QUIMPER-VANNES

Something that always puzzled me about Breton was this 'z/zh' . It is obviously a sound shift which features only in modern Breton (not Old Breton - the one we need to use for place names), but where does it come from? The 'zh' spelling was introduced in 1941 to merge the representation of different dialect sounds: it represents /h/ in Vannetais and /js/ in the Tré gorrois, Cornouallais amd L é onard dialects. Dialects of Brittany Let's look at the Breton name for Brittany first -  Breizh,  which is pronounced 'brays' [/brejs/]. A l'Aise Breizh It comes from a common Brittonic Prythain which can be found in Old Breton   [ Preden or Prydain ] ,  Welsh [ (Ynys) Prydain ] and Cornish [ Preden ] .  In Latin this is Britannia and becomes, in French, Bretagne. In the old days the two Britains were Britannia Major (Great Britain) and Britannia Minor  (Brittany/Little Britain/ Moindre Bretagne ). See here for an Irish language perspectiv...

Saint-David (Dewi-Sant) is the patron saint of Wales, but he is also revered in Brittany where he is called Saint-Divy or Yvi or Ivy. He lived in the 5-6th centuries. His mother, Saint-Non, was raped and Saint-David was born where  Saint-Non's chapel stands today. Non baptises David, Dirinon (Brittany) Saint-Non may have left for Brittany soon after. The stained glass in the Church of Saint-Non in Dirinon (St. Non's oaks) pictures a scene where she prays for water to baptise David. Non's well and St David's cradle (where the rock melted to hold the infant David) are carefully preserved at the site in Dirinon.  Nearby, Lannon and Lesnon also indicate a connexion with Saint-Non.  Several miles away there is the church (and commune) of Saint-Divy which has had a long association with Saint-David and features a 17th century painting  wood panel narrating  episodes from his life. Non's well, Dirinon These associations, however deeply rooted they seem, ...

In Breton the sound 'ch' has a 'sh' sound [ / ʃ / -  a voiceless post-alveolar fricative].  This sounds like the   ch in chaise and champ in French and the sh in shampoo and shelf  in English.  ' C'h' [ / x / -  a    voiceless velar fricative ]   is a different sound altogether. It  can be found in a range of Celtic, Slavic and Germanic languages and in a variety  of place names including Aachen in Germany, Pitlochry in Scotland, Loughgall in Ireland, and  Rhosgoch or  Llechwedd in Wales. The Scottish rendition is quite soft, the Welsh version (particularly in the North) can sound like you're clearing your throat.                                 Place names in Brittany yield ' c'h'  in both the official 'French' name as well as in the Breton name only. The first are somewhat rarer, so here are a few interesting examples of '...

'White' or 'sacred' is a common place name element in Celtic languages and comes in the following forms: Old Breton:  guen [Old Cornish: guyn; Welsh: gwyn; Breton: gwenn ] . GWENDREATH Cornish examples include Gwenver ('white way'), Gwendra ('white land') and Gwendreath (' white beach').  In Welsh we have : Maesgwyn ('white field'), Bron-gwyn ('white hill'),  Gaerwenn  ('white fort/house') and Capel Gwyn ('white chapel'). CAPEL GWYN Examples from Brittany include: Pouliguen 'white/sacred pool',  Guingamp ('white/sacred field'), Guenroc ('white/sacred rock'), Guerande (Gwenrann in Breton), Calorguen ('white fort/house'), La-Chapelle-Blanche (Ar Chapel Wenn in Breton). Guenroc Cross Guenroc  owes its name to an outcrop of white quartz rock north of the town The site has been deemed sacred since early Celtic times and today boasts its own Rio-style Christ the R...

City Walls, Vannes Vannes [ video ] is named after a seafaring,  pre-Roman Celtic people called the Veneti (Venetes).  Pre-Breton Celtic Tribes Their ships were sturdily built: with oak hulls and leather sails, and fixed together with nails one-inch thick. Each ship was tough enough to withstand ramming from Roman fleets and with a height advantage that made enemy raids and missile attacks difficult. Veneti Ship They lived around the Bay of Morbihan, the site of  a famous sea battle with the invading Romans. Map of the Battle of Morbihan Julius Caesar became Governor of  Atlantic Gaul in 57 B.C. A year later the Veneti were planning revolt. They took hostages and used their intimate knowledge of the coastal currents and inlets to thwart Roman attacks and threaten Roman defences.  In the Battle of Morbihan, however, the Romans used large spear-axes to tear out the Venetes' rigging and pull down masts and sails. These enabled them to s...

There are a cluster of place names with  Celtic roots which all mean 'high', 'above' or 'over'. In Welsh there is: uchaf - ' upper', 'highest'  [Felin-gwm-uchaf, Cwm Twrch Uchaf] uchel -  'high'  [Bonuchel, Gelli-Bonuchel] uwrch -  'above', 'over'  [Llanuwchllyn, Uwchmynydd] From Breton   we have: uhel -  'high'   [Uzel, Huelgoat, Canihuel, Gurunhuel] In Gaulish  there is:  uxellos - 'high'   uxisama - 'the highest', 'the furthest' -[Ouessant]

British friends of ours live in a lieu-dit called Le Ch êne which they rather amusingly call 'the dog'. It is, of course, the '(white) oak'. Breton has a variety of equivalent forms: dervenn ,  derv, derf, dero or (Old Breton)  dar/diri.  These appear in:  Kerderven , 'oak village';  Coat-Dero, 'oak wood';  and Dirinon, ' (Saint) Non's oaks'.  The Gaulish cassano appears in Quessoy. ST. NON'S FOUNTAIN AT DIRINON The 'sessile' oak ( Quercus sessiflora)  is tann and gives us Coat-Tan , Le Tanou ët, Danou ët, Danot and  Kerdanen. If I hadn't been doing this research I wouldn't have heard of this tree: it is, in fact, the national tree of Wales and Cornwall. It prefers rocky ( petraea) , upland soils and is differentiated by its stalkless ('sessile') acorns. SESSILE OAK In this blog we have already looked at 'ash' trees (see  F is for Fresnaye ) and yews (see  I is for Iff ). ASH ...

Seven Saints of Brittany There are over 400 Breton saints whose names identify them as the founders of 'parishes' ( places starting with  plou/ple/plo/pleb/ploe/poul/pleu/plu), of ' monasteries' or 'abbeys' (place names that start with lan or lann) and  ' villages' (these are the tre/trev/dref names), or simply as the venerated patrons of villages that have taken their name (there are nearly 200 communes which have names that start with Saint). ST. CORENTIN Only three of these saints are recognized by the Catholic Church: St. Yves (12-13th century); St. Corentin (Bishop of Quimper, 5th century) and St. Clair (the first Bishop of Nantes in the 3rd century).  This is because up to the 10th century there was no specific procedure for canonization and if the Bishop and congregation spontaneously decided to worship a deceased monk or priest, then his relics would be enshrined and he would be made a saint. RELICS OF ST YVES RE...