108 



it in full, though it seems almost to prove that the name is a hopeless oor- 



ruption :— 



Bangor, 20th May, 1870. 

 Dear Sir,— The only information that I can give you is the following : — 



1. Llyn Safaddan is called by " the Britains," says Camden, "Linsavethan and 

 Linsavathen, that is, a lake of standing water. Giraldus termeth it Clarnosum, that is. 

 Clamorous, or Crying Land, because it maketh a strange noise, like thunder, as often as the 

 yce thereon doth thaw." — Britannia, p. 628. 



Lewis Glyn Cathi writes it " Savaddon" : 

 " don Llyn Savaddon vo 

 Ni thynwyd han aeth yno." — Works, p. 189. 



I cannot reduce Safaddon into any probable roots. All know what is Saf— a stand ; 

 but what is addan 1 We have such word as wfaeth— a standing still ; but how this lake 

 may be standing still, when we know that the river Llyfnwy is issuing from it, and espe- 

 cially if it is Claniosuni, as Giraldus says ? 



I can reduce Savaddon of L. G. Cotlii into Saf— a stand ; and addon— fruit ; off- 

 spring. Then, it would be a lake of standing fruit, or of standing offspring ! Offspring, 

 indeed, perhaps, might mean the fish which it may be producing. However, I am afraid 

 that old Lewis made it Savaddon in order to have it rhyme with don : " don Llyn Savad" 

 don vo." 



My own opinion is (and let your friend take it for its worth), that " c" is left out 

 of the name; and that the real name is, Llyn Safaddanc, i.e., the lake of the standing 

 Addanc. 



Addanc, or afanc, is an imaginary animal, like the Hydra of the Greeks, and not 

 a Welsh name for the beaver, as some late writers imagine. The old Welsh name of the 

 beaver is "Llostlydan." The fabulous Triads say that one of "the primary great 

 achievements of the isle of Britain," was, " the prominent oxen (ychain banawg) of Pan 

 the Mighty drawing the addanc (afanc) of the lake to land ; and the lake broke out no 

 more."— Myo. Arch., 2nd ed.,p. 400, Tri. 97. 



I really believe that the name Safaddan has something to do with the above fable 

 of the Triads.* 



2. Ynys Bwlc. This cannot be Ynys Bwch, as " 1" is never silent in Welsh ; but 

 "c" was often written for "ch" in oldMSS.,and Englishmen write it frequently for Oip 

 same letter. Moreover, " c" was used generally by old writers for " g" at the end of words 

 as Madawc, Caerawc, boliawc, for Madog, Caerog, holiog. Then, bwlc may be either bwlc 

 —a pass, a hollow ; or bwlg— a buck, which your friend translated into a cow ! 



Yours faithfully, 



Gweibydd ap Rhys. 



Llyn Safaddan is not very far from Tregaron, where Twm Sion Catti lived, the 

 author of the Fabulous Triads. 



