Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

302 Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race= LLew Llaw later Sirlater Sir Galahad;Gyffes, laterMordred)orig. identicalSir Gawain)with Gwalchmai)[348]Llyr and ManawyddanAgain, when we find a mythological personage named Llyr,with a son named Manawyddan, playing a prominent part inWelsh legend, we may safely connect them with the Irish Lir andhis son Mananan, gods of the sea. Llyr-cester, now Leicester,was a centre of the worship of Llyr.Llew Llaw GyffesFinally, we may point to a character in the “Mabinogi,” or tale,entitled “Māth Son of Māthonwy.” The name of this character isgiven as Llew Llaw Gyffes, which the Welsh fabulist interpretsas “The Lion of the Sure Hand,” and a tale, which we shallrecount later on, is told to account for the name. But whenwe find that this hero exhibits characteristics which point to hisbeing a solar deity, such as an amazingly rapid growth fromchildhood into manhood, and when we are told, moreover, byProfessor Rhys that Gyffes originally meant, not “steady” or“sure,” but “long,” 218 it becomes evident that we have here adim and broken reminiscence of the deity whom the Gaels calledLugh of the Long Arm, 219 Lugh Lamh Fada. The misunderstoodname survived, and round the misunderstanding legendary matterfloating in the popular mind crystallised itself in a new story.These correspondences might be pursued in much furtherdetail. It is enough here to point to their existence as evidence of218 “Hibbert Lectures,” pp. 237-240.219 See pp. 88, 109, &c. Lugh, of course, = Lux, Light. The Celtic wordsLamh and Llaw were used indifferently for hand or arm.