A map full of vocabulary
Much of the Cornish language never disappeared. It survives on maps, road signs and farm gates. Cornish place names are a large, accessible record of the language, and many ordinary words can be found in them. Even if you never study Cornish, learning a handful of recurring elements makes a drive through Cornwall more interesting.
A caution first. Place names are old, often much older than the written records that mention them. Spellings changed as scribes and mapmakers who did not speak Cornish wrote down what they heard. Experts sometimes disagree about the meaning of a particular name, and a confident-sounding explanation on a tourist leaflet may be only one of several possibilities. Treat every meaning below as typical rather than certain.
Common elements
Certain words recur so often that they act like building blocks. Several are explained below, with the usual meaning given in simplified form.
| Element | Usual meaning | Where you may see it |
|---|---|---|
| tre | farmstead, settlement, estate | Start of many names |
| pol | pool, pond, stream | Start or end of names near water |
| pen | head, end, top | Names of headlands and hills |
| porth | cove, harbor, landing place | Coastal names |
| nans | valley | Names in folds of the land |
| ros | moor, heath, or promontory | Disputed; both senses are reported |
| lan | enclosure, often a church site | Usually start of a name |
| carn | rock pile, rocky outcrop | Hills and moorland |
| chy | house | Farms and cottages |
| men | stone | Standing stones and rocks |
Tre, pol and pen
The most famous trio is tre, pol and pen. Tre often means a farmstead or settlement, which is why so many Cornish places begin with it. A well-known saying links “Tre, Pol and Pen” to Cornish surnames, but it is only a rough guide, since many places and families use other elements. The topic of name prefixes receives fuller treatment elsewhere; here the point is just that these three are among the most common beginnings.
Pol usually relates to a pool or a stretch of water, though it can be hard to see which water the name refers to when the landscape has changed. Pen commonly means head or end, and it appears in names of headlands, hilltops and the end of a valley or settlement. Combine those with another word, and the name can describe a place quite literally.
Coast, valley and church sites
Porth is usually translated as a cove or harbor, and it appears in many coastal names. Nans means valley, and you may spot it, sometimes in the form “nance,” in names of villages or farms in folds of the land. Lan is often connected with an early church site or enclosure, which links to saints place names across the county, since many names combine lan with the name of a person associated with the site. Whether each named person was a real individual is often uncertain and is part of the folklore of early Christianity in Cornwall.
Rocks, houses and hills
Carn appears on moorland and coastal heights, where granite outcrops are common. Men means stone, and it is often found in names associated with large rocks or standing stones. Chy means house and appears in farm and house names, sometimes in a modern spelling.
Names often describe the landscape
Many names are plain descriptions. A place might be named for the color of the soil, a type of tree, a farm’s owner, the shape of a hill, or a feature such as a ford or bridge. This is why it helps to look at the actual setting. A name containing a word for a stream often sits near a stream, and a name with a word for a ridge often lies on high ground.
Some names combine a Cornish element with an English one. Others have been reshaped by English pronunciation until the original sense is hidden, so a name that sounds like an English word may be a worn-down Cornish phrase.
Why spellings vary
You will often find the same place spelled in different ways on old maps, modern maps and signs. There are several reasons:
- Names were first recorded by people writing from hearing, without a standard spelling.
- Cornish itself has been written in several systems during the modern revival.
- Some signs show an English form and a Cornish-language form side by side.
Both forms are legitimate, depending on context.
Beyond place names
Some Cornish-derived words also persist in English as spoken in Cornwall. A Cornish glossary lists terms related to mining, farming and the sea, and some survive in local speech as part of Cornish dialect rather than as the language itself.
How to read a name
A practical approach is to split the name into parts and test each against the list above. If a part does not match anything you know, leave it open rather than guessing. Specialist books and local history societies often give researched explanations with early recorded forms, which are the best evidence. The names were given by people describing the land they lived in, and reading them is a small way to hear their voices.