Following on from yesterday’s post about Lafrowda and the somewhat fanciful etymology proposed for the name, today’s topic is the tiny hamlet of Trevegean, which is not far from St. Just. The name has the rather unexpected pronunciation [trevəˈdʒɪən]. It appears in the records in 1297 as Trevegyon. The name means “chaff farm”. The Revived Kernewek Kemmyn word meaning “chaff” is us [yːz], which is a collective noun. The ‘singulative’ is usenn [ˈyzen]. In West Cornwall [z], when followed by a front highish vowel or [j], often got replaced by [dʒ].
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The fanciful explanation of the name is “farm of the giant” or even “farm of the giant’s grave”. The story goes that in the 17th century the bones of an enormous person were found in an underground chamber near the hamlet. His arms, they said, were so long that, when he was alive, he could pluck sailors off the decks of ships passing Land’s End and plonk them on the rocks where Longships lighthouse now stands. Why he thought this was a good idea I do not know. He did all sorts of other horrible things, like cooking children in a cauldron and eating them. The Cornish have always seemed inordinately fond of stories about giants — both good and bad.