Where does the name Merthyr Tydfil come from?

Answer 1

Oh, dude, Merthyr Tydfil's name comes from Welsh origins. "Merthyr" means martyr, and "Tydfil" is the name of a Welsh princess. So, basically, it's like naming a town after a royal martyr - pretty metal, right? So, yeah, that's where the name comes from.

Answer 2

Well, honey, Merthyr Tydfil gets its name from the Welsh words "Merthyr" meaning martyr and "Tydfil" being the name of a 5th-century Welsh princess. So, put them together and you've got a town named after a martyr princess. Quite the fancy origin story, if you ask me!

Answer 3

Ah, Merthyr Tydfil, what a lovely name! It actually comes from the Welsh language. "Merthyr" means "martyr" and "Tydfil" is the name of a 5th-century Welsh princess. So, when you say Merthyr Tydfil, you are honoring the memory of a noble princess with a heart full of love and courage.

Answer 4

In modern Welsh 'merthyr' means 'martyr'. But there is good evidence that in early Welsh the word could also mean 'site of martyrdom / shrine of a martyr'.

Traditionally the Old Parish Church of Merthyr Tydfil was the site of martyrdom and burial for the local saint - Saint Tydfil - who still features on the borough coat of arms. The only effigy of her used to form part of the town's war memorial, but this was stolen some time during the 1990's.

Saint Tydfil was one of the daughters of the equally mythical Brychan Brycheiniog - a fifth century King of Breconshire who had many children who seem to have spent most of their lives Christianising south-east Wales (and occasionally getting killed by pagan Picts for their trouble).

The name Merthyr Tydfil (Merthyr Tudful in modern Welsh orthography) seems to go back at least to medieval times, but the story may have been 'improved' more recently. Much 'ancient' Welsh history was in fact 're-imagined' by the Flemingston Apothecary / Stonemason Iolo Morgannwg in the 1750's - and Iolo's son Dafydd ab Iolo kept a school on Three Salmon Street in Merthyr Tydfil in the late Eighteenth Century, where he seems likely to have helped the newly industrialised town discover its roots.

The names Tydfil and Tanglwstl (Tydfil's sister) are still sometimes used in the Merthyr area, as is Rhun (according to the myth, Tydfil's brother).