ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2653 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2653 ************************************ 14 Dec 2002 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about the use of the name in our period. This letter is a brief answer to your question. is the name of a character in the story "Culhwch and Olwen", which is one of the stories in the Mabinogion, a Welsh collection of supernatural tales. The story itself explains her name as meaning "white path" and says she was called that because white flowers spring up in her track wherever she walks. The character's father was the distinctly magical king of the giants [1]. We are aware of no other use of this name before modern times [2, 3]. We hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, and Adelaide de Beaumont. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 14 Dec 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Jones, Gwyn & Thomas Jones, trans., _The Mabinogion_ (Everyman's Library, 1974). [2] The name appears in a 1547 Welsh-English dictionary, but that work also lists a number of other literary and legendary names which were not in ordinary human use. Salesbury, William, _A Dictionary in Englyshe and Welshe_ (Menston, UK: Scholar Press, Ltd., 1969, facsimile of the 1597 publication). [3] This name has been popular in the SCA for many years, but SCA College of Arms researchers have also not found any evidence that it was used by historical people.