Small village changes its name

by Suw on July 21, 2004

A small village in Wales has changed its name from Llanfynydd to Llanhyfryddawelllehynafolybarcudprindanfygythiadtrienusyrhafnauole in protest against a wind farm which is planned for a nearby hill. They need to be careful – Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch got its full name when a tailor from Menai decided that they needed more tourists. Perhaps Llanhyfryddawelllehynafolybarcudprindanfygythiadtrienusyrhafnauole will stick.
(Llanhyfryddawelllehynafolybarcudprindanfygythiadtrienusyrhafnauole means “quiet beautiful village, a historic place with rare kite under threat from wretched blades” and beats Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch,
or “the church of St Mary in the hollow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tysilio by the red cave”, in length by 8 characters.)
Thanks to ASBradbury for the tip.

Anonymous July 22, 2004 at 8:42 am

Er.. does “Llan hyfryd dawel lle hynafol y barcud prin dan fygythiad trienus yr hafnau o le” really mean what they say it does? That last bit confuses me, and also my Cymraes Gymraeg fiancee.. it sounds to me like “Lovely quiet village, historic place of the rare kite, under wretched threat of havens/hollows of room.” Er.
Jim

Anonymous July 22, 2004 at 12:30 pm

Blade in Welsh is 'llafn' so I would guess that 'yr hafn' is a local variation on that. Not sure about the 'o le' bit.

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