Not being familiar with the shape of this hill, I'd think it likely that
gribyn is a mutated form of cribyn / cribin meaning a rake (garden or
farming implement). It could be that it was a shortened version of Y Gribyn
Fach (the small rake), where y causes the mutation. Might the shape of the
hill have ridges as does soil that has been raked? Or be long and thin with
a wider cross piece at the end?
Rhian
----- Original Message -----
From: "Katherine Benbow" <benbow.family(a)gmail.com>
To: "RW POWYS list" <POWYS(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 29, 2010 4:08 PM
Subject: [POWYS] meaning of gribyn
Could anyone give me a translation into English for
"gribyn"? A family
member from Wales has told us in the past that he thinks Richard Benbow's
farm in the late 1600's and early 1700's was on Gribyn-fach hill above
Llawryglyn to the west of Trefeglwys. He showed it to us on a map when we
visited the area, and I took a picture of it.
Lately, I have been looking at this location again, and it's no feat to
re-discover that "fach" means "small." That one's not hard.
But,
although
I can use Google and find various Welsh place names with "gribyn" in them,
none of the online welsh-to-English dictionaries I've tried have the term
"gribyn" in their databases, and I can't seem to find the meaning
anywhere,
even when I try "gribin" and "gribbin." I don't know that some
of these
dictionaries are right when they suggest "cribyn" as an alternative.
I would greatly appreciate knowing the definition in English, and anything
interesting about the origin of the word.
Katherine Benbow
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