> As far as I know, Shakespeare's Lear derived through Holinshed
> from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Leir. Even if the story is all
> Geoffrey's imaginativeness, how can we be sure the name isn't from
a
> Welsh Llyr?
Well, aside the fact that Llyr and Leir (which would be *Llair or
*Lleir in Modern Welsh) are pronounced quite differently, the
character of Leir (appearing first in Geoffrey's Historia Regum
Brittaniae) seems to have been invented to explain the Old Welsh
place name Cair Leir (=Leicester, or Legra Ceaster in Old English).
OW Cair Leir / OE Legra Ceaster are likely derived from the old
Brittonic name for the river Soar, *Legora or *Legra.
- Chris Gwinn