Editing Swansea (section)

== Etymologies ==
The [[Welsh toponymy|Welsh name]], ''Abertawe'', translates as ''mouth/estuary of the [[River Tawe|Tawe]]'' and this name was likely used for the area before a settlement was established. The first written record of the Welsh name for the town itself dates from 1150 and appears in the form ''Aper Tyui''.<ref>See Place-Names in Glamorgan, Gwynedd O. Pierce, p 182.</ref>

The name ''Swansea'', pronounced {{IPA|/ˈswɒnzi/}} (Swans-ee, not Swan-sea), is derived from the [[Old Norse]] name of the original [[Viking]] trading post that was founded by King [[Sweyn Forkbeard]] ({{Circa|960}}–1014).<ref name="William2010">{{cite book|author= David William|title= Life in the United Kingdom: The Land and the People|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Rx3ATOg_MSoC&pg=PA247|date= October 2010|publisher= Intercontinental Books|isbn= 978-9987-16-017-4|page= 247}}</ref><ref name="Fraser1952">{{cite book|author= Maxwell Fraser|title= Wales|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=W1sKAQAAMAAJ|year= 1952|publisher= Hale|page= 286}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor= Glanmor Williams |title= Swansea, An Illustrated History |publisher= Christopher Davies |date= 26 July 2007|isbn= 978-0-7154-0714-1}}</ref> It was the name of the king, 'Svein' or 'Sweyn', with the suffix of '-ey' ("island"), referring either to a bank of the river at its mouth or to an area of raised ground in marshland.<ref>Wyn Owen, H. and Morgan, R. (2008) ''Dictionary of the Place-names of Wales''. Llandysul: Gomer.</ref> However, the Norse termination ''-ey'' can mean "inlet", and the name may simply refer to the mouth of the river.<ref>{{cite book|last= Alban|first= JR|title= Swansea 1184–1984|year= 1984|publisher= Swansea City Council}}</ref>