BEDE'S URBS GIUDI AND THE UDD URFAI OF EIDYN

Edinburgh Castle

Andrew Breeze likens the root of Giudi to Old Welsh iudd, Middle Welsh udd, ‘lord’, and thus interprets the name as meaning ‘lord’s place, place possessed by a lord’. As a purely formal etymology, this is quite acceptable.  For his article discussin this important early place-name in the North, see his

‘Some Celtic place-names of Scotland: Ptolemy’s Verubium Promontorium, Bede’s Urbs Giudi, Mendick, Minto, and Panlathy’, Scottish Language 23 (2004) 57–67, at 58, 60–1.

Now Bede says that urbs Giudi is ‘in medio’ of the Firth of Forth (the Sea of Iodeo of the Gododdin poem; see https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/8108827/2008_Bede_the_Firth_of_Forth_and_the_location_for_Urbs_Iudeu.pdf). This does not mean, of course, that the city is in the middle of the Firth, but rather that it may have situated in the middle of the shore of the Firth in the Gododdin region. This geographical fix seems preferable to that of Stirling, the traditional location of the site.  To quote from noted place-name expert Alan James:

"Stirling was the lowest crossing point on the Forth. It is the tidal limit. It is midway between the source on Ben Lomond and the sea. It is at the apex of the Firth, the central sailing mark for any vessel sailing upstream. It lay between areas of extensive marshland. Any army moving north to south or v.v. had to pass via Stirling, which is why so many major battles were fought there or close by - Stirling Bridge, Bannockburn, Sheriffmuir being just 3 of the best known. Stirling is quite simply the strategic heart of Scotland, and the 'centre of the Forth' whichever way you look at it."

However, Din Eidyn, the Dark Age capital of the Gododdin, is itself in the middle portion of the shore of the Firth. I suspect the ‘city of the Gododdin’ is, in fact, Din Eidyn. Evidence of an udd or lord of Eidyn is found in the Gododdin poem itself:

Line 954:

Gnawd gwayw rhudd rhag udd Eidyn, Urfai

Usual was a blood-stained spear before the lord of Eidyn, Urfai

A Gorthyn Hir of the same poem is called udd of Gwynedd.  Interestingly, Gorthyn is said to be the son of an Urfai.  If the same Urfai is meant, then udd may be a hereditary title.  We know of no other Urfais.

When I asked place-name expert Alan James about this possibility, he replied:

“Yes, that raises all sorts of intriguing possibilities. I'd agree that, given we really don't know what -eu signifies, Iudeu could possibly indicate the chief place of an *Iudd, and that title might have been associated with some dynasty (inheritance, as we know, was a complicated business). It's speculative, and a slender thread on which to hang your case for Eidin, but worth seeing what others make of it.”

While it may seem a slender thread, it is really all we have.  It seems not unreasonable to provisionally identify Iudeu as a nickname for Din Eidyn, a place that was notable for being the seat of an Iudd.  Stirling, at any rate, cannot claim this, at least given the sources currently at our disposal.