It has occurred to me that the articles and various proofs for my argument on Eliwlad son of Madog = Matoc Ailithir (which indicates that Arthur's father Uther Pendragon = Sawyl Benisel of Ribchester) are so long and involved few if any may have bothered to read them!
For that reason, I'm posting below a short excerpt and a brief commentary on its significance. I hope those who do not have the time, energy or patience to go over the more lengthy, involved material will find this condensed version helpful.
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From Dr. Richard Coates:
“It looks perfectly possible to me that Eliwlad represents British *Aljowlatos 'other land'. Eliwlad/t is a plausible rendering of Eilwlad. One certainly finds occasional <e> for <ei> in MW, and metathesis is always possible. If it’s not from *aljo-, I have no idea.”
A correction from Dr. Simon Rodway: "<e> for /ei/ is quite common in Old Welsh, but not in Middle Welsh. Where it does occur in MW it is probably either due to scribal error or evidence for an OW exemplar which has not been correctly modernized."
When I asked Dr. Rodway whether such a metathesis could have occurred, he responded:
"Well, i and l are reasonably similar, especially if a hair-stroke dot on an eye is not read by a copyist. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of an example, but it might have happened."
So what does this all mean?
It would mean that Eliwlad as Eilwlad originally denoted 'other land', a perfect British equivalent to the Irish Ailithir (from aile, 'other', and tir, 'land'). Thus Eilwlad son of Madog is a dim folk memory or reflection of Matoc ( = Madog) Ailithir, son of Sawyl Benisel of Ribchester. And, in turn, Sawyl = Uther Pendragon, father of Arthur.
For supportive articles, please see:
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