Emmet (alt. spellings ''emmit'', ''emit'') is a word in the
Cornish dialect
The Cornish dialect (also known as Cornish English, Anglo-Cornish or Cornu-English) is a dialect of English spoken in Cornwall by Cornish people. Dialectal English spoken in Cornwall is to some extent influenced by Cornish grammar, and often i ...
of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Culture, language and peoples
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
* ''English'', an Amish ter ...
that is used to refer to
tourist
Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...
s or holidaymakers coming to
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
. There is debate over whether the term is pejorative or not. It originally referred to tourists who visit Cornwall, but has also been used by native Cornish folk to refer to "incomers" or residents who have moved to the county but were not born there.
Etymology
It is commonly thought to be derived from the
Cornish-language
Cornish (Standard Written Form: or , ) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family. Along with Welsh and Breton, Cornish descends from Common Brittonic, a language once spoken widely across Great Britain. For much of ...
word for
ant
Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...
, being an analogy to the way in which both tourists and ants are often red in colour and appear to mill around. However the word is actually from the Cornish dialect of English, and is derived from
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
, from which the standard English word ''ant'' is also derived (compare
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
"ant"). The Cornish word for ants is actually (
singulative
In linguistics, singulative number and collective number (abbreviated and ) are terms used when the grammatical number for multiple items is the unmarked form of a noun, and the noun is specially marked to indicate a single item.
This is the ...
).
Porth Emmet
Porthemmet is a beach that supposedly can only be accessed via a cave found between Harlyn and St Merryn. It has been rumoured to have existed since the 1990s, but is considered a hoax as many tourists try to locate it, but cannot.
In August 2007,
Truro
Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...
-born Jonty Haywood began promoting a fictional Porthemmet (Port of Emmet, also sometimes Emmet Bay) beach in
North Cornwall
North Cornwall () is an area of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is also the name of a former local government district, which was administered from Bodmin and Wadebridge . Other towns in the area are Launceston, Bude, Padstow, and Camel ...
with fake road signs and a hoax website, which directed people to random areas on the north coast, confusing tourists and amusing locals.
In July 2008, Haywood placed a further set of signs.
Jonty was not the original instigator of the hoax.
2021 graffiti
In August 2021 a number of incidents were reported in which the word 'emmet' was used pejoratively in graffiti across Cornwall. At
Pedn Vounder
Pedn Vounder () is a tidal beach on the south coast of the Penwith Peninsula in Cornwall, England. It is immediately to the west of the Logan Rock headland, below Treen Cliff. The name is from the Late Cornish 'pedn' (head, end) and 'an vownder' ...
beach the phrase 'Emmets go home' was spray-painted onto rocks, whilst 'Die emmets' appeared on the welcome sign to the town of
Hayle
Hayle (, "estuary") is a port town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the mouth of the Hayle River (which discharges into St Ives Bay) and is approximately northeast of ...
.
See also
*
Grockle is a similar
West Country dialect
West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of the West Country, an area found in the southwest of England.
The West Country is often defined as encompassing the offic ...
word used in
Devon
Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
but ''emmet'' is distinctly Cornish.
*
Cornish self-government movement
Cornish nationalism is a cultural, political and social movement that seeks the recognition of Cornwall – the south-westernmost part of the island of Great Britain – as a nation distinct from England. It is usually based on three general ...
*
Constitutional status of Cornwall
The constitutional status of Cornwall has been a matter of debate and dispute. Cornwall is an administrative county of England.
In ethnic and cultural terms, until around 1700, Cornwall and its inhabitants were regarded as a separate people b ...
*
Politics of Cornwall
Cornwall is administered as a Counties of England, county of South West England whose politics are influenced by a number of issues that make it distinct from the general political scene in the wider United Kingdom, and the political trends of ...
*
Mebyon Kernow
Mebyon Kernow – The Party for Cornwall (, MK; Cornish language, Cornish for ''Sons of Cornwall'') is a Cornish nationalism, Cornish nationalist, Left-wing politics, centre-left political party in Cornwall, in southwestern Britain. It currentl ...
References
Culture of Cornwall
Cornish nationalism
Pejorative terms for people
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