"I AM HE WHO IS CALLED GORLASSAR": UTHER AND THE LOCATION OF HIS TRANSFORMATION

Neu vi a elwir gorlassar:
It’s I who’s called 'the very blue/green'

- from the Elegy of Uther Pen

The translation offered would be the literal interpretation of the line.

I've discussed the possible significance of the term in the context of Uther here:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-transformation-of-uther-pendragon.html

I also have worked on the following line -

a’m rithwy am dwy pen kawell.

- to produce a possible reading of "Our Lord, chief of the sanctuary, transforms me."

However, I've since taken another look at the very troublesome 'pen kawell' of this line.  While chief of the sanctuary was acceptable, what I wondered is whether Pen Kawell could actually be a place-name. I did not expect this line of inquiry to produce any results, but was surprised by what I found.

Kingscavil - Pen Kawell? - and Surrounding Manau Place-Names

In West Lothian, Scotland, there is a place called Kingscavil.  This place-name may well derive from an earlier British Pen Kawell!  Noted North British place-name expert Alan James, through private communication with colleague John Wilkinson, was kind enough to provide me with this information on the etymology for Kingscavil.  I've taken the liberty of highlighting the most important passage in this entry.

Cf Snowdonia’s Llyn Cwellyn (cawell + llyn) ‘creel lake’ (Jones 1998).

†*Hill of KINGSCAVIL, Linlithgow c450ft/137m (Hill of Kuikauil [sic = Kinkauil]

1630) An earlier name for the Parklycraigs ridge, tipped by Nancy’s Hill. It may be the feature which gave Kingscavil its original name [NT0276].

NANCY’S Hill, Linlithgow c450ft/137m (Hill of Kuikauil [sic = Kinkauil] 1636

Pont, sic OS1) Again presumably literal, with the sort of name (John and Ann) that could commemorate myth, legend or at least folklore. Along the Parkly Craigs ridge to the east of Jock’s Hill with which it makes a lovely couple of humps, even if quarried to the north. Perhaps earlier †*Hill of Kingscavil [NT024759]. Also tree-covered by Nancy’s Hill Plantation (sic OS1), really two but named as one, as OSNB insist on telling us.

KINGSCAVIL, Linlithgow (Kincauill 1307, Kyncaville 1315-21, Kyncawel 1325,

Kingcavill 1378, Kingscavill 1457, Kincawill 1531, Kincauil c1590, Kingcavell 1688 Ret ii, 265, Kingcavill 1690 Ret ii, 270, sic x 3 OS1; locally Kings-CAVE-ull /kɪŋz'ke:vl/) It may be nothing to do with kings or cavils (ie Sc cavil ‘allotment of land’) as some think (GTSS, 107-9), but perhaps ScG ceann ‘headland, bluff’ + ScG cabhuil ‘creel’: ‘fishing-creel-head, or end’ with reference to the former loch (see PNWL, 60). Yet this too may be from Welsh, W pen ‘head’+ W cawell ‘creel’ ie *Pen(n)kauell: ‘head of creel(-ridge)’ or perhaps W cefn/cein ‘ridge’ + W cawell, and referent to the humped ridge tipped by Nancy’s Hill (hil of kincauil c1590, Hill of Kuikauil [sic for Kinkauil] 1636): Macdonald records ‘several references to saxum de Kincavill’ L saxum ‘rock’ and Kincavill Quarry (sic 1986) provided stone for James VI’s reconstruction of Linlithgow Palace (DWL, 87): see WLQR. In the early sources it is often linked to Caldorcler: see East Calder.The first OS maps offer three locations, the second being today’s [NT028767; NT030764; NT031763]. Also †*Easter Kingscavil (Easter Kincavill 1691, Easter-Kinkavil 1710) Sc easter ‘east’ [lost], †*Wester Kingscavil (Wester Kingkavill 1647) Sc wester ‘west’ [lost], †Mains (Mains of Kincavill 1569) Sc mains ‘home farm’ [lost]. See Park.

If Kingscavil is Pen Kawell, I would revise my reading of the poem's line to read:

"Our Lord transforms me at Pen Kawell."

Why might this be significant?

