The Mabinogion (Oxford World's Classics) (51 page)

Gwlwlydd Winau … Melyn Gwanwyn and the Ych Brych:
the two oxen mentioned here,
Melyn Gwanwyn
(‘Yellow Spring’) and
Ych Brych
(‘Speckled Ox’) appear in the triad of the Three Principal Oxen of the Island of Britain (
TYP
45), owned by Gwlwlydd. In the tale, the third in the triad,
Gwinau
(‘Chestnut’), has become an epithet to describe the owner.

Mynydd Bannog … Nyniaw and Peibiaw:
Mynydd Bannog
(‘the horned mountain’) is the old Welsh name for a mountain in Scotland, surviving today only in the name Bannock Burn. The ‘far side’ of the Bannog refers to Pictland.
Nyniaw
and
Peibiaw
are historical characters, the sons of Erb, king of Archenfield in the sixth century.

hestors:
a measure of quantity used for dry commodities, as well as the corresponding vessel.

honey of the first swarm … bragget for the feast:
bees were regarded as a valuable commodity in medieval Wales, having come, according to the laws, ‘from Paradise’ (
LHDd
183–4). ‘Bragget’ was a drink made of honey and ale fermented together.

Llwyr son of Llwyrion:
‘Complete son of Complete.’ His cup, together with the other vessels of plenty that follow, are reminiscent of the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain (
TYP
, pp.
258
–
65
); indeed, Gwyddnau’s hamper and Diwrnach’s cauldron are common to both texts.

The hamper of Gwyddnau Garan Hir:
one of the Thirteen Treasures mentioned above, owned by Gwyddnau ‘Long Shank’, a legendary figure associated with the Taliesin story and the drowning of Cantre’r Gwaelod in Cardigan Bay (see note to
Later the sea spread out
on pp.
234
–
5
). See
TYP
, pp. 391–2.

The horn of Gwlgawd Gododdin:
Gwlgawd
is mentioned twice in the
Gododdin
poem, under the form
Gwl(y)ged
, as the one ‘who made the feast of Mynyddog famous’, implying he was court steward to Mynyddog, leader of the Gododdin tribe.

the birds of Rhiannon:
see notes to pp.
11
and
32
.

The cauldron of Diwrnach Wyddel:
in the Thirteen Treasures, this is listed as the cauldron of Dyrnwch the Giant rather than ‘Diwrnach the Irishman’, as here: ‘if meat for a coward were put in it to boil, it would never boil; but if meat for a brave man were put in it, it would boil quickly (and thus the brave could be distinguished from the cowardly)’ (
TYP
, pp.
259
–
60
). A cauldron possessing a similar attribute and belonging to the Head of Annwfn is mentioned in the poem
Preiddiau Annwfn
(‘The Spoils of Annwfn’, see Sims-Williams,
AOW
). See also note to
p. 200
on
Wrnach Gawr
.

Ysgithrwyn Pen Baedd:
‘White Tusk Chief of Boars.’

Caw of Prydyn:
according to the triads, the family of ‘Caw of Pictland’ was one of the Three Families of Saints (
TYP
, pp. 306–8); indeed, there are several references to him in the lives of the saints. Caw’s nineteen sons and one daughter appear in the Court List (pp.
184
–5 and
186
). There is a play on words here—in both White and Red Book versions his name is rendered as
Kadw/Gado
, meaning ‘to keep’, since he is entrusted with the
keeping
of the tusk.

Pennant Gofid:
the Valley of Grief.

the bottles of Gwyddolwyn Gorr:
‘Gwyddolwyn the Dwarf.’

Rhynnon Ryn Barfog:
‘Rhynnon Stiff Beard.’

