Vanishing Welsh Names: The Race to Save Welsh Heritage 

Glad to see that the vote passed and it will officially be referred to as Yr Wyddfa!

I would think you can make every effort to not use English.

​@@user-cj4xo6vp4t CYMRU AM BYTH!

​@@user-cj4xo6vp4t CYMRU AM BYTH!

No such thing or place such as Wales until the Anglo saxons called it so waelas=Foreigner, the same applies to walonia in Belgium so there's nothing intrinsically unique about Wales at all a bunch of politically inspired clap trap

Thank you for the kind words Owain, so glad you enjoyed the video!! I have several more videos from the Celtic nations on their way 😊It was such a privilege to spend so much time learning about them last year - as someone who never learned much about Celtic cultures and languages when I was younger, it was really eye-opening.

Fellow welshy :D

Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed them! That's fantastic, the Welsh language revival is such an encouraging success story. It's such a shame how neglected and damaged some of the Celtic Languages and cultures have been by the English over the years (I'm also English, and only came to learn in depth about them all relatively recently). How long have you been learning Welsh for?

@@TieranFreedman It is a real shame many of the Celtic languages have dwindled in numbers but the revival efforts are really encouraging. I enjoyed your videos about Cornwall and their efforts at reviving the language, too. I've been learning Welsh on and off for the last 4 years now. I'm nowhere near the level I'd like to be but with a little patience and time I'll get there!

@@anfiebrigantia2154 as a welsh person i think its important for us to know the culture from all the home nations

Spot on! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

@@Uaeboravisma what culture? every other person is a white person from england/ireland 💀

I believe all children in Welsh schools have to learn Welsh now.

We don't hate the language so much as we are disgusted by it. But yeah, it would be a good thing if it went extinct.

@@user-cj4xo6vp4t do you just enjoy being an arsehole in comment sections?

Thank you for sharing this feedback, it means a lot 💚🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Thanks Peter, glad you enjoyed it! Hoping my pronunciations were somewhat acceptable 😅 I didn't know that, thanks for the information.

Glad you mentioned Dorset. There appears to be quite a few names derived from the ancient British/Welsh in this county. I was reading an old text online a few years ago regarding this (I’ve tried looking for it since but can’t locate it). Apparently the Dor in Dorset/Dorchester was derived from dwr, (although the academic consensus suggests it comes from ‘dura’ or hard relating to the chalky soil, although chalk isn’t that hard but the associated flint is) the Welsh word for water and believe that the pre Roman name for Dorchester was Caer Dwr, a fortified settlement on the water (meadows), from back in the day when the climate was much wetter and warmer. The text also suggested that Blandford was derived from Blaen (f)ford(d), not sure of the spelling, but described an upper ford or important crossing point. Stour as in the river was derived from ‘Is dwr’ which I think might have meant main waterway and Durdle Door, that amazing feature in the chalk cliffs near Lulworth Cove was so named because a Durdle is an ancient name for a drill, and door, again from dwr meaning water. That would accurately describe the feature, ‘drilled by water’.

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it! Was awesome to see that news 😁

Its starting to happen now..

It was rude and still is. I will give any welshie speaking that horrible tongue a stern look or a good talking to should they utter a word of that ghastly language.

Thanks Alex, glad you enjoyed it! Yeah and it's good to see it happening to varying degrees in all of the Celtic nations. Haha I agree, but then again I'm one of those monolingual English people 😅

The amount of migrants living in England now, the English are learning , because in many areas English isn't the first language

Better to be monolingual than to speak welsh.

​@user-cj4xo6vp4t Few bitter comments on here pal!! Do you have anything better to do?

Bitter? No. Scornful? Yes. The welsh have every reason to be looked down upon. And as long as red-faced welshies shagging their ewe while replying to me with one hand typing then I shall have nothing better to do.

Glad you enjoyed the video! Yeah it's so sad to hear stories like that. I met another guy who will feature in a future video who had the same thing happen to him with his Shetland dialect. But its great to see so many language revival efforts in the Celtic nations and to meet people like John who are actively pushing to protect Celtic heritage.

It's about control and erasing true history. Same thing happening in America, statues being torn down, etc. They won't succeed.

Bollocks

@@D_B_Cooper 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👍

Is that last sentence "Greetings to our friends in Wales?"

There are about 100,000 Welsh speakers living in England - the largest concentration outside Wales itself I think. How many are from Wales I don't know, but I do know that Welsh is a very popular language to learn 'as a hobby'. It's all a win.

If Welsh is the heritage of all people of British descent then I am ashamed to be British.

