To: SunSITE Archive In-Reply-To: (null) Penfro `Pembroke(-shire)' is as you say `Head-land'. _Bro_ is cognate with Old Irish _mruig_ and also with English _march_ in the sense of the `The Welsh Marches', i.e. a border district. The same Anglo-Saxon root underlies the name of the AS kingdom Mercia and the River Mersey, which had been the border between Mercia and Northumbria once. Bro is also the Breton word for a country or district, and Breton _kenvro(ad)_ means `compatriot'. The Old Celtic form occurs in the Gaulish tribal name _Allo-broges_ `Foreigners' and the Galatian personal name _Brogo-ri+x_ `Land-king' = Welsh _breyr_ `nobleman, lord, &c.' On Thu, 28 Oct 1993, Nicholas Kibre wrote: > > On Wed, 27 Oct 1993, Lawrence Greening wrote: > > > I was wondering if somebody could tell me the etymology of the word > > "Cymru" (which to the best of my knowledge means Wales). > > Well, "Cymro" is supposed to come from the prefix "cy+NASALIZATION", > which means something like "co-", or "together", (probably a cognate of > Latin "cum") added onto "bro", "country" (which might also be the second > half of "Penfro", i.e. literally "headland". Anybody know about this?). > Thus the Cymry are literally "people of the same country", or > "confederates". > > You might also be interested to know that the "cumbr-" in "Cumbria" > (Where something akin to Welsh was spoken until about the 12th cent.) is a > variant of the same name. > > o - - - - - - - - o > _ Nicholas Kibre --- 6500njk@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu _ > Adran Ieithyddiaeth, Prifysgol Califfornia, Santa Barbara > o - - - - - - - - o > > > >