Note 14 — Chapter VI · The Folklore of the Wells

See By-Gones for May 24, 1899. The full name of Welshpool in Welsh is Traỻwng Ỻywelyn, so called after a Ỻywelyn descended from Cuneđa, and supposed to have established a religious house there; for there are other Traỻwngs, and at first sight it would seem as if Traỻwng had something to do with a lake or piece of water. But there is a Traỻwng, for instance, near Brecon, where there is no lake to give it the name; and my attention has been called to Thos. Richards’ Welsh-English Dictionary, where a traỻwng is said to be ‘such a soft place on the road (or elsewhere) as travellers may be apt to sink into, a dirty pool.’ So the word seems to be partly of the same derivation as go-ỻwng, ‘to let go, to give way.’ The form of the word in use now is Traỻwm, not Traỻwng or Traỻwn. ↑