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Quimper Vannes Archive

 Quimper-Vannes Brittany Place Names Archive

This Blogger site contains early notes, short essays and curiosities from the research behind Quimper-Vannes: Exploring the Place Names of Brittany.

The new edition Quimper Vannes: A Journey Through the Place Names of Brtitany and a French translation  Quimper Vannes:À la recherche des noms de lieux en Bretagne launch in June 2026. 

For new articles, launch updates and sample material, visit the new Substack: 






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Breton Saints and Place Names

Update:  Quimper-Vannes has moved to a new site:  https://quimpervannes.substack.com/ This Blogger site is now an archive. New articles, extracts and launch news for the English edition and French translation will appear on Substack. 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 n...
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Why all the Ermine?

Update:  Quimper-Vannes has moved to a new site:  https://quimpervannes.substack.com/ This Blogger site is now an archive. New articles, extracts and launch news for the English edition and French translation will appear on Substack. The ermine ( Mustela erminea ) a.k.a. stoat or short-tailed weasel  is the national emblem of Brittany. Its much sought after white winter coat was used for the cloaks, crowns and caps of the aristocracy. Ermine The eleven 'ermine spots' which form the pattern in the top left corner of the Breton flag represent the way the black-tipped tails were hung on the white fur.  This heraldic ermine canton was a feature of the arms of the Dukes of Brittany.  Breton flag with ermine canton The story goes that Anne de Bretagne,  the last independent Breton ruler and the wife of two successive French kings,   saw a group of hunters chasing after an ermine. When the ermine reached the edge of a muddy lake the er...
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What really links place names in Brittany, Cornwall and Wales (apart from a few hundred Celtic saints)?

Update:  Quimper-Vannes has moved to a new site:  https://quimpervannes.substack.com/ This Blogger site is now an archive. New articles, extracts and launch news for the English edition and French translation will appear on Substack. Place Name Elements in Breton, Welsh and Cornish (with examples and English gloss) BRETON CORNISH WELSH ENGLISH EXAMPLES C=Cornwall; W= Wales aut , alt, aod alt, als, aulz allt hill, slope, cliff Duault (22), Nansalsa (C), Allt-golau (W) ael ael ael summit, brow, ridge Hirael (35), Aelbryn (W) aval aval, avallen afal, afallen apple Availles-sur-Seiche (35), Rosevallen (C), Dolafallen (W) aon, aven auon, awan afon river Pont-Aven (29); Arrowan (C), Aberavon (W) arcae - argae dam, embankment Erquy (22), Argae Alwen (W) ard, art, arz are, ard, arth ardd ...
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