The local form of Tintagel - Dundadgel - is something I have only found in Ekwall and in a couple of other old sources. To find out if such a spelling for Tintagel could indicate that the site is a relocation of the Welsh Caer Dathal, which was associated with Uther in Welsh tradition, I asked Andrew Climo of The University of Exeter about the place-name. His response was quite thorough, and I have included it in totality below:
Summary
Toponymists have struggled with this name
for decades and place name evidence for Tintagel is sparse. One way forward is
to go with the attested form Tintaieol as a basis, as it may preserve
the Cornish pronunciation from c.1200. Toponymists have glossed over the matter
of the <o/e> alternation, but this is adequately borne out by the
examples provided in the texts. Unfortunately, this makes Weatherhill’s highly
attractive Tente D’Agel ‘Devil’s Stronghold’ look unlikely. It is
reasonable to substitute initial <d> and assume that ‘Din’, fortress, is
the prototheme on the basis of consonance. This renders Dintajeol. One
could then leave open the matter of whether *Tajeol was a personal name,
refers to the Devil (C. ‘Dyawl’), or something different entirely. This way
forward accounts for all morphological features seen within the texts and
provides a usable form.
Sources and Hypotheses
Sources (in Padel, 1988; Weatherhill, 2005).
The following apply to Tintagel Head and/or Castle:
· Padel: Tintagol c.1137; Tyntagel
1208
· Weatherhill: Tintagol
c.1145
As both point out the settlement of
Tintagel was Trewarvene 1259; and Trevenna c.1870 (Padel).
Weatherhill thinks the name is Norman French Tente d’Agel ‘Devil’s
Stronhold’, cf. Tintagau (Sark).
Ekwall’s assumes a <dg> spelling, perhaps
based on the notion that Middle English <g> is [dʒ].
The spelling <dg> appears speculative although was used in Middle Cornish
from time to time although the Norman French usage of <g> was also common
and <gg> is also found. Neo-Cornish uses the graph <j> to represent
[dʒ], and native Cornish names used would have derived from either <s> or
<d> in Old Cornish.
Phonology
There is a need for additional forms to
make a clearer determination on linguistic grounds, but Layamon’s Brut (in
Project Gutenburg), which is in Middle English, shows Tintateol,
presumably a transcription error from Tintaieol, which also occurs in
that text, as well as the form Tintageol, which suggests that <g> really
was pronounced [dʒ] ~ <j>.
The initial <t> is easily explained
as a substitution for <d> ~ [d], and as pointed out by Padel (1985, p.85)
is found in names such as Tenby, Tintern. Initial fortis (hardening of d à t or g à k) is not much of a stretch,
particularly resulting from consonance (so the consonants at the front, middle
or end then agree).
If Weatherhill is correct that the name is
NF and one can assume <g> ~ <j> ~ [dʒ], then Tente d’Agel could be
rendered in Cornish as Tentajel. The alternation of spellings <e/i> is
common in C. and whether it is of any consequence or not is a question for
another day and still occupies C. users of different persuasions.
On the other hand, if Padel is correct and
it is C., then it would be spelt in MC something like Dintajel, Dintajol or
Dintajeol. Din is the m. noun ‘fortress’ so *tajel/tajol/tajeol is a qualifying
name, noun or adjective, presumably in MC. However, the suggestion that *tajel
< *tagell ‘neck’, ‘noose’ or ‘constriction’ is problematic: Whilst it makes
topographically tempting, it would require a NF qualifying noun added to a C.
prototheme and then a series of changes to occur to provide the present
spelling (Din > Din-tagell > Dintajeol > Tintagel). This seems a bit
of a stretch. The other issue is that there is a vowel alternation <o/e>
or possibly <eo>, which should not be casually dismissed (neither Padel
nor Weatherhill address this).
Morpheme Splitting
There are several ways that tajeol might be
split: (i) ta-, (ii) taj- or (iii) taje-. The first way of splitting might
suggest the preposition -to or -de ‘unto’, which typically
requires a personal name following. ‘Devil’ was diavol (Voc. Cor.), so the
hypothesis of ‘Devil’s Fortress’ could conceivably work with a little forcing:
*Dintodiavol > *Dintodyawl > *Dintojawl. Second and third way of
splitting would suggest an OC root *tadi- or *tado-, and potentially an
instrumental suffix -illo: *tadoel > *tajeol. As a parallel, one thinks of
the name *teuto-uualos ‘Warrior of the People’ > *Tudwal.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.