Welsh Journals

This, however, by itself is not sufficient to make us certain that Porth Kerdin yn Dyfed has been identi- fied; but I believe the following considerations will assist us in arriving at that conclusion. First, then, another quotation from Fenton (p. 536) :­¾ Moylgrove, or as more properly it should be called, Maltes or Matilda's Grove, for so the old Latin deeds term it, where anciently there were two hundred acres of wood and forest, is now totally denuded." Two hundred acres of wood and forest! Not only does the English name Grove" bear this out, but also the Welsh, viz., Trewyddel, i.e., ''the woody tref;" for seemingly in most Welsh place-names into whose com- position the word" gwyddel" enters, it does not mean an Irishman, or Goidel (as Bishop Basil Jones thought) but "wooded." I presume the word" gwyddel" is formed from "gwydd," which one constantly comes across in Dafydd ab Gwilym, e.g., in his cywydd to the thunder Tan y gwydd'r oedd tan yn gwau." (I am not quite certain of this. I was taught learning" in Welsh schools-so called because no Welsh is taught in them !). However, this point is established, that Moylgrove was once very wooded. Now the place where the messur y peir" is said to be, is called Porth Kerdin." Although we were unable to find any spot called Cerdin" in Moylgrove, it is significant that this word is a form of the modern Welsh word cerdinen," a rowan tree or, as some will have it, a mountain ash (Rhys' Celtic Folklore, p. 292, note l). Porth" not only means a port or harbour in the sense we generally use those words, but also any small landing-place, so that Porth Kerdin" would signify The Harbour of Rowan Trees." In addition to this, the man whose house is said to have been there is Llwydeu mab Kel Coet," which would seem to mean Llwydeu, son (of him) of the Hidden Wood." In the Mabinogion he is called Llwyt uab kil coet," which literally means Llwyt, son of (him of) the Retreat of the Wood" (ibid., p. 546, note 1). Thus