Tre, Pol and Pen explained

The phrase Tre, Pol and Pen is used to describe people from or places in Cornwall, UK. The full rhyming couplet runs: By Tre Pol and Pen / Shall ye know all Cornishmen,[1] [2] a version of which was recorded by Richard Carew in his Survey of Cornwall, published in 1602.[3] Many Cornish surnames and place names still retain these words as prefixes, such as the surname Trelawny and the village Polzeath. Tre in the Cornish language means a settlement or homestead; Pol, a pond, lake or well; and Pen (also Welsh and Cumbric), a hill or headland. Cornish surnames and placenames are generally pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable.[4]

Examples in Cornish surnames

Tre

Pol

Pen

Examples in Cornish place names

Tre

Pol

Pen

See also

References

  1. https://books.google.com/books?id=AoHGzOKF0DYC&dq=Tre+Pol+and+Pen&pg=PA56 Tre, Pol and Pen - The Cornish Family by Bernard Deacon
  2. http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kernow/ Cornish surnames - By Tre, Pol and Pen shall ye know all Cornishmen
  3. http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/british-authors/16th-century/richard-carew/the-survey-of-cornwall/ebook-page-48.asp Richard Carew, The Survey of Cornwall (Page 48)
  4. http://www.cornishdialect.oldcornwall.org/west_penwith.htm Words & Phrases, West Penwith