Welsh Journals

108 BYE-GONES. Dec, 1872. The situation is very pleasant by the side of a small river, of which the bank rises high on the other side, shaded by gradual rows of trees. The gloom, the stream, and the silence generate thoughtfulness. The town is old and very mean, but has, I think, a market. In this town the Welsh translation of the Old Testament was made. The Welsh singing Psalms were written by Archdeacon Price [sic]. They are not considered as elegant, but as very literal and accurate. We came to Llanrhaiadr through Oswestry; a town not vary little, nor very mean. The church, which I only saw at a distance, seems to be an edifice much too good for the present state of the place. We visited the waterfall, which is very high, and in rainy weather very copious. There is a reservoir made to supply it. In its fall it has perforated a rock. There is a room built for entertainment. There was some difficulty in climbing to a near view. Lord Lyttelton came near it and turned back. When we came back we took some coltl meat, and notwithstanding the Doctor's importunities went that day to Shrewsbury." Pp. 125-9.— Kemah [Dr Johns >n came from Chirk to Oswestry, en route for Llaa- rhaiadr, and it has puzzled Oswestrians more than once to know how it was that he only g>t a distant view of the church, when the old road (via Trefonen) would take him close asr it. Per¬ haps the doctor turned up Willow-street at The Cross, and pro¬ ceeded ' under the We'sh Walls' to Brook (or as it would be then) Oswald street, instead ot taking the main line of Church-street, although, by any course he would have to pass the churchyard We must remember Dr Johnson was very short-sighted, and perhaps the church would appear farther off to him than to ordinary individuals. Or. he may not have turned round wheu he passed, and so only saw it in looking back over the town as he passed Maesylan.—Ed. Bye-gones] QUERIES. THE NAME OWEN.—I should be very glad to obtain an expression of opinion from the readers of Bye- gones upon the meaning and correct Latinization of the name Owen". That these are by no means to be con¬ sidered as settled the following quotations from eminent authorities will show. Herbert in Britannia after the Romans, p. 29, vol. 1, says:—"The name which the Cymry expressed by Owein, Ewain, Ywein, Ywain ; the English by Owen and Ewen ; the Picts by Oeng, and the Gaels by Eoghan, Aogoann, and Oen was Eugenius. The Franks had in their language a different but resembling name written Audoenusin Latin, and Ouen in Romance." Camden in his Britannia, quoted by Herbert above- mentioned says : " The countj of Tir-oen (now Tyrone), is Terra Eugenii. The ancient Irish priests knew no other Latin for the name, and the Welsh name Owen has been found expressed Eugenius." Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, in the Cam : Quar : Mai : Jan 1832, gives a full copy, with translation, of an ancient Welsh MS. which is bound up in Har eianMS.S., No. 3,859, and is ad¬ mitted by competent judges to be the work of the tenth century. In this MS. the name Owen is repeatedly found Eugein. Mi3S Charlotte Yonge, in her book on Christian names, says, " Owe" is so like the word Oen, 1 hat in Welsh stands for a lamb, that it is generally so translated, but it is most likely, that this is a case of an adaptation of a de¬ rivative from an obsolete word to a familiar one, and that Owen ought to be carried much further back to the same source as the Erse Eoghan, which comes from Eoghann, youth, from og=young and duine=man, and is ren¬ dered young warrior. It has the feminine Eoghania, of course turned into Eugenia " Another translation of Owain is " apt to serve." Mr Haig in ' N. & Q.'of October 26, gives the meaning of Owen as " river," and instances Owen-beg, Owen-more, riverain Ireland, as proofs. Is this the personal name Owen, or a word having an affinity to the old Welsh gwy, wy=water ? Which of the views now quoted is the correct one? Is Owen simply eugenos, Eugenius=well-born in a Celtic dress ? How are we to determine the correct Latin form when we find the ancients using Eugenius, and our illustrious countryman, the Epigrammatist Audoenus?—Cymro. [Since we received the ab>ve from Cymro another reply has appeared in 'N & Q.,' signed " ft. S. Chamock, Gray's Inn, as follows:—" Owen, in Irish geographical names, without doubt means river. It is more correctly written * Owan,' the Irish pronunciation of ' amhann.' The Welsh surname is of different origin. It would certainly corrupt from Eugenius. Camden says,' Owen, Lat. Andoenus, if it bee the same with 8. Owen of France. But the Britons will haue it from old King Oneus, father-in law to Hercules ; others from Eugenius, that is, noble or well borne. Certain it is that the Country of Ireland, called Tir-O n, is in Latine Records, T^rra Eugenii, and the Irish Priests know no Latine for their Oen but Eugenius, as Eothericus for Rorke. And Sir Owen Ogle in Latine Records, as I have • ene enformed, was written Eusenius 0«le.' If the original name was Audoenus, we must look to the German for the ety¬ mology. Zedler me tions Owen, Owenus oder Au loenus (Johann) as the name of a celebrated Latin noet, born at Caernarvon. Audoenus would corru t from Alduinus (Alduinus was Abbot of St. Jean d'Angeli, and AWuinus or Alduainus was a king ot the West Saxonsi, from O. G. al'1-win=amicu8 nobilis, or aid winn=oobilis betlatar. Hence also the name of Adalwin, aid and adal being the same word. P.S.—The Gaelic form of Owen is Aoghainn."—Ed. Bye-gones.] REPLIES. CHAINED BOOKS IN CHURCHES (O.A. Nov. 20, 1872).—The Whole Duty of Man, a cumbrous folio of 381 pp., printed at the sign of the Bible in Chancery-Lane, 1687, was according to Terriers, bearing the date of 1722 and 1762, "chained upon a desk near the altar in the chancel of Llanidloes Church."—Remah. There is a Bible chained in a pew, for the use of the poor, in Baschurch Church, Shropshire. The organ in the same churcb was the gift of Queen A.nne. —Pll. JOHNS BYTHELL, MONTGOMERY (O.A. July 31, Nov. 6, 1872). —I return thanks to your corre¬ spondent for taking the trouble to copy ihe sheriff's roll, Rich. Lloyd, (of Marrington) Ar. Vic, was owner of large estates in Montgomcyshire. He was ancestor of Mr L!oyd, once part proprietor of Eddowes's Journal, and of the Rev. Mr Lloyd, of Marion. Robtus F. Francis de Irewerne Gen. ie identical with the Robt. Fraunce in the deed be¬ fore spoken of. I think it may be taken for granted that Robert Powell, Sheriff of Shropshire, 1794, and of Worthen, and John Bythell, Bailiff of Montgomery, 1611 and 1614, were relations and countrymen. They pi«bably migrated abom the same time from the neighbourhood of Denbigh. The arms, dates, and localities point to that conclusion.—Ap Ithell. INDUCTION OF A VICAR (O.A Oct. 9, 23, 1872). — The Rev. Howell Evans was inducted to the living f the parish church, St Oswald's, Oswestry, on Mar. 3, 1872, by the Ven. Archdeacon Ffoulkes. The do >r at the east of the church was locked and the kev handed to the new Vicar, who l^t himself in, after which he proceeded to the tower and tolled a bell, but I am not aware whether anyone was curious enough to count the number of times he did so.—Chuhch Mouse. HALLOW E'EN (O A., Oct. 30, 1872).—The ex¬ tract from Hone's Every Day Book, containing a quotation from Pennant, must contain a misprint when it calls the autumnal fires in Wales 'Coel Coeth.' 'Coelcnrth' or ■ Coelcen' must be the word. Coelcerth, as in Merioneth'