[1] For the text see the Oxford Mabinogion, pp. 193–4, and for comparisons of the incident see Nutt’s Holy Grail, p. 154 et seq.; and Rhys’ Arthurian Legend, pp. 75–6. A more exact parallel, however, is to be mentioned in the next chapter. [↑]
[2] This chapter was written mostly in 1891. [↑]
[3] The spelling there used is phynnodderee, to the perversity of which Cregeen calls attention in his Dictionary. In any case the pronunciation is always approximately fŭn-ṓ-đŭr-ĭ or fŭn-ṓđ-rĭ, with the accent on the second syllable. [↑]
[4] I am inclined to think that the first part of the word fenodyree is not fynney, the Manx word for ‘hair,’ but the Scandinavian word which survives in the Swedish fjun, ‘down.’ Thus fjun-hosur (for the fjun-hosa suggested by analogy) would explain the word fenodyree, except its final ee, which is obscure. Compare also the magic breeks called finn-brækr, as to which see Vigfusson’s Icelandic Dict. s. v. finnar. [↑]
[5] Cumming’s Isle of Man (London, 1848), p. 30, where he refers his readers to Waldron’s Description of the Isle of Man: see pp. 28, 105. [↑]
[6] See Windisch’s Irische Grammatik, p. 120. [↑]
[7] The Manx word for the rowan tree, incorrectly called a mountain ash, is cuirn, which is in Mod. Irish caorthann, genitive caorthainn, Scotch Gaelic caorunn; but in Welsh books it is cerđin, singular cerđinen, and in the spoken language mostly cerdin, cerding, singular cerdinen, cerdingen. This variation seems to indicate that these words have possibly been borrowed by the Welsh from a Goidelic source; but the berry is known in Wales by the native name of criafol, from which the wood is frequently called, especially in North Wales, coed criafol, singular coeden griafol or pren criafol. The sacredness of the rowan is the key to the proper names Mac-Cáirthinn and Der-Cháirthinn, with which the student of Irish hagiology is familiar. They mean the Son and the Daughter of the Rowan respectively, and the former occurs as Maqui Cairatini on an Ogam inscribed stone recently discovered in Meath, not very far from the Boyne. [↑]
[8] I am sorry to say that it never occurred to me to ask whether the shooting was done with such modern things as guns. But Mr. Arthur Moore assures me that it is always understood to be bows and arrows, not guns. [↑]
[9] Edited by Oswald Cockayne for the Master of the Rolls (London, 1864–6): see more especially vol. ii. pp. 156–7, 290–1, 401; vol. iii. pp. 54–5. [↑]