{"id":1170,"date":"2021-11-30T20:35:34","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T20:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/?p=1170"},"modified":"2021-12-01T11:49:23","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T11:49:23","slug":"sion-corn-the-bloke-who-comes-down-the-chimney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/2021\/11\/30\/sion-corn-the-bloke-who-comes-down-the-chimney\/","title":{"rendered":"Si\u00f4n Corn: The bloke who comes down the chimney"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s December, which means you\u2019ve probably been bombarded with \u2018Christmas cheer\u2019 since the beginning of November. Bah humbug I say! And if you\u2019re from down under, I feel really sorry for you having to celebrate twice a year \u2013 once in July<\/a> and then again in December! You may think of me as a bit of a Scrooge spoiling all your fun but\u2026<\/p>\n

Speaking of Scrooge, that\u2019s a great instance of personification, how a characteristic of a person gets attached to their name. The name is then used to refer to that characteristic. It happens a lot, just look at the recent phenomenon concerning poor Karen<\/a>. Something similar happens when common and frequent names get hijacked into standing for the average Joe.<\/p>\n

Moving on to Joe, that\u2019s one of the many names in English used for the everyman, as in Joe Bloggs, or Joe Public. Similarly, John or Jane as in John Doe or Jane Doe, a term for an unknown person, especially used in the USA for unidentified cadavers. And in the UK, John Bull is the personification of the nation. <\/p>\n

\"\"
John Bull: the personification of the UK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And let\u2019s not forget Jack, itself a nickname for John. Jack is found in many phrases relating to the everyman, especially in reference to someone of historically low status (hence Jack in a pack of cards being lower than the King or Queen) or in phrases about working in a rural employment, as in lumberjack, or the Australian Jackaroo (or Jillaroo!) for someone learning to work on a sheep or cattle farm. Jack has also been extended to objects that are generally handy and helpful \u2013 such as carjack and jackhammer. <\/p>\n

This brings us to the title of our post, Si\u00f4n Corn, which is the name of Santa Clause in Wales and can be translated as \u2018John Stack\u2019 (as in corn simnee<\/em> \u2018chimney stack\u2019) or \u2018Chimney Pot John\u2019. Si\u00f4n is the Welsh equivalent of the everyman, and is used to mean, the guy, the bloke etc. <\/p>\n

\"\"
Si\u00f4n Corn and his Welsh dragon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The name Si\u00f4n is used in many different phrases and is the personification of many personal characteristics. <\/p>\n

  • Si\u00f4n Barrug<\/em> \u2018Jack Frost\u2019<\/li>\n
  • Si\u00f4n yr offis<\/em> \u2018personification of laziness\u2019<\/li>\n
  • Si\u00f4n Chwarae Teg<\/em> \u2018personification of fair play\u2019<\/li>\n
  • Si\u00f4n o\u2019r wlad<\/em> ‘itinerant worker’<\/li>\n
  • Si\u00f4n Cwsg<\/em> \u2018sleepiness, or the sandman\u2019<\/li>\n
  • Si\u00f4n Ben Tarw<\/em> \u2018John Bull\u2019<\/li>\n
  • Look up Si\u00f4n<\/em> at the dictionary of the Welsh language<\/a> for many more interesting examples <\/li>\n

     
    \nAs for the use of Si\u00f4n Corn denoting the personification of yuletide, the earliest reference comes from the Welsh scholar, poet and songwriter, J. G. Davies in his 1923 Children\u2019s songbook Cerddi Huw Puw<\/em>:<\/p>\n

    The history of Sion Corn is unknown to me any further back than my father\u2019s dialogues with him in the seventies. He was a benevolent spook, living up the chimney in comfortable apartments. He had some mysterious interest in getting children off to bed early, and a more rational habit of making presents at Christmas, as a Welsh Santa Claus. I do not know whether my father found him in Edern, his mother\u2019s home, or invented him. Anyhow, Sion Corn has done untruthful and amiable service for two generations.<\/em><\/p>\n

    So it seems, before Si\u00f4n Corn took on the persona of Father Christmas, he had another job, helping to get children to bed, much like a Si\u00f4n Cwsg<\/em> \u2018sandman<\/a>\u2019. Though, of all the meanings that Si\u00f4n connotes, I like Si\u00f4n llygad y geiniog<\/em> \u2018miser\u2019 the best. Basically, Si\u00f4n can be both Father Christmas and Scrooge at the same time \u2013 Si\u00f4n really is a Si\u00f4n pob crefft <\/em>\u2018a Jack of all trades\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It\u2019s December, which means you\u2019ve probably been bombarded with \u2018Christmas cheer\u2019 since the beginning of November. Bah humbug I say! And if you\u2019re from down under, I feel really sorry for you having to celebrate twice a year \u2013 once in July and then again in December! You may think of me as a bit of a Scrooge spoiling all your fun but\u2026 Speaking of Scrooge, that\u2019s a great instance of personification, how a characteristic of a person gets attached…<\/p>\n

    Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,155,154],"tags":[],"coauthors":[62],"class_list":["post-1170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-personification","category-welsh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1170"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1184,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170\/revisions\/1184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1170"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}