DIWRNACH THE "IRISHMAN": A NEW INTERPRETATION OF AN ARTHURIAN CAULDRON STORY

Menapii in Gaul

Manapii in Ireland

Other than the Welsh poem 'The Spoils of Annwm", our earliest extant tale on Arthur's connection with a prototypical Grail is that of Diwrnach the Irishman in CULHWCH AND OLWEN. Over the years I have attempted to shed some light on the nature of the characters found in this story, but remained unhappy with my conclusions.  For this reason - and because I wish to treat of the episode in my new book THE AVALON  BIBLE - I decided to tackle the problem once more.  Fortunately, I was able to uncover what I now believe to be the true substratum of Arthur's caudron-stealing adventure.

We must begin with Professor Patrick Sims-Williams' treatment of the relevant personages.  

Diwrnach, for example, has been related to an attested, though very rare Irish name, Diugurnach.  We have no knowledg of a man of this name having anything to do with a cauldron. 

Odgar son of Aodh, like Gwittart son of Aodh, is a Frankish name.  The first is from Audagari, ultimately, which yielded Ogier.  The second is from Withard.  The real question has always been why these two Franks were made the son of one Aodh, a known spelling for Irish Aedh.

Here, then, is what I think happened:  

Diwrnach is a substitution for the  Dyrnwch/Dyrnog/Tyrnog/Dyrnfwch of "The Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain", a figure claimed as the owner of another magical cauldron.  The latter has been shown to be similar to the Gaulish name Durnacos and Patrick Sims-Williams and others suggest some contamination of this name with that of Diwrnach.  

Durnacos is thought to be siimlar to Irish dornoch, from Celtic durn-, 'fist,' but Paul Russell (in "The suffix -āko- in Continental Celtic", Études celtiques  Année 1988  25  p. 134), says that it may instead be "an attempt by a Latin speaker to write Gaulish /t/ so that it might represent *Turnacos.?

When it comes to a Durnacos-like name, I would call attention to the early Frankish capital of Tournai (see https://www.trismegistos.org/geo/detail.php?tm=24451), from Latin Turnacum/ Tornacum/Thornacum/Tornacus.  

Alexander Falileyev in Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-Names (Aberystwyth University, 2007), has for Tournai:

"a Celtic name, an -ako- derivative of a PN Turn(i)us.  According to Delamarre (DLG: 304-5). directly to G. turno- 'height'? < *tuer-?, cfr. Breton tornado 'cliff, slope'."

Tournai remained the capital of the Franks up to the time of Clovis. This city was originally (see https://www.livius.org/articles/place/turnacum-tournai/) the capital of the Menapii, having been moved from Cassel (https://www.livius.org/articles/place/castellum-menapiorum-cassel/). 

It should not surprise us, therefore, that this Menapii tribe could easily have been confused in tradition with the Manapii of Ireland.  And, indeed, Scottish place-name expert Watson and others have shown that Menapii and Manapii are etymologically related.

So what are we to make of this cauldron story given that it appears to take place in either Belgium or Ireland?

The Manapii of Ireland ended up in County Fermanagh, and there we find Lough Erne.  This loch is famous for its association with the god Aed Ruad or "Fire the Red" (https://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/macha.html).   He is said to have drowned at Assaroe and to have been buried at Mullaghnashee.  Aed was father of Macha, for whom Emain Macha is named.

The Sidh Aedh Ruaidh or Fairy Mound of Red Aed is probably meant as the stand in for the fairy fortress of the cauldron in "The Spoils of Annwm."  This was remembered by the author of the CULHWCH AND OLWEN Diwrnach tale, as Aed is said to be the father of Odgar and Gwittart.

Aed was the son of a certain Baduirn (https://celt.ucc.ie//published/G105003/index.html), and we know of a famous cauldron in Irish tradition called the 'lestar Baduirn.'  Various accounts are given of it, but this one is perhaps the most interesting:

The Irish ordeals, Cormac's adventure in the Land of Promise, and the decision as to Cormac's sword (section 19):

THE VESSEL OF BADURN

That is, Badurn the name of a king. Now his wife went to the well, and at the well she saw two women out of the fairy-mounds, and between them was a chain of bronze. When they beheld the woman coming towards them they went under the well. So she went after them under the well, and in the fairy-mound she saw a marvellous ordeal, even a vessel of crystal. If a man should utter three false words under it, it would separate into three (parts) on his hand. If a man should utter three true words under it, it would unite again. Then Badurn's wife begged that vessel from the folk of the fairy-mound. It was given to her. So that was the vessel which Badurn had for distinguishing between falsehood and truth.

[LEASTUR BADUIRN.

.i. Badurnn ainm righ. Luid didiu a bean side don tibra[i]d, co n-acca do mnai asna sidhaib ocum tirbraid, & bai slabradh credhumha etarro. O['t]conchadar in mnai dia saighidh lotur fon tibraid. Luid side didiu ina ndiaidh fon tibrait co n-aca fír n-amra isin tshidh .i. lestur glain. Fear dobereadh téora briathra góa fai conscaradh fora laim hi tri. Fear adbereadh teóra briathra fira foa conategedh affrithisi. Gaid didiu bean Badu[i]rn in lestur sin do æs in tshídhe. Dobertha dísi indi sin, comba head sin leastur nodelaighedh gai & fir la Badurn.]

I think this may well be the very cauldron Arthur is said to have stolen from Ireland.  

There might be a good reason why Arthur was associated with Aed.  In Denbighshire, Wales, there is a Moel Arthur hillfort and Glyn Arthur in the parish of Llandyrnog.  While this St. Dyrnog is represented as independent of the Irish name Tigernach, his feast date matches perfectly that of the Irish Tigernach of Clones. P.C. Bartrum in his study of "The Thirteen Treasures of Britain" says:

"The form Diwrnach corresponds to Irish Diugurnach which later tended to be confused with Irish Tigernach corresponding to modern Welsh Teyrnog."

It may be, then, ultimately, that the presence of Dyrnog or Tigernach where there was a fort named for Arthur supplied the slender basis upon which the Diwrnach story was concocted. 

That Diwrnach's cauldron was brought by Arthur to Dyfed is a pretty logical development of the legend, as we have a 7th century Arthur son of Pedr in the Dyfed royal genealogy.