A NEW ETYMOLOGY FOR UTHER'S GRANDSON, ELIWLAD?

Only just today, through correspondence, Professor Marged Haycock* and I came up with the first truly viable etymology for Eliwlad, the name of Uther Pendragon's grandson in early Welsh tradition.

Years ago, I had wondered about elyf** as a first component, as eliw is used for elyf in the orthography of THE BLACK BOOK OF CARMARTHEN.  But at the time I was unable to come up with a suffix that would work.

From the GPC:

alaf 1

[Gwydd. C. alam]

eg. ll. alafoedd, alafau, elyf, a hefyd gyda grym ansoddeiriol.

a  Gyr (o wartheg neu o feirch), buches; cyfoeth, trysor, eiddo, hefyd yn ffig.:

herd (of cattle or horses); wealth, treasure, property, also fig. 

Prof. Haycock reminded me of elyf, citing Lloyd-Jones in this regard.  But she, too, could do nothing with the terminal of the name Eliwlad.  I mentioned to her my idea, i.e. that the second element might be (g)wlad, in the Irish sense of flaith, 'lord, prince'.

She immediately proposed 'Elyf/Eliw-(g)wlad, assuring me that there was no problem with the disappearance of one of the /w/s.  The meaning of the name would be something like -

'Lord who has cattle/riches, etc.'

A perfectly respectable - and plausible - heroic name.

But is it correct? 

Other Welsh language specialists don't think so:

Dr. Simon Rodway, however, expresses some reservation in adopting this etymology for Eliwlad:

"This would work if Eliwlad shows a 'fossilized' form with i for y, or if some other analogical process has generated i here instead of y. In the MSS in which Eliwlad occurs, i is not otherwise used for y.  In the Black Book of Carmarthen orthography, eliw stands regularly for elyf, plural of alaf, not for eliw, which is what we consistently have with Eliwlad."

Professor Peter Schrijver is more adamantly opposed to the formation:

"To assume that consistent -i- in Eliwlad stands for -y-, as your etymology would presuppose, is problematic (unless it is a fossilized name, which seems to me unlikely because *elyf-wlad should be an eminently transparent compound)."

* https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/cymraeg/staff-profiles/listing/profile/mah/

** From Studies in British Celtic Historical Phonology by Peter Schrijver, 1995: