Hywel Wyn Owen – författare

This book lists every single place-name and field-name in East Flintshire (recorded before 1900) - every river, bridge, hill, dale, wood, moor, town, village, hamlet, road, street, lane castle and field. Each name is followed by the earliest form, its date, subsequent references and the origin of the name. The glossary, which also acts as an index, lists all the different words found in the place-names. There is also a list of personal names. This text is the result of 25 years of research. It includes a complete and detailed Glossary of Elements.

The Place-Names of Wales was originally published in 1998 and reissued in 2005 in the Pocket Guide series. This current updated publication adds some thirty entries, which importantly take into consideration more recent research. The entry for each place-name provides details of historical forms and dates; analyses each name into its component linguistic elements; tracks the later linguistic development of the name and the influences upon it particularly within a bilingual society; compares the name with similar names elsewhere, and interprets that meaning within the history of Wales and in the local context having regard for the landscape and changing land-use. In addition to explaining the link between place-names and language, history and landscape, the introduction includes a section on the significance of place-name study, and a short section to allow non-Welsh speakers to understand some relevant sound-changes.

This is the first thorough, authoritative study of the place-names of the entire pre-1974 Flintshire, scholarly in substance, readable in presentation, with its selection of names based on the OS Landranger 1:50,000 map. The entry for each of the 800 names presents a grid reference, documentary and oral evidence with dates, derivation and meaning, and a discussion of the significance of the name in terms of history, language, landscape and industrial associations. Additionally, comparisons are drawn with similar names in other parts of Wales and the UK, and the later linguistic development of names is charted in light of the particular influences of a bilingual society.