Re: Ancient History.

[raybrown@macline.co.uk (Raymond A. Brown)]

At 00:21 2/7/98, Padraic Brown wrote:
>On Thu, 2 Jul 1998, Andrew Smith wrote:
[......]
>> I thought the latin version of Gwynedd was Wenedotia.  In Brithenig it is
>> Gwenedd.  (According to the Age of Arther Cunedda is the origin of the
>> name Kenneth - not a name I associate with warlords myself)
>
>I haven't seen Wenedotia, but it looks alright to me.

Initial W is a bit odd in Latin (indeed, impossible in the Clasical
Language), tho spellings with w- are found in medieval texts from certain
areas.  The forms I've been familiar with are Venedotia or Vendotia.

>Weneta was given in
>one of my books; the other names are either given or back-derived (by me).
>I hadn't the desire to back-derive all the names (some were rather
>opaque), so there're some actual Welsh names mixt in with the Brittonic.
>I assume Cune <- cunos (like so many others) and dda <- dagos; therefore
>'good dog'.

Dda is correct, but not 'cune-' (cunos would surely be cuno- in compounds).
The first element of 'Cunedda' is cognate the Welsh 'cun' (plural
'cuniad'), a word, now archaic, meaning 'lord, chieftain'.  Therefore:
'Cunedd(a)' = "Good chieftan".

[.....]
>> The House of Padarn, the ruling dynasty, is named after its earliest
>> ancestor, Paternus, who was one of the kings of the Votadini established
>> circa 370-380.  Among his immediate successors are Cunedda and
>> Maglocunos, and later the Llewellyns (has anyone got an etimology for
>> that name?)

Ach - LLYWELYN please - Llewellyn is a horrid anglicism.  As for the
etymolgy, I must plead ignorance.  The first element must surely be the
same as in Llywarch.  And besides Llywelyn we also have Llywel as a
masculine name & Llywela as a feminine.  I have seen it suggested that
Llyw- is from Llew "lion".

Da boch chi,
Rhaifun.