Twrch Trwyth son of Taredd Wledig:
the remaining tasks are associated with the hunting of this magical beast Twrch Trwyth, a king who had been transformed into a boar (Welsh
twrch
). The original form of his name was
trwyd
and not
trwyth
, cognate with the Irish
triath
meaning ‘king’ or ‘boar’. Allusions in Welsh poetry, together with the ninthcentury
History of the Britons
(see note to
p. 150
), suggest that traditions about Twrch Trwyth were known from an early period, and that the theme of the hunt existed independently of ‘How Culhwch Won Olwen’. References to the Irish
Torc Triath
, a cognate form, suggests that both Ireland and Wales retained memories concerning a mythical giant boar. For the significance of the boar in Celtic belief, see Anne Ross,
Pagan Celtic Britain
(London, 1967). For
(G)wledig
, see note to
p. 103
.

Drudwyn, the whelp of Graid son of Eri:
Drudwyn
means ‘Fierce White’. See
p. 184
for Graid son of Eri.

Cors Cant Ewin … Canhastyr Can Llaw … Cilydd Canhastyr:
all three appear as members of Arthur’s Court (
p. 184
).

Mabon son of Modron:
derived from the Celtic god
Maponos
, identified with Apollo by the Romans. In the Celtic pantheon he was the son-god, and his mother
Matrona
(
Modron
in Welsh) was the mother-goddess. W. J. Gruffydd attempted to identify Mabon with Pryderi (see note to
p. 21
) in his
Rhiannon: An Inquiry into the Origins of the First and Third Branches of the Mabinogi
(Cardiff, 1953). In the triads (
TYP
52) Mabon is one of the Three Exalted Prisoners of the Island of Britain. For references to the cult of Maponos, together with variants on Mabon in continental romance, see
TYP
, pp. 424–8. On a possible link between
Mabon
and the term
Mabinogi
, see note to
p. 21
.

Gwyn Myngddwn, the steed of Gweddw:
meaning ‘White Dark Mane’. The triads note
Myngrwn
(‘Arched Mane’) as being Gweddw’s horse, one of the Three Bestowed Horses of the Island of Britain, together with the horses of Gwalchmai and Cai (
TYP
46).

Eidoel son of Aer:
Aer
means ‘Slaughter’. Eidoel appears in the Court List
as son of Ner (
p. 186
), possibly a miscopying. He appears later in the tale as a prisoner in the fortress of Gloucester (pp.
202
–
3
).

Garselyd Wyddel … chief huntsman of Ireland:
‘Garselyd the Irishman’, again named in the Court List (
p. 187
). The
pen-cynydd
(‘chief huntsman’) was one of the twenty-four officers of the king’s court (see
LHDd
21–3).

Dillus Farfog … those two whelps:
‘Dillus the Bearded.’ The whelps are probably ‘the two whelps of the bitch Rhymhi’ (
p. 205
), omitted here in Ysbaddaden’s list.

Cynedyr Wyllt son of Hetwn Glafyriog:
‘Cynedyr the Wild, son of Hetwn the Leprous.’ In the Court List he is described as a son of
Tal Arian
(‘Silver Brow’) (
p. 188
).

Gwyn son of Nudd … the spirit of the demons of Annwfn:
brother to Edern (
p. 148
). In Welsh tradition, Gwyn (meaning ‘White’) appears as a mythical huntsman and leader of the Otherworld (for
Annwfn
, see note to
p. 4
)—in Welsh folk-tales he is associated with the magical
cŵn Annwfn
, fairy dogs or ‘hell-hounds’, a premonition of death. Gwyn can be probably be equated with the Irish
Fionn mac Cumhaill
, who was both a seer and a poet; see Mac Cana,
Celtic Mythology
.

Du, the steed of Moro Oerfeddog:
Du
(‘Black) appears in the triads as one of the Three Horses Who Carried the Three Horse-Burdens (
TYP
44). There his full name is
Du y Moroedd
(‘the Black of the Seas’) and he belongs to Elidir Mwynfawr.
Moro Oerfeddog
is unknown outside this tale—some confusion may have occurred between the
Moroedd
of the triad and the
Moro
of the personal name in the tale.

Gwilenhin, king of France:
‘William’, generally believed to refer to William the Conqueror, included in the Court List on
p. 187
. In 1081 he visited St David’s, to make peace, so it would seem, with Rhys ap Tewdwr, an event that could have a bearing on the tale’s date of composition.

the son of Alun Dyfed:
see the Court List,
p. 184
.

