Chapter XII: Race in Folklore and Myth (5)

[260] The difference between Mod. Welsh cor and Breton korr is one of spelling, for the reformed orthography of Welsh words only doubles the r where it is dwelt on in the accented syllable of a longer word: in other terms, when that syllable closes with the consonant and the next syllable begins with it. Thus cor has, as its derivatives, cór-rach, 'a dwarf,' plural co-ráchod, cór-ryn, 'a male dwarf,' plural co-rýnnod. Some of these enter into place-names, such as Cwm Corryn near Llanaelhaearn (p. 217) and Cwm Corryn draining into the Vale of Neath; so possibly with Corwen for Cor-waen, in the sense of 'the Fairies' Meadow.' Cor and corryn are also used for the spider, as in gwe'r cor or gwe'r corryn, 'a spider's web,' the spider being so called on account of its spinning, an occupation in which the fairies are represented likewise frequently engaged; not to mention that gossamer (gwawn) is also sometimes regarded as a product of the fairy loom (p. 103). The derivation of cor is not satisfactorily cleared up: it has been conjectured to be related to a Med. Irish word cert, 'small, little,' and Latin curtus, 'shortened or mutilated.' To me this means that the origin of the word still remains to be discovered.

[261] For Edern's dwarf see Foerster's Erec, lines 146-274 and passim, the Oxford Mabinogion, pp. 248-61, and Guest's trans., ii. 73-92; and for Peredur's the latter books, pp. 197-9 and i. 304-7 respectively.

[262] The story of Canrig (or Cantrig) Bwt is current at Llanberis, but I do not recollect seeing it in print: I had it years ago from my father-in-law. The statement as to Carchar Cynric Rwth comes from William Williams' Observations on the Snowdon Mountains (London, 1802). The Bwlch y Rhiw Felen legend was read by me to the British Archæological Association at its meeting at Llangollen, and it was printed in its Journal for December, 1878. It is right to say that the Llangollen story calls the woman a giantess, but I attach no importance to that, as the picture is blurred and treated in part allegorically. Lastly, the use of the word carchar, 'prison,' in the term Carchar Cynric Rwth recalls Carchar Oeth ac Anoeth, or 'the Prison of Oeth and Anoeth,' p. 619 above: the word would appear to have been selected because in both cases the structure was underground.

[263] See the Acta Sanctorum, April 11, where one finds published the Latin life written by Felix not long after Guthlac's death. See also an Anglo-Saxon version, which has been edited with a translation by Ch. W. Goodwin (London, 1848).

[264] In connexion with them Mr. Bullock Hall reminds me of Icklingham, in West Suffolk; and there seem to be several Ickletons, and an Ickleford, most or all of them, I am told, on the Icknield Way. The name Icel, whose genitive Icles is the form in the original life, has probably been inferred from the longer word Iclingas, and inserted in due course in the Mercian pedigree, where it occupies the sixth place in descent from Woden.

[265] Since the above was written, Dr. Ripley's important work on the Races of Europe (London, 1900) has reached me, but too late to study. I notice, however, that he speaks of an island of ancient population to the north of London and extending over most of the counties of Hertford, Buckingham, Bedford, Rutland, and Northampton, as far as those of Cambridge and Lincoln. A considerable portion of this area must have been within the boundaries of Coritanian territory, and it is now characterized, according to him, by nigrescence, short stature, and rarity of suicide, such as remind him of Wales and Cornwall: see his maps and pp. 322, 328, 521.

[266] See Fiacc's Hymn in Stokes' Goidelica, p. 127, l. 41.

[267] The Welsh passages unfortunately fail to show whether it was pronounced sidi or sidi: should it prove the latter, I should regard it as the Irish word borrowed.

[268] Skene's Four Ancient Books of Wales, ii. 153-5, 181-2.

[269] For more about Picts and Pechts see some most instructive papers recently published by Mr. David MacRitchie, such as 'Memories of the Picts' in the Scottish Antiquary, last January, 'Underground Dwellings' in Scottish Notes and Queries, last March, and 'Fairy Mounds' in the Antiquary, last February and March.

[270] See p. 424 above, where, however, the object of the Ogams written on four twigs of yew has been misconceived. I think now that they formed simply so many letters of inquiry addressed by Dalán to other druids in different parts of Ireland. We seem to have here a ray of light on the early history of Ogam writing.

[271] See the Book of the Dun Cow, fo. 130b.

[272] See the Book of Leinster, fo. 117a.

[273] Corrguinigh occurs in the story of 'The Second Battle of Moytura,' where Stokes has rendered it 'sorcerers' in the Revue Celtique, xii. 77; and corrguinacht heads an article in O'Davoren's Glossary, published in Stokes' Three Irish Glossaries, p. 63, where it is defined as beth for leth cois 7 for leth laimh 7 for leth suil ag denam na glaime dicinn, 'to be on one foot and with one hand and one eye doing the glám dicenn.' The glám dicenn was seemingly the special elaboration of the art of making pied de nez, which we have tragically illustrated in the case of Caier.

[274] In Appendix B to The Welsh People, pp. 617-41.

[275] See Rosellini's Monumenti dell' Egitto (Pisa, 1832), vol. i. plates clvi, clx, and Maspero's Histoire Ancienne (Paris, 1897), ii. 430.

[276] One may now consult Nicholson's paper on 'The Language of the Continental Picts': see Meyer and Stern's Zeitschrift, iii. 326-8, 331-2, and note especially his reference to Herodian, iii. 14, § 8. For Chortonicum see Die althochdeutschen Glossen (edited by Steinmeyer and Sievers), iii. 610; also my paper on 'The Celts and the other Aryans of the P and Q Groups' read before the Philological Society, February 20, 1891, p. 11.

[277] I am chiefly indebted to my friend Professor A. C. Haddon for references to information as to the dwarf races of prehistoric times. I find also that he, among others, has anticipated me in my theory as to the origins of the fairies: witness the following extract from the syllabus of a lecture delivered by him at Cardiff in 1894 on Fairy Tales:--'What are the fairies?--Legendary origin of the fairies. It is evident from fairy literature that there is a mixture of the possible and the impossible, of fact and fancy. Part of fairydom refers to (1) spirits that never were embodied: other fairies are (2) spirits of environment, nature or local spirits, and household or domestic spirits; (3) spirits of the organic world, spirits of plants, and spirits of animals; (4) spirits of men or ghosts; and (5) witches and wizards, or men possessed with other spirits. All these and possibly other elements enter into the fanciful aspect of fairyland, but there is a large residuum of real occurrences; these point to a clash of races, and we may regard many of these fairy sagas as stories told by men of the Iron Age of events which happened to men of the Bronze Age in their conflicts with men of the Neolithic Age, and possibly these, too, handed on traditions of the Palæolithic Age.'

[278] See the Berlin Zeitschrift für Ethnologie for 1894, vol. xxvi. pp. 189-254, which are devoted to an elaborate paper by Dr. Jul. Kollmann, entitled 'Das Schweitzersbild bei Schaffhausen und Pygmäen in Europa.' It closes with a long list of books and articles to be consulted on the subject.