[165a] “Gwaenawr.” Al. “The spears.” Al. “The stones.”
[165b] That is, the fosse of the Catrail, or that which surrounded one of the camps.
[165c] See lines 386, 524, 534. Al. “like ploughing the furrow.”
[165d] The Bard in this stanza evidently plays upon the names of three of the British heroes, showing how appropriately they represented their respective characters; Cywir, enwir; Merin, mur; Madien, mad. Perhaps it would be better to transpose the two first, and read the line as it occurs in one stanza of the Gorchan Maelderw;
“Enwir ith elwir oth gywir weithred.”
Enwir art thou named from thy righteous deed;
for in “Kilhwch and Olwen” we meet with a person bearing the name of Gweir Gwrhyd Ennwir, who is said to have been an uncle of Arthur, his mother’s brother.
[165e] “Bulwark of every tribe.” Al. “of every language.” Gorch. Maelderw.
[165f] Merin the son of Merini ab Seithenyn, king of the plain of Gwyddno, whose land was overflowed by the sea. He is said to have been the founder of the church of Llanverin, or Llanvetherin, Monmouthshire. In the Gorchan Maelderw Merin is called the son of Madieith.
[166a] Al. “Gwynedd.”
[166b] I.e. the drinking horn. “Dial;” Gorch. Mael. “to take vengeance for the contribution of mead.” Owain Cyveiliog alludes to this circumstance in his Poem on the Hirlas Horn;—