Ardun Pen Askell, Daughter of Eliffer of York = the Goddess Brigantia?

Brigantia, Birrens, Scotland

In past blog posts I've discussed Arthur Penuchel as a corruption in the Welsh Triads. The original name in that source was Ardun Pen Askell.

Ardun’s name may be the basis of Arddunyon, a place-name in the Old North (see the notes on names in Rachel Bromwich's edition of the Triads).  This place-name has been linked to Welsh arddunaf, ‘exalt, praise, etc.’. The root is Welsh ardd, ‘hill, highland, top; ?high, upland.’  I suspect this may be preserved in Arden of North Yorkshire.

But it is interesting that the meaning of ‘the exalted or elevated one’ was also applied to the goddess Brigantia of the Brigantes tribe of Northern England.  Could it be that Ardun daughter of Eliffer of York is a poetic metaphor for the goddess Brigantia herself?

In passing, I would mention that Ardun is said to be “wing-headed”.  This could be a reference to a plumed helmet like that portrayed on an image of Brigantia at Birrens. See https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/2091.

Brigantia as a goddess was probably a manifestation of the Pennines mountain chain, which runs the entire length of the Brigantian territory.  Pennines as a name is decidedly late (18th century) and is believed to be patterned after the Apennines of Italy (according to A.D. Mills in A DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH PLACE-NAMES). .