Names found in Old and Middle Welsh manuscripts
often present a number of problems due to the imperfection of Welsh orthography
at the time. The modern Welsh -dd-, for example (which is pronounced like -th-
in "the" or "breathe") is normally written as -d-, but can sometimes be written
as -t-, which can cause confusion with Modern Welsh -d- (which we normally
expect to have been written -t- in older manuscripts). Another source of
confusion is the Modern Welsh -f-, which normally represents a lenited -m- or
-b-, but in older manuscripts can sometimes sit in for a consonantal -w- (which
was written as -u- or -v- in the old manuscripts). Thus, -u-, -v- and -f- can
all stand for original -b-, -m-, and consonantal -w- (which =
Gaulish -u-).
That having been said,
Gwydyon uab Don (as he appears in "Math uab
Mathonwy") appears in an Old Welsh genealogy as Guidgen (should = Common
Celtic *Uidu-genos or *Uido-genos), father of Lou hen (=Lugus senos "Old
Lugus"). If Guidgen is the original form of the name, then Gwydyon means either
"born of the trees" (Welsh gwydd "trees/woods," Gaulish uidu-) or "born of
vision" (Welsh gwydd "presence" from *ueid-os "sight"). John Koch (in "The
Gododdin of Aneirin") believes that the -gen element ("born of")was
assimilated to the Welsh divine suffix -on (Gaulish
-onos/-ona) due to the influence of his matronymic Don as well as Gwydyon's
brothers Amaethon and Gofannon. Unfortunately, in the same genealogical tract,
there also appears the name Guitgen - which may either be an orthographic
mistake for Guidgen, or may represent the Welsh version of a Common Celtic
*Uitu-genos/*Uito-genos which would perhaps equate the name with Modern Welsh
gwyd "passion/lust" (perhaps related to PIE words for
"inspiration/fury").
Amaethon "The divine client." From Celtic
*Ambact-on-os (Ambact-o "client" from PIE *ambh[i]-ag-t). Ambact-o in Brittonic
took on the meaning of "farmer."
Aranrod/Aryanrod. It is unsure if the proper form
is Aranrod or Aryanrod. Aranrod is used exclusively in Math uab Mathonwy - but
may be a dialectal variance. There are examples from Gaul of names beginning
with Aran- (perhaps related to PIE *Ar- [1.]which is at the root of Indic ara-h
"wheel spoke," according nicely with the -rod "wheel/circle" in Aranrod). There
is a submerged village off the Welsh coast called Arianrhod, which would mean
"silver circle/wheel." Aranrod may take her name from a place, and not from any
alleged celestial aspect of her character (there is even the possibility that
her name is related to the Gaulish city Argantoratis "silver fort" where -ratis
is the equivalent of Welsh -rawd/-rod from PIE *Pra- "bend").
Efeidd - where do you find this spelling? Eufydd is
found in Math uab Mathonwy and elsewhere, and is generally taken as the Welsh
reflex of Gaulish Ogmios.
Gilfathwy or Gilfaethwy. Once again, an uncertain
name - Gilfaethwy looks like the preferrable form. The -f- can stand for a -b-,
-m-, or -u-, the -aethwy from -axteios (-axt from PIE -ag-t-, -ap-t- or -abh-t)
and the -i- from an original Brittonic -u-, so we may have *Gul[o]baxteios,
*Gul[o]maxteios or *Gul[o]uaxteios. Perhaps the first element is related to
Gaulish Gulba "peak/beak" and -aethwy from -axt (PIE -ag-t-) "works/does/leads."
The -wy suffix comes from a Celtic -ei-os which is found sometimes as a
patronymic.
Math should come from Celtic *Mattos (known in
Gaul). Mattos would give an Irish Mat (which does appear, with the meaning
of "female swine," from *matta, ultimately from PIE *Mad-da), so connections
with the Irish sorcerer Mathgen are out of the question, unless Math is a Welsh
borrowing from Irish. It may be that the name comes from PIE *Mazd-o
"mast/staff," seeing that we have an Irish word matan meaning "small club" and
that PIE -zd- gives Gaulish -tt-.
It is also possible that the
name derives from PIE *Ma- "good," which gives Gaulish matus "good/auspicious,"
but Celtic matus itself becomes Welsh mad, and not math. Mathonwy, like
Gilfaethwy, may contain a patronymic suffix (which was no longer productive in
Welsh, thus the need to add mab "son of" before the name). The original name may
have been *Mattos Mattoneios "Mattos, son of Mattonos." *Mattonos is simply
*Mattos with the divine suffix -onos added. The connection with bears is
uncertain - the Irish word for bear is Mathgamain, which comes from
*Matu-giamonios "the auspicious winter-ling" (gamain - from Celtic *giamo
"winter" - was an Old Irish word for animals - specifically cattle - that were
aged one winter). I believe that there might be a Gaulish gloss where Matus
meant bear - but, once again, this would come from the word for "auspicious" and
is a taboo-name, often found with bears.
Gofannon comes from *Gobantonos "the divine smith."
I am unaware at the moment of the PIE root which gives Celtic gobant-o
"smith."
-C. Gwinn