Carnarvon

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historic walled town on the coast of northwest Wales, known for its castle ; a coastal town in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia ; a title held by an English noble family
2. A walled seaside town in northwestern Wales famous for its medieval castle ; a settlement on the Gascoyne coast of Western Australia ; a peerage title borne by a line of English earls
3. A medieval castle town in north Wales ; a small port in Western Australia's Gascoyne region ; the hereditary rank of earl in the English peerage that has been held by a noble family

Etymology: Carnarvon is a town on the north-west coast of Wales, and its name is a transcription of Welsh words meaning "fort on Anglesey" or, more precisely, "fort opposite Môn," since Môn is the Welsh name for the island of Anglesey lying just across the Menai Strait. The Welsh elements are "caer," meaning fort or walled town, "yn," a linking word meaning "in" or "on," and "ar Fôn," meaning "on Môn." Put together, the phrase describes a fortified place facing the island. English speakers spelled the name the way it sounded to them, which is why the familiar form looks so unlike its Welsh original. The town's Welsh name, Caernarfon, preserves the pieces more transparently, and the English "Carnarvon" is simply an anglicised rendering of that same phrase. The spelling has remained stable in English usage, so the name carries no trace of the Welsh grammar beyond the three elements themselves.