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Avanc
The Afanc (, sometimes also called Addanc, ) is a lake monster from Welsh mythology. Its exact description varies, being described as resembling a crocodile, beaver or dwarf-like creature, or a platypus and is sometimes said to be a demon. The lake in which it dwells is also uncertain and it is variously said to live in Llyn Llion, Llyn Barfog, near Brynberian Bridge or in Llyn yr Afanc, a lake near Betws-y-coed that was named after the creature. Legends and traditions The afanc was a monstrous creature that, like most lake monsters, was said to prey upon any foolish enough to fall into or swim in its lake. One of the earliest descriptions of it is given by the 15th-century poet Lewys Glyn Cothi, who described it as living in Llyn Syfaddon, in Powys. One tale relates that it was rendered helpless by a maiden who let it sleep upon her lap; while it slept, the maiden's fellow villagers bound the creature in chains. The creature was awakened and made furious; its enraged thrashings ...
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White Book Of Rhydderch
The White Book of Rhydderch (Welsh: ''Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch'', National Library of Wales, Peniarth MS 4-5) is one of the most notable and celebrated surviving manuscripts in Welsh language, Welsh. Mostly written in southwest Wales in the middle of the 14th century (c. 1350) it is the earliest collection of Welsh prose texts, though it also contains some examples of early Welsh poetry. It is now part of the collection of the National Library of Wales, having been preserved in the library at Hengwrt, near Dolgellau, Gwynedd, of the 17th century antiquary Robert Vaughan (antiquary), Robert Vaughan, who inherited it from the calligrapher John Jones of Gellilyfdy, John Jones and passed it to his descendants. The collection later passed to the newly established National Library of Wales as the Peniarth Manuscripts, Peniarth or Hengwrt-Peniarth Manuscripts. What was one manuscript was divided into two in the medieval period and has been bound as two separate volumes, known as Peniarth MS ...
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Silver On The Tree
''Silver on the Tree'' is a contemporary fantasy novel by Susan Cooper, published by Chatto & Windus in 1977. It is the final entry in the five book ''Dark Is Rising Sequence''. Plot Will Stanton and his mentor Merriman, two of the last Old Ones, gather allies and magical objects to help defeat the rising Dark. They ally with Bran, a Welsh descendant of King Arthur, and the three Drew children, to form the Six who are prophesied to triumph over the powers of the Dark. Significant mythical elements in the book include the bard Taliesin (under his alternate name Gwion), King Gwyddno Garanhir and the Drowned Hundred, the Welsh tradition of the Mari Llwyd, Arthur's ship Prydwen, and the Ritual of oak and mistletoe. Critical reception The book was compared less favorably to earlier instalments in the series, with particular criticism towards its final battle. However, it still received generally positive reviews. Mari Ness of Tor.com praised it for being "beautifully and ly ...
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University Of Wales
The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first university established in Wales, one of the four countries in the United Kingdom. The university was, prior to the break up of the federation, the second largest university in the UK. A federal university similar to the University of London, the University of Wales was in charge of examining students, while its colleges were in charge of teaching. The University of Wales was the only university in Wales prior to the establishment of the University of Glamorgan in 1992. Former colleges under the University of Wales included most of the now independent universities in Wales: Aberystwyth University (formerly University of Wales, Aberystwyth), Bangor University (formerly University of Wales, Bangor), St David's University College (later University ...
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Beaver
Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-largest living rodents, after capybaras, weighing up to . They have stout bodies with large heads, long chisel-like incisors, brown or gray fur, hand-like front feet, webbed back feet, and tails that are flat and scaly. The two species differ in skull and tail shape and fur color. Beavers can be found in a number of freshwater habitats, such as rivers, streams, lakes and ponds. They are herbivorous, consuming tree bark, aquatic plants, grasses and sedges. Beavers build dams and lodges using tree branches, vegetation, rocks and mud; they chew down trees for building material. Dams restrict water flow, forming ponds, and lodges (usually built in ponds) serve as shelters. Their infrastructure creates wetlands used by many other species, a ...
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Middle Welsh
Middle Welsh (, ) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh (). Literature and history Middle Welsh is the language of nearly all surviving early manuscripts of the ''Mabinogion'', although the tales themselves are certainly much older. It is also the language of most of the manuscripts of mediaeval Welsh law. Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible, albeit with some work, to a modern-day Welsh speaker. Phonology The phonology of Middle Welsh is quite similar to that of modern Welsh, with only a few differences. The letter ''u'', which today represents in North Western Welsh dialects and in South Welsh and North East Welsh dialects, represented the close central rounded vowel in Middle Welsh. The diphthong ''aw'' is found in unstressed final syllables in Middle Welsh, while in Modern Welsh it has become ''o'' (e.g. Middle Welsh = Mod ...
