QUIMPER-VANNES

Were the Ancient Celts  colour blind? Place names suggest they were. Different languages label colours in different ways. White and black are words that exist in all languages but if there is a third colour name it is always red. The fourth and fifth colours can be green or yellow , but only languages that have six different colour words will have one for blue .  All The Colours, Including Grue Languages without  blue  will use  green  instead. These languages are called  grue  languages. Unlike their modern versions the old Celtic languages (Welsh, Breton, Cornish, Cumbric, Gaelic) were grue languages. For example, the word glas found in all four of these languages meant grey or green or blue or silver or turquoise.   In place names it is used for the colour of the sea, of the sky, of grass, of metal, of stone, of a sword, of hedges, or of a valley. The word is supposed by some Celtic scholars  to be der...

'Mediolana' place names suggest the existence of an ancient Celtic map of Europe. These historical names can be found across Brittany too, suggesting ancient paths criss-crossing Gaul. “ Anyone who writes about Druids and mysteriously coordinated landscapes, or who claims to have located the intersections of the solar paths of Middle Earth in a particular field, street, railway station or cement quarry, must expect to be treated with superstition.” Graham Robb’s book, The Ancient Paths: Discovering the Lost Map of Celtic Europe , makes exciting claims. In it he lays out the elements of Druidic science and shows how the Celts were the first to map the continent of Europe. And they did it with uncanny precision. It all started with Robb’s plans to cycle along the Via Heraklea (Hercules’ Way), an ancient route which runs in a straight path from the southwestern tip of Portugal to the Alps. Along the route are a series of Iron Age Celtic settlements called mediolan...

Saint Melar (Meloir, Melior, Melor, Melorius, Mylor) was a 6th century saint and martyr. His name appears in several place names across Brittany [Ploumilliau, Saint-Meloir-des-Bois (22); Confort-Meilars (29); Saint-Méloir-des-Ondes (35); Pluméliau (56)] and in Cornwall at Mylor and Linkinhorne.  His story is a fabulous one. Holy Well (Saint Melar) - Linkinhorne, Cornwall K ing Budoc I of Cornouaille left two sons, Riwal and Meliau. Riwal stabbed Meliau in order to grab his land and titles. In other representations Miliau is shown as a  cephalore (holding his own after decapitation). Mel ar, Meliau’s only son, would have been murdered too but for the intervention of chiefs.  Saint Meliau following his beheading by Riwal (Gwimiliau Church) Instead Riwal satisfied himself with cutting off Melor’s right hand and left foot (because Celtic laws barred royal succession for those with such disabilities).  Statue of Saint Melar (Plonivel) ...

Who was Saint Maeoc?  [a.k.a.  Fiacc, Méoc , Maëc, Maeoc, Maioc, Mieux, Mayeux, Meheuc, Feoc, Veoc, Mig/Mic, Vio] Breton legends tell the story of Saint Fiacc, Archbishop of Armagh and a contemporary of Saint Patrick, who fled the troubles in 5 th  century Ireland. He landed first in Cornwall where he founded a church: In Cornwall it is not entirely clear if Feock was a man or a woman. The registers suggest a female saint but the stained glass windows at Feock picture the patron saint in a priest’s robes: "In the glass Windows [of Feock church] is the figure of a man in priest's robes, with a radiated or shining circle about his head and face, and under his feet written   S. Feock; beneath whom also in glass were painted kneeling and bending forward, by way of adoration, the figures of a man and woman, and behind them several children'.  [Hals (1750)  'History of Cornwall'  ] He sailed across the Channel on a rock and landed at Penmarc’h....

Did the Yellow Plague cause 6th century Britons to leave for Brittany? Irish invaders, the plague and the bloody Saxons. All of these are suggested causes of the 6th century migration of Britons from Wales, Cornwall, Devon and Dorset in the sixth century to Brittany.  The Saxons are now viewed as an unlikely immediate cause – their settlements were too far east. The Irish were certainly a contributory factor. But the plague – what was all that about? Saint Brioc, on a visit to Cardigan (Ceredigion, Wales) in 526 A.D. , wrote that the whole area had been devastated by the plague. The epidemic in question was called y vad velen (‘the yellow pestilence’) and outbreaks of it occurred in Britain in 526, 537 and 547 C.E. Vad velen is sometimes identified with the ‘Great Plague of Justinian’ of  542 C.E. which arrived in Britain in 547. But Procopius (in 550) called it a bubonic plague - Welsh texts insist on a ‘Yellow Plague’.  Saint Teilo said it was ' call...

In Brittany there are a series of communes which carry the name Noyal:  Noyal Pontivy (Morbihan); Noyal-sous-Bazouges , Noyal-Châtillon-sur-Seiche, La Noë-Blanche (Ille-et-Vilaine); and Noyal (Cotes d'Armor).  Most French and Breton writers assume the name is connected with the Gaulish:  nauda , ‘wetland’, 'marsh'  [Old French: noue ]. Examples elsewhere in France include Nods (Franche-Comté), Noé (Midi-Pyrénées) and Les Noës (Aube). A further group derive the name from Gaulish: novio , 'new' and Gaulish:  ialo , 'clearance, 'clearing'. However, there is a saint whose name fits nicely. St. Newlyn East, Cornwall All these Breton place names could recall a 6th century Cornish saint who appears in the chronicles as Noyal,  Newlyna, Noualuen (Noual Blanche, 'the white'), Noiala and Noal. She also appears as the patron saint of St. Newlyn East in Cornwall. St. Newlyn East Parish Church She is portrayed as carrying her own head...

Welsh place names to attract tourists   This article looks at how Chinese  (Mandarin)  names have been given to Welsh place names to attract tourists. Why has Llanfairpwll been rebranded Healthy-lung Village? Rhossili Bay a.k.a. 'Sun Rise Beach' Snowdon a.k.a. 'Silver Peak'

I was researching possible origins for the name Douarnenez (see Douarnenez and the Two Islands ) in Finistère (Brittany) when  I happened upon a  video story called 'Dwy Ynys/Dau Hanes'  ( 'Two Islands/Two Histories')  on BBC Wales written by Marian Delyth.  BARDSEY ROBBEN ISLAND The story is written and narrated in Welsh (the script and translation is below).  The two islands in the story are Bardsey - Isle of Bards / Ynys Enlli - Isle of Currents [Wales] and Robben Island -Dutch: robben, ' s eal' [South Africa].                                 This little story speaks for itself. If you've never heard spoken Welsh before here's your chance.                         Dwy Ynys / Dau Hanes Peth rhyfedd yw'r ysfa ynom i gasglu cregyn. I hel, i gadw atgofion am ennyd a dreulwyd ar dr...

When I was researching the origin of the name Douarnenez I was particularly interested in whether it might be derived from the Breton: daou , ‘two’ [in Welsh: dau/dwy ] and Breton: (an) enez , ‘(the) island’ [Welsh: ynys ; Cornish: ennis/enys ; Irish: ennis ; Scottish: innis/inch ]. The second part of the name is the most obvious. This ancient place name element can refer to a peninsula (a 'quasi'-island) as well as a real island and this matched the topography of Douarnenez. The element Ynys/Ennis/Innis can be found in the names Anglesey/Ynys Mon, the Isle of Bardsey/Ynys Enlli, Enniskillen (N. Ireland) and Inchmarnock (Scotland). The daou/ 'two' element was pushing it a bit, but conceivably we could view the peninsula ( or even both 'banks')  and the Isle of Tristram to the north as the two 'islands' in the name. If you are looking for myth it is interesting to note that another island may have existed off the coast at Douarnenez. Breton myt...