@@user-cj4xo6vp4t You should be ashamed that you do not know much at all. Ignorance is not good for anything except playing the joker is it ?. The word "British" is of Brythonic origin (Welsh celtic).. Remember the romans called our land after our Welsh word "Prydain" which is an area of land that includes Wales, England and Southern Scotland.

@@user-cj4xo6vp4t What actually is your problem?

Asking what my problem is is akin to asking a person what their problem is with rats infesting their home.

It does seem like efforts to increase the number of Welsh speakers and interest in the language is paying off which is very encouraging. Glad you enjoyed the video! And yeah I did hear that about LlanfairPG, mentioned it in another video but I should probably have clarified that in this one too.

All eyes on wales... All eyes that will need to be splashed with bleach considering how awful and contemptible that country is.

Thank you for this comment, you perfectly summed up why I started making videos like this in the first place and what motivates me to keep going! Very cool to see someone else put this into words. Funnily enough I studied zoology, so nothing to do with film making. But I have had a few years of practice. There's so many tutorials you can find online now for editing and animating that it has totally opened it up to anyone who has a computer and some time on their hands. The lack of any training/studying did mean I had a bit of a rocky start though haha So glad you're enjoying the videos, there are many more to come! Thanks again for this feedback 😊

Thanks Bob, glad you're enjoying them! Haha yeah I'm currently on the road filming for the next series of videos and about half of the weight on my bike is filming/audio equipment 😂

@@TieranFreedman Might be worth doing a BTS short of your setup...everybody wants to cut the weight of the gear, even if we're old guys traveling in cars🙂I'd love to see how you've pared down your gear for pedaling.

You can see in the name Galicia / Galiza that it comes from the word Gaelic. As you say the language has been lost due to Romanisation, but it's interesting to hear that traditions like the bagpipes have been continued since then. Oh and by the way - you're English is great!

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you for the kind words, sp glad you're enjoying the videos, many more to come! Haha fingers crossed, that Cornwall video seems to have suddenly pleased the RU-vid gods

Thanks so much, really happy to hear it resonated with you 󠁧

Glad you're enjoying them, it was a beautiful section of our journey (if a little hilly)!

Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it! I hadn't heard about a lot of those, thank you for sharing this. It's great to hear about the restoration of original names in other parts of the world. They are such an important connection between a people and the landscape. Not too much longer until the videos from Éire come out!

Glad you enjoyed the video! That's really fascinating, thank you for sharing that. I have visited Barcelona very briefly once, but didn't have much time to learn about the region, culture, or language. I would love to go back, maybe it's a potential future video 😁

Glad you're enjoying them!

Yep, John was quick to remind us that it is not "renaming" the mountain despite what the headlines said, just calling it by it's original name. Glad you enjoyed the video!

Thank you! Glad you liked it 😁

Smart on the part of the english to make unintelligible horseshit pronouncable.

Thank you, glad you liked it 😁

Very much so. Except for welsh.

Thank you, glad you liked it!

I was shocked that the Welsh names haven't been anglisised but changed. Why isn't snowdon called "Grave" and people now saying let's change it back. But to not just translate the name but replace it is beyond disrespectful

Your mum was being very practical as fluency in French, opens up the prospect of living and working in many other countries. She could’ve chosen to speak Welsh to you as well as English when you were very young and the you would’ve acquired both languages.

@@colinlambert882 My Welsh parents went to school under the 'Welsh Not'. Children were encouraged to dob on one another to pass it on so they did not bear the sign with the words. The last child to have the board or stick passed to him/her at the end of the day got punished by cane strokes. Parents did not speak Welsh at home to protect their children from accidently speaking it at school and being punished.

​@@barnowl5774 Unbelievable! Children got beaten up for speaking their tongue? In Britain? Φρίκη!

@@alicemi4155 Yes. It was a way for the English to gain control as the language united the Welsh people. They could not understand the language so tried to get rid of it to gain power. In history, first came the Romans, then the English were the who were Angles (from where the name of English language came), Saxons and Jutes from Western Europe who invaded England. Then came the Normans with their French. The Welsh are the original inhabitants of Britain and were pushed back to the west of the country into what is now known as Wales but the Welsh are calling it Cymry .The name of Wales was given by the Romans. It means 'stranger'- in their own land! (Cymry means my 'country.') Thanks for your interest.

That's great! 💙

That's great! Except for welsh, please don't pass that slop onto your children.

