Page:Origin and Growth of Religion (Rhys).djvu/195

Rh legend and is usually called Finn mac Cumaill, or Finn son of Cumall: the latter was the king-warrior of Erinn. Now the name of one of the Welsh equivalents of Finn mac Cumaill is Gwyn mab Nûᵭ, or Gwyn son of Nûᵭ; and in both finn and gwyn we have the ordinary words for white or fair, and both personages so called were celebrated as great hunters, while Gwyn is usually known to the Welsh as the king of the Fairies and the other world generally. The designations Finn mac Cumaill and Gwyn mab Nûᵭ would seem to oppose Cumall and Nûᵭ to, or equate them with, one another.

Further, the story of Kulhwch and Olwen mentions Gwyn son of Nûᵭ with two other Gwyns, called respectively the son of Esni and the son of Nwyvre; but the composition of the lists of names in that piece is such as to allow of our supposing Gwyn son of Nûᵭ, and Gwyn son of Nwyvre, to have been really only one: Esni is a name otherwise unknown to me; but Nwyvre is the Welsh for the atmosphere, or the space in which the clouds float above the earth; and in the designation Gwyn son of Nwyvre, we seem to have the exact rendering of Finn son of Cumall. The story also associates with Gwyn son of Nwyvre, a certain Fflam mab Nwyvre, whose name would mean Flame son of Atmosphere: he is probably to be identified with the personage otherwise called in the same story Fjlewdur Fflam Wledic, or Prince Ffleudur