Stardom and a Study in Etymology

(from 2014)

Welsh is an interesting language, and the origin of words always fascinates me.

Take the name Elvet. Sounds like a little elf – but actually the word seems to come from Elfed – the Welsh for autumn; a season of mellow fruits, mystic spells, and rheumatism.

There are quite a few people named Elvet or Elfed around here in Wales. And no – coming from the wrong side of the Bristol Channel, I am not one of them.

But – here is a brief tale about one certain Elvet from the past. The family came from the West of Wales, where the Preseli mountains are to be found (sometimes spelled Prescelly). The area provided the famous blue stones that are now at Stonehenge. And to pronounce that last name effectively you really do have to mimic the character “Nigel Tufnel” from the film, “This is Spinal Tap.”

When surnames were invented for the Welsh, there were generally three ways they went. One was to turn a Christian name into a surname – so Richard became Richards; son of Richard, ap Richard, became Prichard; John became Jones; Robert became Roberts, and so on – very much as happened with many Jewish surnames.

The second way, as in English, was to tack on the person’s occupation. You get this in English with Smith, Spencer (a butler), Shepherd and so forth.  Wales has its fair share of these, but I can’t spell them.

And then there is the place the family came from. If you knew my real name you would realise there is a place in the north of England named after me...  (Yeah I know – Scunthorpe...)

And so it was – hastily getting back to the story – with our friend Elvet. The family name continued for generations, but ultimately when surnames were attached they focussed on the Preseli Mountains.

So lo and behold the Preseli family came into being, and like many of their countrymen decided to try for their fortune in the new land of America. There they had a new son, christened with the patronym of generations. As he grew, the young Welsh bard sang the songs of the land of his fathers, but adapted for an increasing changing world.

His songs caught on in the recording business, and soon the young man’s name was in lights. Or rather, almost his name, because since the first sign writer employed was illiterate (that being a basic requirement for his craft), he made a couple of spelling errors.

And Elvet Preselli became... well, you can guess.

Yeah – you ‘aint nothing but a Welsh Rarebit....

Of course, there is the faint possibility that none of the above is true.

However, there IS a village in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, actually called St Elvis.