Talk:Whitford, Flintshire
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Enw Cymraeg - Rhydwen neu Chwitffordd
[edit]The article states that the Welsh for Whitford is "Rhydwen" in the lead but in the infobox it says it's Maes Rhydwen. That's an incosistency itself of course, but isn't the Welsh name of Whitford the Cymricised form Chwitffordd? The Welsh-language Wicipedia article is titled 'Chwitffordd' and says:
"Daw'r enw Cymraeg o'r enw Saesneg Whitford (naill ai "Rhyd Lydan" neu "Rhyd Wen").", which means 'the Welsh language name comes from the English language Whitford (one of "Rhyd Lydan" or "Rhyd Wen").
'Rhyd Lydan' translates as 'Wide Ford' and 'Rhyd Wen' translates as 'White Ford'. It seems pretty clear that the Cymraeg article here is saying that White Ford or Wide Ford are possible etymologies of the English Whitford, which in term gives us the Welsh name Chwitffordd, rather than Rhyd Wen, or indeed Rhydwen or Rhyd Lydan, being the actual name. I tried to find some reference to Rhydwen or Maes Rhydwen on the internet and it came up with several houses in other parts of Wales called 'Rhydwen' and Maes Rhydwen is a road in Whitford/Chwitffordd, but nothing to say that the Welsh name is 'Rhydwen'.
I happen to have a copy of the University of Wales Press-published Rhestr o Enwau Lleodd - A Gazetteer of Welsh Place-Names. It lists Whitford with its Welsh name as 'Chwitffordd' with no mention of Maes Rhydwen and only one mention of 'Rhyd-wen', which it notes as 'ardal, Chwarter Bach, Caerf.' meaning 'an area, Quarter Bach, Carms.', which is obviously a different place in South Wales.
I'd be happy to stand corrected but, without a citation, the Welsh name should seemingly be listed as Chwitffordd and I have edited it as such. Perhaps a short section talking about the etymology of the name, as exists on Wicipedia, wouldn't hurt either. 2A00:23EE:1978:A93F:81F9:F11D:6EAB:7629 (talk) 23:11, 11 July 2023 (UTC)