Well, Kingscavil lies between Clackmannan, Slamannan and Dalmeny.  All three place-names are believed to contain the element designating Manau or Manau Gododdin.  Dalmeny is not certainly a Manau  place-name, but the chance it is can be considered fairly high:

303 Watson 1926, 354. Dalmeny WLO, Dunmanyn 1214. Watson 1926, 104, 354, 515 n104, Macdonald 1941, 3‒4, is a very puzzling name. Perhaps + *mejni, plural of *majn ‘stone’, but it does not show forms with -meny until 1587. Alternatively, perhaps it involves a saint’s or other personal name (Taylor’s discussion of Kilmany FIF, Taylor 2010, 456‒57, should be taken into consideration). The territorial name Manau cannot be ruled out: Watson’s and Macdonald’s rejection of this possibility implies greater certainty than seems justified regarding the boundaries of that territory  

http://www.clanntuirc.co.uk/JSNS/V7/JSNS7.pdf

Dalmeny WLo CPNS pp. 104 and 515 n104, PNWLo pp. 3-4 ? + -maɣn- (which see) ? + -īn, or else the territorial name -*Mannan , see *man- 

  *man- 

IE *mṇ- (zero-grade of *men- ‘jut, project’, see mönïδ, *mönju and *mönǭg) > eCelt *mon- > Br * Mon-, Man- (in p-ns), cf. (< IE participial *mṇ-t-) W mant ‘mouth, lip’; OIr Man- (in p-ns); cf. (< IE o-grade *mon-) O-MnIr, G moniu ‘upper back’; cf. (IE *men-) Latin mentum ‘chin’, prōmineō ‘I project’. The Indo-European status of this root is supported by Hittite and Avestan forms, see OIPrIE §18.5 at p. 298, but cf. Sims-Williams (2000) at pp 3-4. See also mönïδ. The root implies ‘projecting’, especially of facial and other bodily features: in place-names, the sense is presumably ‘outstanding, prominent, high’. With the suffix –awā-, it is seen in the North in the territorial name Manaw HB14.62, CT59(V) (and probably CT29(XI)), and in OIr forms at AU[582]583, AT[579]583, AU[710]711, AT[710]711, but see LHEB §47(1), pp. 375-6, YGod(KJ) pp. 69 – 75, and discussion of Clackmannan under *clog. Elsewhere, a similar form underlies the Isle of Man, Ellan Vannin (see PNRB pp. 410-11 and DMxPN p xi) and Ynys Môn, Anglesey (see PNRB pp. 419-20, DPNW p. 17). There are as many as fourteen related place-names in Ireland (Anglicised Mannin etc.: D MacG Easpaig at SNSBI Conference, Douglas IoM, 7.4.2001). Manaw, like Ynys Môn and some of the Irish places, is not outstandingly mountainous, and some other sense seems needed. A deity-name, perhaps associated with water, might be indicated – cf. the legendary personal name Manawydan/ Manannán (see PCB pp. 412 ets, DCML pp. 139-40, DCM pp. 285- 6) – or else an ethnic name: see Muhr (2002) at p. 41.  

http://spns.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2017/04/Alan_James_Brittonic_Language_in_the_Old_North_BLITON_Volume_II_Dictionary.pdf

As is well known to students of Dark Age Britain, the great Cunedda, whose son was the Ceredig/Cerdic of Wessex I have put forward as a good candidate for Arthur, is said to have hailed from Manau Gododdin.  In reality, as I have proven conclusively, Cunedda was from Drumanagh in Ireland, but the Welsh tradition about Cunedda's origin in the North persisted.  Yet regardless of where he came from, he is said to have brought Ceredig with him.

In Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudo-history, the transformation of Uther into Gorlois (= the gorlassar description Uther claims for himself in the elegy) took place at Tintagel in Cornwall.  Many writers, including myself, have dealt rather exhaustively with the political motivation behind Geoffrey's selection of Tintagel as Arthur's birthplace.  It has always been my belief that Arthur was born elsewhere.

Could it be that at some point in the development of the legend of Cunedda it was thought that he had come from Kingcavil in Manau Gododdin?  And that, at least in terms of the revised history of the Cunedda clan, Ceredig/Cerdic/Arthur had been born at Kingscavil?

Sure, we could propose that the Uther Pen who was present at Pen Kawell/Kingscavil was Urien of Rheged, whose head is memorialized in the CANU LLYWARCH HEN.  But Kingscavil seems more than a bit outside of the expected range of Urien's victories.  Instead, it seems logical to see an Uther Pen[dragon] of Kingscavil as Cunedda of Gwynedd with its well-known dragon associations.  

Please bear in mind that I've not yet determined how to properly appraise an identification of 'pen kawell' with Kingscavil. I merely cite the possible equivalency of the elegy words with a known place-name in the far North.  Clearly, I will need to think on this matter some more...

NOTE: There is a St. Michael's Penkevil and Penkevel in Cornwall ('Sanctus Michael of Penkevel’ 1261, 1264).  According to Cornish place-name expert Professor Oliver Padel, this is the 'Headland of the Horse' (cf. Welsh ceffyl).  The place does not seem very significant, and there is no fort or other noteworthy ancient site in the vicinity.