What’s in a name – Llyn Ogwen
What’s in a name – yn Gymraeg? Friday musings on Eryri place names.
Last week, Llyn Nadroedd…
This week… a little further north than Snowdon: ’Llyn Ogwen’ – this is the lake that nestles in the ‘Ogwen Valley’ shadowed by the peak of Pen yr Ole Wen (that’s another story!) directly to the north and bounded by the Tryfan and the Glyderau range to the south and west.
An interesting journey to uncover some accepted meanings of the word ‘Ogwen’… but can this process ever be 100% definitive?
Interestingly, the welsh word ‘ogwydd’ relates to something ‘slanting’ or ‘downwards’ – possibly the outflow of water under Pont Pen y Benglog, tumbling towards the continuation of Afon Ogwen (Ogwen River).
But it seems more logical that ‘Ogwen’ has developed from ‘Eog’ (salmon) and ‘wen’ (white) or ‘gwen’ (fair) to describe the quality and (white/foamy) colour of the river/water and the fact that salmon are resident in certain sections of the river.
And if you have an interest in angling… you’ll find wild brown trout and sea trout to keep you happy!
Our image shows Llyn Ogwen seen from below Y Garn (947m…and back to that next week!)
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