Two or three questions, who was and when was the last person to speak Cornish, and how does a place get to be called Mousehole? Dear Peter, It is said to be Dolly Pentreath that was the last Cornish speaker and Mousehole gets its name from the very narrow entrance to the harbour as I understand it. Regards, Susan in Wadebridge CFHS 9508 OPC for St Merryn, St Ervan, St Eval, St Mawgan & St Columb Major Parish Reconstruction up to 1891 on St Merryn, St Ervan, St Eval, St Mawgan, Padstow, St Issey, Little Petherick, St Wenn, Withiel, Egloshayle, St Breock, St Columb Major & Minor, Newlyn East, St Kew, St Mabyn & St Tudy http://cornwall-opc.org/ http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/ http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/ No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.819 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2882 - Release Date: 05/18/10 19:26:00

There are, today, several thousand people in Cornwall (and some around the world and some on this list) who speak Cornish. I think the question should be rephrased to "who was the last native speaker". It has generaly been accepted that it was Dolly Pentreath of Paul parish. A memorial outside the walls of the churchyard reads : "Her lieth interred DOROTHY PENTREATH, who died in 1777, said to have been the last person who conversed in the ancient Cornish, the peculiar language of this county from the earliest records till it expired in the eighteenth century, in this parish of St Paul. This stone is erected by the Prince LOUIS LUCIEN BONAPARTE, in union with the Rev. JOHN GARRETT, vicar of St Paul. June, 1860. Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Exod. xx. 12. Gwra perthi de taz ha de mam; mal de Dythiow bethemz hyr war an tyr neb an arleth de dew ryes dees. Exod. xx. 12." In 1860, Prince Lucian Bonaparte visited Paul to ascertain what remained of the Cornish language. Together with the vicar he inserted a small granite obelisk surmounted by a Maltese cross in the churchyard wall. The above inscription is on that obelisk. "Old Dolly Portreath, as she was popularly known, retained her maiden name until her death, which occurred in her 102nd year; her husbands name was JEFFERY. She was buried in Paul churchyard, but no stone marks her grave (there is a "fabulous" story of one, which embodies a supposed epitaph in the Cornish Language). The Parish Register has the following entry in the burial section, dated 1777 : "DOROTHY JEFFERY was buried December 27th. This is the famous DOLLY PENTREATH (her maiden name) spoken of by Daines Barrington in the Archaeologia." Recent research does indicate that this is incorrect - it appears that their were people around in the early Victorian period that had a reasonable knowledge of the language. As for Mousehole. Many place names in Cornwall were anglicised by English speakers ignorant of the Cornish language. They tended to call places as it sounded to them. So it is possible that Mousehole is a mangled version of the Cornish Mo-sul, which when put into English is something to do with the sun. However, I've no knowledge of the Cornish language let alone etymology and so one of our Cornish language experts may like to comment on this. Incidently, there appears to have been another name for Mousehole - "Porth Ynnys" meaning Island Cove. Mike, Redruth.

Or maybe the last person who conversed in Cornish and nothing else. J On 19 May 2010, at 11:28, Michael Kiernan wrote: > "who was the last native speaker"

Thanks Susan, it all comes clear, do you know when Dolly passed on? Peter -----Original Message----- From: cornish-gen-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:cornish-gen-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Susan Old Sent: Wednesday, 19 May 2010 7:21 PM To: cornish-gen@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CORNISH-GEN] weekly newspaper, 27 June 1851 BMDs Two or three questions, who was and when was the last person to speak Cornish, and how does a place get to be called Mousehole? Dear Peter, It is said to be Dolly Pentreath that was the last Cornish speaker and Mousehole gets its name from the very narrow entrance to the harbour as I understand it. Regards, Susan in Wadebridge CFHS 9508 OPC for St Merryn, St Ervan, St Eval, St Mawgan & St Columb Major Parish Reconstruction up to 1891 on St Merryn, St Ervan, St Eval, St Mawgan, Padstow, St Issey, Little Petherick, St Wenn, Withiel, Egloshayle, St Breock, St Columb Major & Minor, Newlyn East, St Kew, St Mabyn & St Tudy http://cornwall-opc.org/ http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/ http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/ No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.819 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2882 - Release Date: 05/18/10 19:26:00 ------------------------------- Listmom: ybowers@gmail.com or CORNISH-GEN-admin@rootsweb.com Visit the OPC (Online Parish Clerk) web page for transcription information http://www.cornwall-opc.org/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CORNISH-GEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

She died Dec 1777.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_Pentreath Regards, Joy ________________________________ From: Peter Relph <peter@relph.org> To: cornish-gen@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, 19 May, 2010 11:09:10 Subject: Re: [CORNISH-GEN] weekly newspaper, 27 June 1851 BMDs Thanks Susan, it all comes clear, do you know when Dolly passed on? Peter -----Original Message----- From: cornish-gen-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:cornish-gen-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Susan Old Sent: Wednesday, 19 May 2010 7:21 PM To: cornish-gen@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CORNISH-GEN] weekly newspaper, 27 June 1851 BMDs Two or three questions, who was and when was  the last person to speak Cornish, and how does a place get to be called Mousehole? Dear Peter, It is said to be Dolly Pentreath that was the last Cornish speaker and Mousehole gets its name from the very narrow entrance to the harbour as I understand it. Regards, Susan in Wadebridge CFHS 9508 OPC for St Merryn, St Ervan, St Eval, St Mawgan & St Columb Major Parish Reconstruction up to 1891 on St Merryn, St Ervan, St Eval, St Mawgan, Padstow, St Issey, Little Petherick, St Wenn, Withiel, Egloshayle, St Breock, St Columb Major & Minor, Newlyn East,  St Kew, St Mabyn & St Tudy http://cornwall-opc.org/ http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/ http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/ No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.819 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2882 - Release Date: 05/18/10 19:26:00 ------------------------------- Listmom:  ybowers@gmail.com or CORNISH-GEN-admin@rootsweb.com Visit the OPC (Online Parish Clerk) web page for transcription information http://www.cornwall-opc.org/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CORNISH-GEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- Listmom:  ybowers@gmail.com or CORNISH-GEN-admin@rootsweb.com Visit the OPC (Online Parish Clerk) web page for transcription information http://www.cornwall-opc.org/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CORNISH-GEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message