Κενιωνος
Attested: Ptolemy 2,3,4 Κενιωνος (or Κεννιωνος) river mouth
Where: One of the rivers that discharge inside or near Falmouth harbour. Possibly now the river Kenwyn, which forms the harbour district of Truro at SW828447.
Name Origin: Possibly related to Greek καινος ‘new’ plus ωνος ‘purchase’. The implication is that trade in tin (and other metals) developed in Cornwall after trade further east in south Devon.
Notes: A link with Greek κενεωνος from κενεων ‘hollow’ no longer seems attractive, even though the parent κενος ‘empty’ appears in other place names (Iuliocenon, Alithacenon). The estuary of the river Fal is one of the largest deep-water harbours in the world, yet has rarely been thronged with ships or surrounded with settlements on anything like the scale of other large British estuaries. Ekwall (1928:229) was willing to consider deriving Kenwyn from Κενιωνος, but reinterpretation (since its earliest attestation in 1259) towards Cornish words for ‘white ridge’ and/or Saint Keyne has made that impossible to prove.
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