Llanilltyd. Quite irrelevant, of course, is the mention of English Lichfield from an early form of Welsh llwyd coed, and I only note that to remind the reader of the utter unwisdom of dogmatizing on the origin of place-names it is worse than guessing. J. P. OWEN.

DAME ELIZABETH HOLFORD (9 th S. i. 208). The following extract from 'Reliquiae Hearni- anee,' published by J. R. Smith, vol. ii. p. 1 14, may interest and amuse your querist and readers generally :

"Nov. 22 (1720). About a fortnight or three

weeks since died at London the Lady Holford,

widow of Sir William Holford, Baronett. Her

tiaiden name was Elizabeth Lewis, being the

laughter of one Lewis, a coachman, of Stanton

^t. John's, near Oxford. Being a handsome, plump,

oily wench, one Mr. Harbin, who belonged to the

ustom house, and was a merchant, and very rich,

married her, and dying, all he had came to her. For