THE ARGUMENT AGAINST PENN SON OF NETHAWC AS UTHER PENDRAGON

Pictish Stone in the Museum of Scotland

Although in recent works I've worked very hard on trying to prove that Penn son of Nethawc might be Uther Pen, Arthur's father, further study of the name has me doubting this possibility.  In addition, while I can try to account to a relocation of the name Nethawc from Lowland to Highland Scotland in the course of story-telling, there is really no justification for doing so.  The context in which Nethawc is found in CULHWCH AND OLWEN plainly shows that he belongs in Highland Scotland and is, almost without a doubt, to be considered merely the pet-form of the fuller name Nwython.  This last is to be found in the same CULHWCH AND OLWEN section and is meant to be a Pictish king Nechtan.

I now feel pretty strongly that Penn son of Nethawc/Nechtan is a borrowing of a legendary character named Cind (the Irish or Q-Celtic form of Welsh P-Celtic Penn) who occurs in stories about the founding of Pictland in Scotland.  An excellent discussion of the relevant sources can be perused here:

https://anthonyadolph.co.uk/the-pictish-king-list/

See most notably Version D:

"The Cruithne came from the land of Thracia; that is, they are the children of Gleoin, son of Ercol.  Agathirsi was their name. Six brothers of them came at first, viz, Solen, Ulfa, Nechtan, Drostan, Aengus, Leithenn…  the Cruthneach later came to Ireland where they had great power, but were expelled by Herimon and the first of their kings in Scotland was Cathluan son of Gub. It then says that ‘the two sons of Cathluan were Catinolodar and Catinolachan. The two champions, Im, son of Pern, and Cind, the father of Cruithne; Crus, son of Cirigh, their soldier; Uaisnemh, their poet; Cruithne, their artisan. Donald, son of Alpin, he was the first,till Britus, son of Isacon, slew him. The clan Neimhidh possessed after Britus, viz, Iarglun. The Cruithneach possessed after that, after they had from from Erin. The Gael possessed after that, viz, the sons of Erc, son of Eachdach."

The Erc mentioned at the end is the ancestor of the Dalriadans, who also feature in the CULHWCH AND OLWEN story.

In all likelihood, then, this Cind, champion of the Cruithne, was linked to the Pictish king Nechtan.

An alternative is to identify Cind with one of the Brude kings who used this word as an epithet or as a element of an epithet.  For a discussion of this use of cind, see

The Brude list. A panegyric to a Pictish king

Nick Aitchison

North American journal of Celtic studies

Vol. 3, No. 1 (2019), pp. 18-46

and

http://heatherrosejones.com/names/pictish/pictishbibliography.html

The ANNALS OF ULSTER mentions a Cinn of the Cruithne in Ireland:

U563.1

Bellum Mona Daire Lothair for Cruithniu re n-Uib Neill in Tuaisceirt. Baetan m. Cinn co n-dib Cruithnibh nod-fich fri Cruithniu. Genus Eugain & Conaill mercede conducti inna Lee & Airde Eolargg.

Sinsit faebra, sinsit fir
i Moin moir Daire Lothair;
adbur comroma do-cert
im righ Cruithne im Aedh m-Brec.
Fichtir cath Cruithne n-uile,
for-loiscset Eilne,
fichtir cath n-Gabra Liphe
ocus cath Cuile Dreimhne.
Berthair giallno iar congail
ass siar im chnuass n-äuch,
Forggus, Domnall, Ainmire,
ocus Nandidh macc Däuach.
Fillsit da macc Maicc Erca
cummai in chetnai;
fillis in ri Ainmere
le selbaibh Setnai,
Is alaind feras a l-luadh
gabair Baetain for in sluagh;
fo-la Baetan fuilt buidhe,
beraid a eren fuiri.

What this means, if I'm correct, is that the Gwythur of the Elegy of Uther Pen may have been associated with Uther only because his epithet Pen was wrongly identified with the Penn son of Nethawc in CULHWCH AND OLWEN.  But, then, there appears to nothing to Gwythur, either. From https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/04/creiddylad-not-goddess-welsh.html:

...it is also possible that Gwythyr should not be taken as personal name or epithet at all in this context.  Instead, it could merely be the word  "victory", used of the battle fought at Scone.  From https://books.google.com/books?id=T8k_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA383&lpg=PA383&dq=%22castellum+credi%22%2B%22victoria%22&source=bl&ots=RJ2rUy_B52&sig=ACfU3U1H5wG7MwpPE1DtLc5JZgHbc8bYeQ&hl=en&ppis=_e&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiL3Y6azdHoAhXPup4KHQ0IDrUQ6AEwAXoECAsQMQ#v=onepage&q=%22castellum%20credi%22%2B%22victoria%22&f=false:

A pun on Gwythyr's name may even be built into the CULHWCH AND OLWEN episode. From http://www.culhwch.info/:

"This was the peace that was made: leaving the maiden at her father's house untouched by either side, and [that] every May Day until the Day of Judgement from that day hence [there should be] a fight between Gwyn and Gwythyr. Whichever one of them was victorious 453 on the Day of Judgement, let him take the maiden."

  453 [g]orffo lit. 'would conquer, would prevail' 3rd pres/fut. subjunctive < gorbot 

The GPC has gorfyddaf: gorfod as meaning "to be victorious; triumph; prevail; to conquer, get the better of, vanquish, overcome, defeat."