Aned and Aethlem:
two hounds.

he is under my control:
this is inconsistent with Arthur’s behaviour—he claims that he has never heard of Ysbaddaden or his daughter—and with the sequence of events, since it is Arthur, as Ysbaddaden himself admits at the end of the tale, who has secured Olwen for Culhwch (
p. 213
).

Bwlch and Cyfwlch … fell on the earth:
repetition, with very slight variation, of the characters listed on
p. 188
of the Court List.

Wrnach Gawr:
‘Wrnach the Giant.’ Compare
Diwrnach Wyddel
(pp.
208
–
9
), and also the poem ‘What Man is the Gatekeeper?’ where Arthur is described as fighting with a hag in the hall of Awarnach. For a detailed analysis of the poem, see Sims-Williams, ‘The Early Welsh Arthurian Poems’, in
AOW
33–61.

‘
Open the gate
’:
this dialogue echoes Culhwch’s arrival at Arthur’s court (
p. 181
).

white-bladed or dark-blue-bladed:
the value of swords is discussed in the law texts: ‘A sword, if it is ground on the stone, twelve pence; if it is darkblue-bladed, sixteen pence; if it white-bladed, twenty-four pence’ (
LHDd
194). Jenkins suggests that ‘the blue-bladed sword had acquired its colour in the process of tempering, whereas the white-bladed one had afterwards been polished and burnished’ (ibid. 300).

Gorau son of Custennin:
an onomastic explanation for the personal name
Gorau
(‘Best’), which may be a corruption of
Gorneu
, meaning ‘of Cornwall’—
Custennin Gorneu
is attested in several early sources. The character is also named in ‘Geraint son of Erbin’ (p. 155), and ‘Rhonabwy’s Dream’ (
p. 225
). In the triads (
TYP
52) he releases Arthur, his cousin, from three imprisonments. His role at the end of this tale suggests an underlying vengeance theme.

A year from that very day they came:
the White Book text ends here.

Gliwi:
derived from the genitive of Latin
Glevum
, the Roman name for Gloucester, and seen in Welsh as the eponym of the city—
Caer Loyw
(‘Gloyw’s fort’). According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, the city was built by the emperor Claudius, and the place was named after him; in the Welsh translation of Geoffrey’s
History
Claudius is changed to
Gloyw
, hence
Caerloyw
. See
CaO
141–2.

Blackbird of Cilgwri:
the beginning of the tale of the Oldest Animals, which has parallels in Indian and Persian literature. Many other versions exist in Welsh, including a triad (
TYP
92) where the Three Elders of the World are listed as the Owl of Cwm Cawlwyd, the Eagle of Gwernabwy, and the Blackbird of Celli Gadarn. Here, however, the Blackbird is associated with
Cilgwri
, probably a reference to the Wirral Peninsula.

Stag of Rhedynfre:
‘Fernhill’ or ‘Brackenill’. Again, one cannot be certain about the location, although
Rhedynfre
may be the original name of Farndon in Cheshire, not too far from
Cilgwri
.

Owl of Cwm Cawlwyd:
again, several locations possible, although the most probable is the area between Capel Curig and Llanrwst in Gwynedd.

Eagle of Gwernabwy:
gwern
is the common name for an ‘alder tree’, although sometimes it means ‘swamp’. It may perhaps be identified with
Bodernabwy
near Aberdaron in the Lleyn peninsula, Gwynedd.

Llyn Lliw:
probably the same place as
Llyn Lliwan
mentioned on
p. 212
, a tidal lake somewhere on the Severn estuary.

neither the prison of Lludd Llaw Eraint … Graid son of Eri:
‘Lludd Silver Hand’ is named as Creiddylad’s father on
p. 189
. while Graid, who is mentioned on
p. 184
, is Gwyn ap Nudd’s prisoner on
p. 207
. Another version of this triad is found in
TYP
52, the Three Exalted Prisoners of
the Island of Britain, although Mabon is the only prisoner common to both. See also the note to
p. 202
on
Gorau
.