2006-10-27 22:47:23 · 9 answers · asked by terryhall2004 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Because the whole idea of surnames was foisted on the Welsh by the English. The original version of Jones, in Welsh terms, would have been "ap Ioan", the son of John. James is another example of a surname imposed in this way, the Welsh version being "ap Iago", the son of James. If you are interested in this subject, there is a useful link which can give you further information. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northwest/sites/familyhistory/pages/surnames.shtml
2006-10-27 23:19:38 · answer #1 · answered by Doethineb 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Hmm I'm Welsh and did Welsh History at Uni.
The Welsh version of John is "Ioan" so the original version of the name Jones would have been "ap Ioan" (Son of Ioan)
Jones is an Anglicisation, perhaps coming from Ioannes or something like that. Welsh surnames were Anglicised in the middle ages if I remember rightly to remove the "ap" bit - so someone called "ap Harri" became "Parry" and "Ap Richard" became "Pritchard" and the like.
John boy - I agree with the way that Welsh has to re use English words and spell them different because there are no Welsh equivalents - Jeli, Coffi, etc. My (English) boyfriend always laughs at a van from a local motor factors firm which advertises that they do "Teiars, Batris Siocs ac Brecs" (Tyres, Batteries, Shocks and Brakes!) Try reading through the billingual government stuff - there are no words for things like "Industrial Tribunal" or "Litigation" or "Employee Handbook" or "Working Time Directorate" - its really hard to understand, they have to sort of fudge it together from the words that already exist which makes it hard to read. Mind you my Welsh is very basic.
2006-10-28 10:45:38 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Living in Wales, and very much a person who has become disenchanted with the Welsh language, seeing it a compete waste of time and to quote Janet Street Porter, "Welsh is a language that hasn't got a word for anything invented after the Black Death."
The language is slowly dying out, and if I am not mistaken, a new letter has been added quite recently. Another point brought up by an article I have recently discovered is the way they say, Jelly as Jeli. Now as a J isn't present in the language, it deems the word and ultimately a lot of the language obsolete.
In answer to your original question, because Welsh is a language of contradictions which is outdated by a few hundred years.
2006-10-27 22:56:52 · answer #3 · answered by jonn0boy 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
It's the patronymic name system - ap (son of) whatever.
So, ap rhys became price (another common welsh name) with the anglisisation (is that a word?) of the language.
Ap sion (son of john, also ioan) - Jones. Ap siencyn - Jenkins. so the system went two ways.
as for the use of the letter J. No, it's not in the alphabet (although double letters like "ll", "ch" and "ng" are!) but it is used extensively.
as for the inventiveness or lack of it in welsh, yes "teiers, brecs a siocs" is a bit odd, but at the other end of the scale we have 2 words for microwave - microdon and poptyping (or popty ping) which is the amalgam of the welsh for oven (or more correctly bakehouse) and ping, as in, what a microwave does when it's finished! it has to be one my favourite words - poptyping - brilliant!
2006-10-28 23:35:24 · answer #4 · answered by sd5 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Welsh language is over 2000 years previous. on condition that 1536 the rustic of Cymru / Wales has been annexed and slowly assimilated into England. by denying a rustic its language, it is way less complicated to disclaim them of a cultural and national identity. Over this era of time, the English Language has been imposed upon the Welsh. as a result English relatives names have been been used and due to this we now affiliate them as being Welsh.
2016-10-16 12:01:19 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In which case how come the late great John Charles was called John. My mates Welsh and I asked him about it and he doesn't know either so us English are going to be well stumped on it. R.
2006-10-28 14:50:41 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Of course there is a J in the Welsh language!
Where on earth did you get that strange idea - unless your question is a joc (which is Welsh for joke!)
2006-10-27 23:19:34 · answer #7 · answered by Songbird 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
jones is probably the translation from welsh to english
2006-10-27 22:53:50 · answer #8 · answered by flibertyjib 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Had no idea that there is no J in their language. Think yr question brilliant and really funny. Looking forward to seeing some of the answers.
2006-10-27 22:53:36 · answer #9 · answered by english_rose10 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