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Welsh Language
Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). It is spoken by smaller numbers of people in Canada and the United States descended from Welsh immigrants, within their households (especially in Nova Scotia). Historically, it has also been known in English as "British", "Cambrian", "Cambric" and "Cymric". The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 gave the Welsh language official status in Wales. Welsh and English are ''de jure'' official languages of the Senedd (the Welsh parliament), with Welsh being the only ''de jure'' official language in any part of the United Kingdom, with English being merely ''de facto'' official. According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 538,300 ( ...
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Oxen
An ox (: oxen), also known as a bullock (in BrE, British, AusE, Australian, and IndE, Indian English), is a large bovine, trained and used as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castration, castrated adult male cattle, because castration inhibits testosterone and aggression, which makes the males docile and safer to work with. Cows (adult females) or bulls (intact males) may also be used in some areas. Oxen are used for ploughing, for transport (pulling carts, hauling wagons and even riding), for threshing grain by trampling, and for powering machines that grind grain or supply irrigation among other purposes. Oxen may be also used to skid logs in forests, particularly in low-impact, select-cut logging. Oxen are usually yoked in pairs. Light work such as carting household items on good roads might require just one pair, while for heavier work, further pairs would be added as necessary. A team used for a heavy load over difficult ground might exceed nine or ten pairs. Oxen ...
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Hu Gadarn
Hu Gadarn (''Hu the Mighty'') is a supposed Welsh legendary figure who appears in several of a series of Welsh Triads produced by the Welsh antiquarian and literary forger Iolo Morganwg. These triads, which Iolo put forth as medieval works, present Hu as a culture hero of the ancient Britons (historical), Britons who introduced ploughing. However, it is now known that the triads, like all of the so-called "Third Series" of triads, were fabricated by Iolo himself.Rejhon, A. C. (1983). "Hu Gadarn: Folklore and Fabrication". In Patrick K. Ford (Ed.), ''Celtic Folklore and Christianity'', pp. 201–12. Santa Barbara. The name "Hu Gadarn" earlier appeared in a Welsh translation of a French romance about Charlemagne. Still, Iolo's version of Hu Gadarn was taken up in the 20th century by the poet Robert Graves, who associated him with other Celtic figures; since then he has been popular among neopagans.Jones, Mary (2009)"Hu Gadarn" From www.maryjones.us. Retrieved 4 June 2010. Origins Th ...
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Prydain
Prydain (, ; Middle Welsh: ''Prydein'') is the modern Welsh name for Great Britain. Medieval ''Prydain'' is the medieval Welsh term for the island of Britain. The Latin name Albion was not used by the Welsh. More specifically, Prydain may refer to the Brittonic parts of the island; that is, the parts south of Caledonia. This distinction appears to derive from Roman times, when the island was divided into Roman Britain to the south and the land of the Caledonians to the North. The peoples north of the Roman borders eventually came to be known as the Picts (Welsh: ''Brithwyr''); the Welsh term for Pictland was ''Prydyn'', which caused some confusion in the texts with ''Prydain''. In Middle Welsh texts, the related term ''Ynys Prydein'' (Island of Britain), or ''Ynys Brydein'', can also refer to the island (''ynys'') itself but more often is a name for the Brittonic territories south of Caledonia. It is in this context that the name of the collection of traditional materi ...
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Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European islands by area, largest European island, and the List of islands by area, ninth-largest island in the world. It is dominated by a maritime climate with narrow temperature differences between seasons. The island of Ireland, with an area 40 per cent that of Great Britain, is to the west – these islands, along with over List of islands of the British Isles, 1,000 smaller surrounding islands and named substantial rocks, comprise the British Isles archipelago. Connected to mainland Europe until 9,000 years ago by a land bridge now known as Doggerland, Great Britain has been inhabited by modern humans for around 30,000 years. In 2011, it had a population of about , making it the world's List of islands by population, third-most-populous islan ...
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Iolo Morganwg
Edward Williams, better known by his bardic name Iolo Morganwg (; 10March 174718December 1826), was a Welsh antiquarian, poet and collector.Jones, Mary (2004)"Edward Williams/Iolo Morganwg/Iolo Morgannwg" From ''Jones' Celtic Encyclopedia''. Retrieved 11 June 2009 (only USA, see. He was seen as an expert collector of Medieval Welsh literature, but it emerged after his death that he had forged several manuscripts, notably some of the Third Series of Welsh Triads.Mary Jones (2003)"Y Myvyrian Archaiology" From ''Jones' Celtic Encyclopedia''. Retrieved 11 June 2009 (in US only. Even so, he had a lasting impact on Welsh culture, notably in founding the secret society known as the Gorsedd, through which Iolo Morganwg successfully co-opted the 18th-century Eisteddfod revival. The philosophy he spread in his forgeries has had an enormous impact upon neo-Druidism. His bardic name is Welsh for "Iolo of Glamorgan". Early life Edward Williams was born in Pen-onn, near Llancarfan, Vale o ...
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