We all know that bilingual signs enrage the Colonel Blimp types but isn't this a bit much? First off it isn't a bilingual sign at all - as far as I know the place has never had an English moniker - what it shows are two alternative spellings of the same Welsh name.Anyone looking at old records knows that until recently placenames and even surnames had no established forms, with folk spelling as the mood took them. I can understand that where a non-standard Welsh spelling has gained wide usage, Rhayader for example, then there's a case for its continued use. Here the sensible thing would have been to stick with the modern standard spelling and ditch the lower one, rather than pretend it's English.
What a barbarism that bottom 'name' is -- well done for nailing it.
ReplyDeleteI guess the problem is that the in-elwell version is the one used by the Church in Wales ..... they really need to catch up.
ReplyDeleteYou're spot on change that 'IN' back to 'YN' and the bottom name is just an alternative Welsh spelling, not an English name at all. Pointless.
ReplyDeleteAFAIK it has been policy for a long time now not to bother with "Anglicized spellings" that differ by only one or two letters from the original Welsh: so we no longer see the likes of "Llanelly" and "Caernarvon" on signposts.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised, therefore, that anyone should have gone to all the trouble (and expense) of ordering that sign. Dafft, I call it!
As you say, the expense of such signs gives the Blimps something to get enraged over, and all so unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteOne example in this area is Aberdyfi / Aberdovey. Because, I'm told, there are some who insist that without the corrupted spelling people won't be able to find Aberdyfi! Bollocks, of course. It's just that some Wales-haters must have what they regard as the 'English' spelling. Anything else is a concession to 'extremists'.
It might be a worthwhile exercise for someone to go through a map of Wales and find similar examples of the anti-Welsh lobby adding to the cost of bilingual signs.
Resolven/Resolfen
ReplyDelete