Any Cornish who had a residual knowledge of the Cornish language would
probably roughly understand Welsh as the two languages are so similar. The
Cornish were supposed to be able to converse with the Bretons on the same
basis.
Lynne Mayers
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alasdair Neill" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 10:11 AM
Subject: [MINING-HISTORY] Snowdon Copper Mines
> The last edition of Below! (Shropshire Caving & Mining Club) contains an
> article (anonymous) statin "When a new mine manager was wanted at any of
> the mines on Snowdon, it was a prerequisite that applicants spoke English
> and French, because so many of the miners were Breton. 'Llyn Llydaw@
> means 'Lake Brittany' in Welsh".
>
> Does anyone have any proof of this? I understand that the name Llydaw,
> although translating as Breton (I am no Welsh speaker) is thought to be
> more likely to be a personal name, & anyway is recorded much earlier than
> the date the Snowdon copper mine was discovered (c mid 18th Century). In
> the 1850's there were proposals to bring in Cornish miners, & most names
> of
> workings in the area are either Welsh or Cornish. It would surely have
> been much more likely that managers were Welsh speakers (although I don't
> suppose there were many Welsh speakers amongst the Cornish).
>
> Alasdair Neill.
>
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