Explore "A Book of Cornwall" by Sabine Baring-Gould on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Derivation of the name Fowey -- The Fowey river -- Lostwithiel -- A / rotten borough -- Old Stannary Court -- S. Winnow -- His Settlement / in Brittany -- Beating the bounds -- Golant -- S. Samson -- Dol -- Tower / of Fowey -- Place -- S. Finbar -- The "Lugger Inn" -- Polruan -- The / Mohun family -- Death of Lord Mohun -- The Rashleigh family -- Sale / of the borough.
Although pronounced Foye, the name of the place is spelled Fowey; it takes its appellation from the river. Mr. Ferguson, in his _River Names of Europe_, derives this from the Gaelic _fuair_, sound, _faoi_, a rising stream, and instances the Foyers in Inverness, and the Gaur in Perthshire, for _fuair_ takes also the form _gaoir_, signifying din, and the Foyers is noted as forming one of the finest falls in Britain. But this won't do. The Foye is the meekest, quietest, and most unbrawling of rivers. The name is identical with that of the Fal, but the _l_ has been dropped, and both derive from _falbh_, running, waving, flowing.