Cornwall

Cornwall. [Early Brit. Cornovii; Germ. -wall, foreigner; late Brit. Cornouia, latinized to Cornubia; cf. Corn. Kernow, W Cernyw; archaic Eng. Kernyu]. A county, earlier duchy, occupying 1,369 square miles on a peninsula in south-western England; with a population of about 450,000, Cornwall is the fifth largest Celtic culture in Europe. The region was a part of the kingdom of Dumnonia in the 8th century. Prior to the 6th century Irish freebooters raided the peninsula, leaving settlements, and Irish missionaries later evangelized it. As the Duchy of Cornwall in medieval and early modern times, divided from England by the Tamar River, the region retained Celtic language and customs in spite of its powerful Saxon neighbours. The Cornish language [Corn. Kernewek] is Brythonic and closely related to Welsh and to Breton (compare the words for ‘oak’: W derwen; Corn. derowen; Bret. dervenn). Some Cornish names appear as glosses in early Latin gospels. The gospels themselves began to be translated into Cornish as early as the 10th century, and mystery plays in Cornish survive from the 15th.

The language was spoken until the mid-18th and has been ‘revived’ by enthusiasts in the 20th. Collections of lore from Cornish tradition did not appear until the mid-19th century, with Robert Hunt's Popular Romances of the West of England (London, 1865) and William Bottrell's Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall (Penzance, 1870). Several sites in Cornwall, such as Tintagel and Kelliwic, have rich Arthurian associations; and Cornwall is also the reputed home of King Mark and Tristan. See Bibliography under ‘Cornish’ for collections of Cornish traditions. Ir. An Corn; ScG A' Chòrn, Cornghall; Manx Yn Chorn; Bret. Kernev-Veur.