Hi Alun, I had no Idea John had family so close to me! When talking about breaking up the status quo, are you referring to independence for the Celtic nations? My goal in making these videos is mainly to draw attention to Celtic culture and identity. It is a real shame that the diversity of languages and cultures in this part of the world is often ignored, when it should be celebrated. I never learned about Welsh, Manx, Cornish, Irish Gaelic, or Scots Gaelic in school, and was taught English history as though it was the uniform history of the entirety of the British Isles. Most people I know in England don't know that the Cornish or Manx languages even exist, and when I go abroad that's even more stark. What was particularly crazy to me was that I never learned about the conflict in Ireland at all (and I have a video on that coming later in the year). I made these videos partly because of my own personal curiosity about the topics, and also in the hope that someone would watch them who didn't know much about the Celtic nations. But to loosely answer your question, some of the main improvements I'd like to see in this regard are some strong regulations on second/holiday home ownership, along with the preservation of the Celtic languages. Once a language is lost, preserving the culture and identity that it was part of becomes much more difficult. Some of the Celtic languages, like Welsh, are recovering successfully, but it's abundantly clear that the current status quo is not tackling the issue of second homes, which threatens to decimate some of the cultural heartlands of the Celtic nations. The two issues go hand-in-hand in a lot of ways; how can you preserve a language if you keep reducing the cohesion of communities that speak it with unregulated second-home ownership that leaves half of said communities empty for most of the year? So, any change to that would be an improvement from my perspective.

@@TieranFreedman Thanks for the reply, identity is a very complex subject, from my own POV, growing up in South Wales where the vast majority of the population is English speaking (half my mates went to a Welsh medium school, but we all spoke English on the streets), there is sometimes a kickback against the perceived advantages of of having fluent Cymraig in the job market and such, there was a perception that there was a connected “taffia” in control of how far you could progress in certain professions, especially the media, so, many like my mother had an anti-language mentality, odd in many ways, as her mother was from the north and had Welsh as her mother tongue and, only ever spoke a sort of broken English. All that being said, I’m a supporter of the preservation of the language despite my own lack of fluency, but I’d guard you against having too much of a sentimental view of people like John Jenkins and his ilk, many of them were pretty xenophobic and had a deep hatred of all things English, I’d also caution against wanting to over preserve ethnically pure Welsh areas, banning the sale of second homes is a good idea on paper, but it can lead to massive wealth disparity between parts of the UK in practice. Personally I’m against the break up of the UK, but I try to stay out of matters of Welsh independence because I no longer live there and it’s for the those that do live there like my family to decide their own destiny. I’ve enjoyed watching your videos, but all I really want to say is be a little bit careful when dealing with ultra-nationalists and their rosy view of “Celtic destiny”, because quite often, they don’t really speak for the majority.

Excellent idea!

Nah. Kick welshies out of their country (the Irish Sea would be a good place to send them) and scrub the filth out of that country (the welsh language, welsh place names, etc.) before settling english people there. Hope this helps!

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it ☺️ oh cool, does she speak the language?

Lol fuck no. It ought to run its natural course and go extinct like it should.

@@user-cj4xo6vp4tPiss off

I have always believed this G=>W theory - today we are referred to as Galles by French, Spanish, Italians etc... If you want another example try Guarantee = Warranty. We are not Foreigners. We live in the Land of Gauls.

@@mikemurphy5671 spot on. Couldn’t have put it better myself

And Wallone.

Duolingo. But be careful, the North and South speak slightly different forms of Welsh

It should have been called shithole bay, a title more befitting in a country like wales.

So glad you enjoyed the video! If I'm back again to film that sounds like an interesting topic ☺️

Glad you enjoyed the video!

Imagine acting like there's any difference between Welsh and English people.

Speaking your own language isn't bad manners

@@WelahMan Correct, unless the people around you don't speak it and can't understand what you are saying. You could be saying bad things about them.

@@MargaretUK it's none of their business really

Go raibh maith agat, sásta gur bhain tú sult as! (Bhí orm dul chuig google translate chun cabhair a fháil le seo😂)

I think it's powerful to stamp out the welsh language and call a mountain by its anglo name which in turn makes it even more familiar, instead of what you're suggesting. Hope this helps!

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

Dolgellau in North Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

@@TieranFreedman Its really cool looking

Certainly an interesting idea. Personally, I'd start by asking why there would be a need to modify a name (or how that name is presented) for a speaker of another language. Unfortunately it's common to see the calls for Welsh and Welshness bend to the will of others, without seeing any reciprocity in turn. Is there a Welsh phonetic name for Gloucestershire on the sign as we cross the border? For those in Wales, the task of using traditional Welsh only names would provide incremental improvements to speakers' understanding and pronounciation ability over time. With no need to presently practice, due to English substitute names, there's little wonder that some describe a difficulty in Welsh pronounciation. I'm sure those moving to France or Germany have the same initial issues. Tolkien is quoted as saying that Welsh is "of the soil". What I, and others, would like to see is that this connection is preserved, protected and celebrated for future generations.

