Wednesday, July 5, 2017

CADELL DDYRNLLUG AND THE VORTIGERN DYNASTY

Rather than recount what has been set forth concerning Cadell Ddyrnllug in detail, here is the splendid summary on this chieftain prepared by P.C. Bartram in his A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY:


The possible suppression of Vortigern in favor of Catel is also discussed by Rachel Bromwich in her Triads of Britain:

https://books.google.com/books?id=V2muBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT636&lpg=PT636&dq=%22Catel+Durnluc%22%2B%22cadell%22&source=bl&ots=hoAaCvCWsg&sig=d80Si4pYpU8xGZ-8QzDIcZ-9QaA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiv_drGqvPUAhVM1WMKHcIwA9AQ6AEISjAJ#v=onepage&q=%22Catel%20Durnluc%22%2B%22cadell%22&f=false

My solution to the "Cadell Problem" is rather simple, but I also feel it is an elegant one.  Cadell is a Welsh spelling of the Latin catellus, a word whose meaning is "little/small/young dog/puppy (term of endearment)", according to William Whitaker's WORDS, and "cătellus , i, m., and cătella , ae, f. dim. catulus, canis, I. a little dog, puppy, whelp", taken from the Lewis and Short Dictionary. I would propose that this is a pet-form of Cunorix, 'Hound-king', the son of Cunedda Maquicoline.  I have discussed before in detail the Cunorix Stone that was found at Viroconium near Wroxeter, the capital of the ancient Cornovii tribe and of the later kingdon of Powys.

When I asked Dr. Simon Rodway of The University of Wales about the Cadell name being from catellus, he responded as follows:

"This is eminently possible: I’d never thought of this. Otherwise from Celtic *catu- ‘battle’ plus a diminutive suffix –ell."

I would favor Catellus because a certain Cyngen (b. circa 460) was probably his son.  A later Cyngen (d. 855) was a son of another Cadell of Powys.   According to Dr. Rodway, *Cunogenos gives Cynien. Cyngen must, then, be from *Cunokenos, probably meaning the same thing (cf. gen- ~ cen- in Gaulish), i.e. 'Hound-born.' 

If I'm right, then Cunedda's son Cunorix/Cadell/Catellus (likely the Cathlaid the Foreigner who in the Book of Armagh is said to have inherited the church of Trim in Ireland from Foirtchern) was a usurper who either intruded on the Vortigern dynasty for a generation or who founded his own dynasty, effectively ending that of Vortigern's.


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