About the Author

Professor Hywel Wyn Owen is Director of the Place-name Research Centre at Bangor University and Vice President of the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland. He is a regular broadcaster, and advises the Welsh Assembly and the Welsh Language Board and other national bodies on matters pertaining to place-names.Richard Morgan is an archivist, formerly with Shropshire and now with Glamorgan Record Office. He is an honorary lecturer at the School of Welsh at Bangor University.Both have published extensively and are acknowledged as leading authorities on the place-names of Wales.

Reviews

PUZZLED BY PLACE-NAMES?
• Where would you find Man-Moel and Miskin? • What’s the meaning of Llanwinio? • What’s the history of the name Sebastopol? • Who was Dona in the name Llanddona? • Did you know that two blacksmith brothers worked so rapidly in Staylittle that travellers need only ‘stay a little’?
Have you ever wondered about the place-names in Wales? Do you know the true meaning of every mountain and river in your area? If you would like an explanation for every village and town, and much more, the new book, Dictionary of the Place-Names of Wales, would be perfect for you.
A place name belongs to a unique part of the earth surface, and by understanding the meaning of the name, we have information on the nature of the place, a glimpse of the history of the people who lived there, and an insight into the way the Welsh thought about themselves and their country over the centuries. With the assistance of over 300,000 research notes made by Professor Melville Richards, the authors, Hywel Wyn Owen and Richard Morgan, meticulously researched and gathered everything together. They spent seven years on the project in Bangor University.
The work in this new book fulfils a long-awaited need for an authoritative dictionary of the place-names for the whole of Wales, with names for rivers, mountains and notable coastal features also being included. In the words of Professor Gwynedd O Pierce, “The publication of this dictionary is a milestone in the history of Welsh place-name studies.”
You could browse in search of the strangest, most eccentric names or, of course, look for the places that are dear to you. There’s a wealth of amusing tales about the derivation of some of the names, some entirely unexpected. As Hywel Wyn Owen himself said, “The glory of this volume is that it can clearly show the original derivations of the names, by using the best evidence there is.”
Richard Morgan explains about his inspiration to write this book: “I was born in Wrexham where Welsh and English place names are mixed together. That was the source of my interest. Over the years, I have met many people - academics and general people - interested in the subject, but there wasn’t any book which could answer their questions.”
Hywel Wyn Owen also said that “there was a need for such a book, because there’s a wealth of information and a marvellous interest in Wales and beyond in place names and their significance.”
*Publisher: Gomer@Lolfa*