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"Towy? Tywi? Llyn Brianne?"
In this exclusive copyright extract from his forthcoming book on the river Towy,
author Lynn Hughes settles the arguments
Pronunciation of the modern Welsh spelling "Tywi" produces precisely
the same open-vowelled sound as its English version, "Towy": though no
non-Welsh-speaking reader would easily realise that. "River Towy" is
the logical English-language rendering of "Afon Tywi" - as "River
Wye" is English for "Afon Gwy", and "Afon Wysg",
Welsh for "River Usk".
"River Tywi" which is recent and, sadly, becoming wide-spread, is confusing. It is ignorant, political manipulation - making historic and linguistic nonsense.
Common-sense usage will continue throughout the present text.
To call the man-made structure that stems the main flow of the rivers Towy
and Camddwr and the resulting potable water reservoir after smelly water, a
hand-mill or "Brian", seems somewhat lacking in intellect. At best, it
summons a witticism in the vein of "Monty Python"! By tradition, Welsh
topographical names are descriptive and truthful. The naming of Towy's man-made lake as
"Llyn Brianne" is an aberration that surely requires correction to
Llyn Tywi or Towy Reservoir.
20/08/10