‘Peak should be known by Welsh name’
WALES’ highest peak should abandon its English name in favour of its Welsh form. That’s the view of campaigners who want Snowdon to only be referred to as “Yr Wyddfa”.
A petition calling for Snowdonia National Park to drop “Snowdon” and “Snowdonia” was rejected by the Senedd last year after it was found to be the responsibility of the park itself rather than Cardiff Bay.
At a meeting of authority members yesterday, the national park delayed any decision on ditching the English name, with authority chiefs instead setting up a working group to consider its future policy on Welsh place names.
The motion also called for the park to use “Eryri” rather than “Snowdonia” in future.
The park was established in 1951, covering 827 square miles (2,140 km2) of mainly mountainous land in Gwynedd and Conwy counties.
At the meeting, consisting mainly of councillors sitting on Gwynedd and Conwy councils, the motion by Cllr John Pughe Roberts was kicked into the long grass, with leaders believing that further discussions were needed on the implications of only using the Welsh forms.
It’s understood that this task group will look to adapt guidelines on the general use of Welsh place names within the park.
“Yr Wyddfa” means grave, with legend stating that the giant Rhita Gawr was buried on the 3,560ft mountain. However, it was also known as Carnedd y Cawr (the Cairn of the Giant).
“Eryri”, meanwhile, is believed to originate from the Latin “oriri” (to rise) and was first documented in the 9th century, despite it long being thought to refer to the Welsh name for Eagle – “Eryr”.
The more recently popularised English forms of “Snowdon” and “Snowdonia” are thought to derive from the Saxon “snow dune” meaning “snow hill”.
There is a precedent for the ditching of English names for popular tourist attractions, however, with Ayres Rock in Australia now formally known by its much older Aboriginal name of Uluru.
Were the park to follow a similar route, however, it would not compel other bodies and/or individuals to stop using “Snowdon” or “Snowdonia”.
Previous efforts have been made to drop the English forms, including one from language pressure group Cymuned in 2003, who claimed that the area only became known as Snowdonia due to Victorian day-trippers.
Speaking to the Daily Post after the decision, Cllr Roberts said: “I’m naturally disappointed as I felt this was a real chance to make a statement on the need to protect our indigenous Welsh place names.
“There’s much talk of people wrongly changing Welsh house names into English and long-established place names being eradicated, but the public sector has a duty to lead the way here rather that insisting on this bureaucracy of kicking the can down the road to another committee.”
The Independent Gwynedd county councillor for Corris/Mawddwy added: “I am disappointed that some Plaid Cymru members didn’t support the motion today, but I am not giving up and will be continuing to put pressure on the authority and for the outcome of this working group to be made public as soon as possible.”
In response, national park chairman Wyn Ellis Jones said: “Authority members decided that there was no need to consider the motion today as a Welsh Place Names Task and Finish Group has already been appointed.
“This follows previous consideration by the members in a working group which recommended to establish and adopt guidelines to guide the use of place names by the SNPA.
“Members will consider these issues once the Task and Finish Group is able to make recommendations.
“The authority is committed to protect and promote the use of native place names for everyday use and future generations.”