ARMTERID/ARFDERYDD: A NEW ETYMOLOGY FOR MYRDDIN'S BATTLEFIELD

Arthuret, Cumbria

Over the years, I've explored different possibilities for the location of the famous Armterid/Arfderydd battle, at which Merlin (Myrddin) went made and fled into the Caledonian Wood.  But only recently have I been able to settle on one particular site.

The place was called ‘Weapon-fierce’ (courtesy Andrew Breeze; https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/jlo/vol2/iss1/1/), i.e. Arm-terid or Arf-derydd.  According to Breeze, this was the name for the stream at Carwinley which marked the northern boundary of Arthuret parish.

As for fixing the site of the battle, we have one possible clue.  In “Lailoken and Kentigern" Carwinley or Caer Gwenddolau is called Carwannock and the battle is said to take place between the latter and the Lidel on a plain. I had proposed that -wannock was either derived from Cumbric gwaun, “high and wet level ground, moorland, heath; low-lying marshy ground, meadow” or might be a hypocoristic form of Gwenddolau. Gwen-ddolau itself looks to be a place-name, as it means, literally, “White dales” (dol being “meadow, dale, field, pasture, valley”). Brythonic place-name expert Alan James confirmed both possibilities for me:

“The meaning of derivatives of *wāgnā in the Brittonic languages is primarily ‘level, marshy ground’, whether upland or lowland; developments include gwaun ‘a meadow’ in Welsh, goon ‘downland, unenclosed pasture’ in Cornish. Br -āco-/ā-> -ǭg is an adjectival and nominal suffix, indicating ‘being of the kind of’, ‘association with’, ‘abounding in’, the stem-word. It occurs very widely in river-names, hill-names and other topographic names. It 's not diminutive, though in hypocoristic personal names like Gwennock it might be affectionate.”

Thus Carwannock and Carwinley are the same place.  This is confirmed, in fact, by the primary sources. In the St. Kentigern VITA fragment (Titus A. XIX ff. 74-75b) the language is in campo qui est inter Lidel et Carwannock (see https://www.persee.fr/doc/roma_0035-8029_1893_num_22_88_5789 ). But according to the 15th century edition of John of Fordun the battle took place in campo inter Lidel et Carwanolow situato (Ifor Williams quoted in PNCmb I p51 n1).

But what of modern Arthuret, which is considerably to the south of Carwinley?

Derydd as similar to L. torridus, dried up, also Irish tioradh, drying, tíraid, dries.

Guess what is a tributary of the Hall Burn IN ARTHURET PARISH?

THE DRY BECK (see http://www.lakesguides.co.uk/html/lgaz/lk00252.htm).

Dry Beck in Arthuret Parish

So this stream is Terydd/Derydd - probably the original name for the entire Hall Burn, which flows past Arthuret proper.

The question is then what is Arm-/Arf-.  Although almost all sources had Ard- and not Arf-, I'm aware of the lectio difficilior requirement here.  So what is Arf-/Arm-?

There is Gaelic airm, 'place', and that has been proposed, but it's really not very convincing, given its total absence otherwise in Britain.  From Alan James' BLITON:

*arμ (f?)

Early Celtic *armā- > Br *armā-; O-MIr, G airm.

‘Place, location, whereabouts’.

Proposed by I. Williams, see PNCmb pp. 51-2, in [bellum] Armterid AC573 (in London, BL MS

Harley 3859). There is no other evidence for the word in P-Celtic, nor does the Goidelic form

seem to occur to as a place-name generic. If a Brittonic cognate had existed and survived, it 

would have fallen together as it did in Goidelic with adopted Lat arma ‘arms’ (Welsh arf). See

Arthuret Cmb, below.

a2) The river-name Armet Water MLo (Stow), PNMLo p. 75, SPN² p. 241, and the territorial

name Armethe Stg (Muiravonside), PNFEStg p. 38, could formally be + -ed if adopted early

enough by Northumbrian Old English speakers to retain –m- (LHEB §§98-100, pp. 486-93);

however, such a formation would be be unlikely to involve *arμ. An early hydronymic element

is possible, see ERN p. 149 (discussion of R. Erme Dev), and *ar in river-names.

b2) Arthuret Cmb PNCmb pp. 51-2 ? + -*tērïδ. Arthuret church stands on a prominent bluff

overlooking the Border Esk about 2 miles south of Longtown. Williams’s identification of the

battle-site with Arthuret is plausible, given the strategic location, though it should not be regarded

as certain. On the burgeoning of stories surrounding this battle in mediaeval Welsh literature, see

Rowlands (1990) pp. 109-14. See also discussion of Carwinley under cajr.

I have long maintained that the Arm-/Arf- spelling is a poetic development and does not represent a real place-name.  After extensive discussion with Dr. Simon Rodway of The University of Wales, I've gotten agreement on this point.  In addition, I had proposed the Arderydd "variant" might derive from either Ar-derydd, 'in front of the Derydd' or Ardd-derydd, 'the height of the Derydd.'  This last seemed the most reasonable to me, as the rotwyd or rhodwydd Arderys [sic] was a circular, earthen dyke fortification guarding a ford.  This is discussed by Bromwich in her Triads and by Sir Ifor Williams in a note to his Taliesin edition. At Arthuret this fortification was atop the hill adjacent to the ford over the River Esk. 

- Rachel Bromwich

The actual origin of rhodwydd is debated.  Ifor Williams thought it from rhawd + gwydd.  But I think the GPC now has it right, with rhod from the word for 'wheel', and gwydd being the same as in gwydd4, 'tumulus', cf. gwyddfa, 'height, eminence, promontory.'

Here is what Dr. Rodway had to say on the subject:

"I think the best explanation is *Ardd-derydd < *Ardo-torridus - both variants can derive from this, and there would be good motivation for alteration in order to avoid a car crash of dentals following syncope of the composition vowel.  (1) Arfderydd: dd and f sometimes interchange, e.g. afanc ~ addanc.  (2) Arderydd fricatives can be lost after r in post-syncope consonant clusters.  Analogy could have played a part in both forms - as it was famous as the site of a battle, arf 'weapon' might have seemed appropriate, and for Arderydd we have plenty of place-names containing ar 'in front of, opposite', e.g. Arfon, Arberth etc."

Thus the location of the Arderydd battle was the 'dry' stream at Arthuret.  

For the best discussion of the actual fortification at Arthuret, consult W.F. Skene's NOTICE OF THE SITE OP THE BATTLE OF ARDDERYD OR ARBERYTH

(https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_006/6_091_098.pdf):

"About a mile south from Longtown is the church and rectory of Arthuret, situated on a raised platform on the west side of the river Esk,which flows past them at a lower level; and south of the church and parsonage there rise from this platform two small hills covered with wood, called the Arthuret knowes. The top of the highest, which overhangs the river, is fortified by a small earthen rampart, enclosing a space nearly square, and measuring about 16 yards square." 

Do note, however, that Skene was wrong to look towards the Moat of Liddel as the actual site of Arderydd.  Liddel Strength, as it is otherwise known, is over a kilometer north of the northern boundary of Arthuret parish and is, needless to say, nowhere near the Dry Beck.