This last surmise is countenanced by the fact that in the Kulhwch story, the British Isles as a group are called Islands of the Mighty. The words are Teir ynys y kedyrn ae their rac ynys; that is, the Three Islands of the Mighty and their Three outpost Islands. That is not all, for in the same story the designation is varied thus: Teir ynys prydein ae their rac ynys[38], or Prydain’s Three Islands and Prydain’s Three outpost Islands; and the substantial antiquity of the designation ‘the Islands of Prydain,’ is proved by its virtual identity with that used by ancient Greek authors like Ptolemy, who calls both Britain and Ireland a νῆσος Πρετανική, where Pretanic and Prydain are closely related words. Now our Prydain had in medieval Welsh the two forms Prydein and Prydyn. But some time or other there set in a tendency to desynonymize them, so as to make Ynys Prydein, ‘the Picts’ Island,’ mean Great Britain, and Prydyn mean the Pictland of the North. But just as Cymry meant the plural Welshmen and the singular Wales, so Prydyn meant Picts[39] and the country of the Picts. Now the plural Prydyn has its etymological Goidelic equivalent in the vocable Cruithni, which is well known to have meant the Picts or the descendants of the Picti of Roman historians. Further, this last name cannot be severed from that of the Pictones[40] in Gaul, and it is usually supposed to have referred to their habit of tattooing themselves. At all events this agrees with the apparent meaning of the names Prydyn and Cruithni, from pryd and cruth, the words in Welsh and Irish respectively for form or shape, the designation being supposed to refer to the forms or pictures of various animals punctured on the skins of the Picts. So much as to the practical identity of the terms Prydyn, Cruithni, and the Greeks’ Pretanic; but how could Cedyrn and Prydein correspond in the terms Ynys y Kedyrn and Ynys Prydein? This one is enabled to understand by means of ceûri or ceiri as a middle term. Now cadarn means strong or valiant, and makes the plural cedyrn; but there is another Welsh word cadr[41] which has also the meaning of valiant or powerful, and may have yielded some such a medieval form as ceidyr in the plural. Now this cadr is proved by its cognates[42] not to have always had the meaning of valiant or strong: its original signification was more nearly ‘fine, beautiful, or beautified.’ Thus what seems to have happened is, that cadarn, ‘strong, powerful, mighty,’ influenced the meaning of cadr, ‘beautiful,’ and eventually usurped its place in the name of the island, which from being Ynys y Ceidyr became Ynys y Cedyrn. But the former meant the ‘Island of the fine or beautiful men,’ which was closely enough the meaning also of the words Prydain, Cruithni, and Picts, as names of a people who delighted to beautify their persons by tattooing their skins and making themselves distingué in that savage fashion. That is not all, for on examination it turns out that the word ceiri, which has been treated up to this point as meaning giants, is but a double, so to say, of the word cadr in the plural, both as to etymology and original meaning of beautiful. It is a word in constant use in Carnarvonshire, where it is ironically applied to pretentious men fond of showing themselves off, especially in the matter of clothes. ’D ydi nhw ’n geiri! ‘Aren’t they swells!’ Dyna i ch’i gawr! ‘There’s a fine fellow for you!’ and so also with the feminine cawres. Of course the cawr of standard Welsh is familiar enough in the sense of giant to Carnarvonshire people, so the meaning can be best ascertained in the case of the plural ceiri, which they hardly ever meet with in print; and, so far as I have been able to ascertain, by ceiri they mean—in an ironical sense it is true—fine fellows, with reference not to great stature or strength but to their get-up. Thus one arrives at the true interpretation of the name Tre’r Ceiri as the Town of the Prydyn or Cruithni; that is to say, the Town of the Picts or the Aborigines, who showed themselves off decorated with pictures. So far also from Ynys y Ceiri being an echo of Ynys y Cedyrn, it turns out to be really the more original of the two. Such names, when they are closely examined, are apt to prove old beyond all hastily formed expectation.
[1] This chapter, except where a later date is suggested, may be regarded as written in the summer of 1883. [↑]
[2] Trefriw means the town of the slope or hillside, and stands for Tref y Riw, not tref y Rhiw, which would have yielded Treffriw, for there is a tendency in Gwyneđ to make the mutation after the definite article conform to the general rule, and to say y law, ‘the hand,’ and y raw, ‘the spade,’ instead of what would be in books y ỻaw and y rhaw from yr ỻaw and yr rhaw. [↑]
[3] Why the writer spells the name Criccieth in this way I cannot tell, except that he was more or less under the influence of the more intelligible spelling Crugcaith, as where Lewis Glyn Cothi. I. xxiv, sang
Rhys ab Sion â’r hysbys iaith,
Gwr yw acw o Grugcaith.
This spelling postulates the interpretation Crug-Caith, earlier Crug y Ceith, ‘the mound or barrow of the captives,’ in reference to some forgotten interment; but when the accent receded to the first syllable the second was slurred almost out of recognition, so that Crug-ceith, or Cruc-ceith, became Crúceth, whence Crúci̭eth and Crici̭eth. The Bruts have Crugyeith the only time it occurs, and the Record of Carnarvon (several times) Krukyth. [↑]
[4] Out of excessive fondness for our Arthur English people translate this name into Arthur’s Seat instead of Idris’ Seat; but Idris was also somebody: he was a giant with a liking for the study of the stars. But let that be: I wish to say a word concerning his name: Idris may be explained as meaning ‘War-champion,’ or the like; and, phonologically speaking, it comes from Iuđ-rys, which was made successively into Id-rys, Idris. The syllable i̭uđ meant battle or fight, and it undergoes a variety of forms in Welsh names. Thus before n, r, l, and w, it becomes id, as in Idnerth, Idloes, and Idwal, while Iuđ-hael yields Ithel, whence Ab Ithel, anglicized Bethel. At the end, however, it is yđ or uđ, as in Gruffuđ or Gruffyđ, from Old Welsh Grippi̭uđ, and Mareduđ or Meredyđ for an older Marget-i̭uđ. By itself it is possibly the word which the poets write uđ, and understand to mean lord; but if these forms are related, it must have originally meant rather a fighter, soldier, or champion. [↑]
[5] There is a special similarity between this and an Anglesey story given by Howells, p. 138: it consists in the sequence of seeing the fairies dance and finding money left by them. Why was the money left? [↑]