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| The glen copyright SusanMorrisonJones |
Holy, Extraordinary and Prominent places: -
Camelot
well by now you know I am looking into the phonetic spelling
of Welsh words. I looked for this under every conceivable break down, Cam Caem
Camm Ca Cama and variations thereof and discovered a possible: -
Not from welsh to English translations but through the old
meanings of names.
Caem is the word in welsh names for FORT Mael is the welsh
word used for PRINCE and Lodd or 'awdd'(double d being T ) being part of a word
for eloquent...possible the eloquent Princes Fort remembering that Camelot is
supposedly Arthurs Castle and built in the fairest of places which would be
Gwynedd as far as the (then) Welsh would believe due to the presence of the
holy islands the power bases for the three most powerful sects of Druids, the
fairness of produce from Mona and the presence of Vortigerns previous dominance
and Uther’s powerful ruler ship. The mountains the lakes all would provide a
belief in the land being the most beautiful of Welsh countryside, challenged
only by the Lake District (also at that time part of Wales). Of course that’s
such a nice easy fit in a way, too easy so I kept digging.
so many forts the Tre'r with its giant walls, some reaching
13 foot and built in stone...the Fadryn which is a possible only because I
thought perhaps Fydd dryn (fadryn) which means interfaith...a possibility as
Christian and Pagan combined under Arths banner. Of course the jury is still
out and the research continues.
Bardsey Island
The Llyn (Lleyn) Peninsula’s importance.
Historically, the peninsula was used by pilgrims en route to
Bardsey Island (Welsh: Ynys Enlli),
Y Enlli in a literal translation means The Island...Bards is
(I believe) an English inclusion to describe the islands purpose. When Ynys is
used in this modern day it is to state Bardsey Island which is modern welsh, I
have no ancient welsh text to compare but I do know the lazy foreign tongues
would not have coped with Y ynys beirdd sanctaidd.
Putting- Bards Sea Island- together into Bardsea Island
becomes the lazy way and Bardsey Island is suddenly our modern counterpart. The
island where Bards went to study, relax, recover and meet. The special
importance of the island was built upon after Rome’s' invasion and the
introduction of Christianity and as a result many considered a pilgrimage to
Bards Island as good as going to Rome itself.
Anglesey
Môn is the Welsh name of Anglesey.
Recorded by the Romans as Mona; it is the Mona of Tacitus
(Ann. xiv. 29, Agr. xiv. 18), Pliny the Elder (iv. 16) and Dio Cassius (62).
Giraldus Cambrensis calls it Môn Mam Cymru ("Môn,
Mother of Wales") by,
Other old Welsh names are Ynys Dywyll ("Dark
Isle"),
Ynys y Cedairn (cedyrn or kedyrn; "Isle of brave
folk").
Clas Merddin, and Y fêl Ynys (honey isle) are other names.
The English name Anglesey is in fact derived from the Old
Norse, meaning 'Ongull's Island'. Possibly (stretching it a bit) this is also a
shortening of another name Owen (meaning Noble Warrior) and Gwylan which means
Seagull or Gull....a name for someone famous in his day from the Mother of
Wales, a noble warrior Owen Gwylan....Ongull.... it’s a possible.
As the Bards had a sacred island so did the Druids. Anglesey
was their sacred island. A place held to be special, fertile and almost flat,
this island was supposed to be capable of growing enough food at any one time
to feed the whole of Wales (though if honesty was to be the first call, most
probably it refers to that specific part of wales including Gwyness, a sizeable
portion of the lands.
The Romans famously slaughtered a great many druids on the
island, so afraid of the gathered men of great renown and their acolytes that
it was only by betrayal that the Roman soldiers found a way to storm the
beaches...where upon the Druids in their thousands walked onto the swords and
lances of the soldiers screaming imprecations, curses and threats to their
dying breath. The fall of Rome would be ensured by their sacrifice.
Sadly, Vate is not a welsh word, it is a shortening of the
Irish Ovate, an English word for prophet. The welsh word for prophet not even
close to Vate and I felt a little lost trying to find their holy island because
the other two streams from the Druid class had one apiece and I could not
believe that the Vate would not also have something similar.
