PLACE NAMES.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18670, 20 April 1926, Page 9

PLACE NAMES.

TO THE EDITOR, OT "THE TBSS3."

fsir, —Your correspondent "Taffy Welsh" forgets the -old adage that "those who live in glass houses should not throw stones," for many English place names are pronounced very differently to the way. their spelling suggests, e.g., "Cirencester," "Marylebone," "Godalming," etc., etc. Now, Welsh spelling is phonetic, and so the language is comparatively easy to read, though certain sounds indicated by the double letters "ch," "11," "dd," and "ng" are not easy for the Saxon tongue to pronounce. Xow, no one would think of reading French, or German, etc., without first learning the respective alphabets, and it is equallv as necessary to learn the Welsh alphabet in order to read WelMi names. Your correspondent would find that unlike English letters, Welsh letters have always the same sound. Now, a foreigner learning English does not know when "c" is pronounced as a "k" or as an "s"—the same with "g," it is sometimes hard, sometimes soft. In Welsh these letters are always hard, so there is no need to use a "k." The "j" sound is unknown, and so the letter is Dot used. "U" is sounded as an accented "e," e.g., du is pronounced "dee." There is no " v," "f " i a used to denote that sound, and "If" to denote our "f." "A,"" c ," "i," and "w" have the Continental pronunciation; "y" is a vowel, and is pronounced as our "i" in "fir." Were your correspondent to accept Mr Da vies' kind offer he would soon find that most of his difficulties in pronouncing simple Welsh names would be a thing of the past. To an Oriental scholar the language of Eden should not prove very difficult. It is not going to die out. It is now 1500 years since the bard Taliesin sang with prophetic vision: "Eu Ner a folant, eu iath a gadwant, eu tir a gollaut ond gwyllt Cymru." —Y'ours, etc.,

C. A. TOBIN. Glan-yr-Afon, Eurwood, April 19th.