@@popcod I do understand what you're saying I really do :) The argument I have to counter would be this. Wales, along with the other countries in the UK I think have quite a unique situation compared to other parts as not only the English language has dominated *cough* Welsh Knot *cough* along with English culture but also they aren't in a position to ever truly reclaim independence from England even if the countries themselves were to become independent in both language and culture. As there's so much mixing back and forth (both in regards to relationships but also even just doing trips people often even doing day trips on both sides of the border as well as people living on one side of the border and working on the other side. Like I know plenty of people who live in Gwynedd, so not even right by the border, but work in England and vice versa). So even if the country becomes independent and the Welsh language becomes dominant it's still gonna be having a lot of cultural influence from England. So I'd imagine an idea like above maybe if use of keeping the pronunciation correct or at least pretty close. Both sure for people who grew up in England then moved over but even for Welsh people. I know a lot of Welsh people where I live who often default to the English name (just for example with Snowdon) even if the conversation is in Welsh with other Welsh speakers as (in their words not mine) it's easier to remember as while the might speak some Welsh everyday English is their primarily used language day to day. And also know plenty who went to Welsh schools, understand Welsh but struggle to speak it because they don't use it a lot and so default to the English name (Both North and South Welsh) or even pronunciation especially more so with South Welsh who will just call Llandudno "land-ud-no" who went to Welsh school and speak Welsh. If it was just called by the Welsh name on top and then then English version of how it is phonetically below instead of an English name or just the Welsh name it would basically force everyone to say it properly or at least close. Understand there's a morality aspect on is it being too accommodating to the English/Wales bending. Though personally I wouldn't view it as Wales bending if anything enforcing the language basically saying "you're in Wales now so make sure you say it the Welsh way". Though I don't know if there are South Welsh locations called one name in South Welsh dialect Vs North. If so I guess it would need to be standardised? Or just keep the South Welsh pronunciation as the proper, makes sense as it's in their area. That's what my view point would be at least

@@popcod oh but to be clear I'm not saying about modify the name itself though yes on how it's presented. Having the actual name first then instead of it following the English name get rid of it completely and replace the English name with the phonetic name but Englishised so when English speakers say it how they would if it was an English word then the sound the comes out is correct or at least very close. Plus could argue more people would ask why is it written/said like that as it would look weird to then be educated in the history of the language and what the name means. Granted not sure how strong of a worth while argument that would be.

But yeah I think that could be one way around of maintaing the culture and language and increasing its independence (at least how is viewed socially) as like I said even if the country became independent I don't think Wales can ever become fully independent culturally, not saying can't maintain and represent the cultural identity, but just culturally not be fully independent from England. Think the only way that could happen is if the country became fully independent, had very strict border control, requiring to only enter an exit at check points and have visas etc and remove all English language use. Which it would have the right too as it would be just like every other country. But while it would allow for Wales to become fully independent from England I don't think it would be to the benefit of everyday life for average Welsh people.

If you start making Welsh spelling consistent with English phonetics you open the way for the phonetic spelling to become the dominant one. It would simply become a new way to anglicize the Welsh language. Let the English learn their neighbours' languages like grown up people. We don't owe them any cultural favours!

If you say so.

@@Konoronn well yes, as somebody who is an ethnic Cornishman who's seen what's happening and spoke to various Cornish historians, I think I'm going to have a good idea of what's happening in my own land. Kernow rag an Kernewek.

@@foofy14 Your patch of land is as amusing as it is pathetic, evoking the cowardice and deceit of King Mark of Arthurian legend and beach goers having fun. A good tourist spot for English tourists and retirees who already make up the majority of the population, I'll give it that. Your adopted, scarcely used tongue merely exists to add to the fairy tale immersion for people visiting on holiday, like elvish is to the LoTR. It gives me a good chuckle, seeing our celtic neighbours desperately cling onto their dying language instead of embracing the superior one next door.

You know why they called it Swansea?

@@WelahMan yep

I don't they deem those peoples inferior, I think they just want a more homogenized , globalist nation . English dialects (yorkshire, cumbrian etc) and regional accents have also been either completely erased, or are dying out.

It is hardly arrogant to treat inferior languages like welsh as the dirt that they are and to attempt to clean it up which unfortunately is an on-going process until they finally die out.

@@user-cj4xo6vp4t English is hardly superior to Welsh, Gaelic, Manx, or Cornish. In fact, it is considered a bastardized language because it evolved from so many different languages, has conflicting rules of grammar and spelling, and is confusing because of that.

@@user-cj4xo6vp4t atleast welsh isn't a hybrid of many, many languages

@@marcwilliams2929 At least English isn't one of the many, many languages that will go extinct and be superseded.

I have a video coming from Shetland at the end of this series. Plus another to do with Scottish independence. Keep an eye out 😁