Strabo, Geography, 4.4.4
As a rule, among all the Gallic peoples three sets of men
are honoured above all others: The Bards, the vates, and the Druids. The bards
are singers and poets, the vates overseers of sacred rites and philosophers of
nature, and the Druids, besides being natural philosophers, practice moral
philosophy as well. They are considered to be the most just and therefore are
entrusted with settling both private and public disputes, so that in earlier
times they even arbitrated wars and could keep those intending to draw
themselves up for battle from so doing and it was to these men most of all that
cases involving murder had been entrusted for adjudication. And whenever there
is a big yield from these cases, they believe that there will come a yield from
the land too. Both these men and others aver that and the universe are
imperishable, although both fire and water will at sometimes prevail over them.
Diodorus Siculus, ¶31
(n part). They also make use of seers, who are greatly
respected. These seers, having great authority, use auguries and sacrifices to
foresee the future. When seeking knowledge of great importance, they use a
strange and unbelievable method: they choose a person for death and stab him or
her in the chest above the diaphragm. By the convulsion of the victim's limbs
and spurting of blood, they foretell the future, trusting in this ancient
method. They do not sacrifice or ask favours from the Gods without a Druid
present, as they believe sacrifice should be made only by those supposedly
skilled in divine communication. Not only during peacetime but also in war, the
Gauls obey with great care these Druids and singing poets, both friend and
enemy alike. Often when two armies have come together with swords drawn these
men have stepped between the battle-lines and stopped the conflict, as if they
held wild animals spell-bound. Thus even among most brutal barbarian’s angry
passion yields to wisdom and Ares stands in awe of the Muses.
All I could find
which with a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge stretch of imagination 'might' fit the bill is
the famous Holyhead.
To the Romans, it was
Sacrum Promentarium, which translates exactly as Holyhead. It is believed the
name originally referred to the mountain which dominates this part of Anglesey.
Note that Holyhead is always pronounced Hollyhead. I would wish to state here I
have no proof (again) only that this was a very famous site indeed prior to any
Christian Saints it was a place of learning. What better place to hold a sacred
island and name it for the Vate, people whose heads contained such diverse
skills and knowledges.
Never the less I truly believe the Vate or Ovate would have
had their own special Island, it would have had some connection and closeness
to Anglesey and Bardsey Islands. With the number 3 so sacred to Druids it is
genuinely inconceivable that they would stop at 2 sacred Isles when 3 would be
the sacred of all energies and true to their shamanic calling.
Well that’s enough for now, too much imagining and not
enough research by half, but I am now heading towards the Isle of Avallon and
that will be 3 x 3 chapter or part 9 of my journey.
So many very erudite people who may have read this page, are
by now up in arms......good.
You can think I am an uneducated brat poking her nose into
places she has no right to be....so go think it through from an uneducated person’s
viewpoint.
I am not trying to be the finest scholar, I think, and I
think like an ordinary person, who follows thoughts to a conclusion, rightly or
wrongly. I haven't cherry picked, so much as tried to find...not quite the same
thing.
I hold to the arbitrary nature of the usurpers, the dominant
despots and pillaging armies, the religious and historical accounts.
I believe genuinely that the true Arth was Welsh, did genuinely
live, was a real person, whose exploits and capabilities have been deliberately
removed.
Rather like the removal of royal figureheads in Egypt for
political reasons.
I believe the Romans
and the English feared the Welsh, feared their loyalty to their own Draig and
feared the Welsh would rise up and take back their country.
The only leader capable
(then) of inspiring the people was Draig Arth he of the golden, the bear,
the warrior, the giant whose eloquence and skill at battle was the pride and
the glory of his people...I think 'they' wiped him out and I believe it was
deliberate and that the arbitrary use of English and Latin to spell a complex
language , deliberately altering, mocking, undermining the truth was perhaps
one of the cleverest and one of the most evil conniving actions of the ruling
mob at that time.
right.... rant over...Avalon...I'm off to get my notes on
that fair place and decide which bits to write first 9...coming up.
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