Welsh mythology Welsh mythology (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Mytholeg Cymru'') consists of both folk traditions developed in Wales, and traditions developed by the Celtic Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium. As in most of the predominantly oral ...

, Amaethon ( (), meaning "Amaethon son of Dôn") was the god of agriculture, and the son of the goddess

Dôn Dôn () is an ancestor figure in Welsh legend and literature. She is typically given as the mother of a group known as the "Children of Dôn", including Gwydion, Arianrhod, and Gilfaethwy, among many others. However, antiquarians of the early mod ...

.Cotterell, Arthur: The Encyclopedia of Mythology, page 97. Hermes House, 2007. His name means "labourer" or "ploughman", Celtic Deities, A to C at ''Celtic World'' and he is cited as being responsible for the

Cad Goddeu ''Cad Goddeu'' ( wlm, Kat Godeu, en, The Battle of the Trees) is a medieval Welsh poem preserved in the 14th-century manuscript known as the Book of Taliesin. The poem refers to a traditional story in which the legendary enchanter Gwydion animates ...

, or "Battle of Trees", between the lord of the otherworld,

Arawn In Welsh mythology, Arawn (; ) was the king of the otherworld realm of Annwn who appears prominently in the first branch of the Mabinogi, and alluded to in the fourth. In later tradition, the role of the king of Annwn was largely attributed to ...

, and the Children of Dôn (the Welsh version of the

Tuatha Dé Danann The Tuath(a) Dé Danann (, meaning "the folk of the goddess Danu (Irish goddess), Danu"), also known by the earlier name Tuath Dé ("tribe of the gods"), are a supernatural race in Irish mythology. Many of them are thought to represent deity, ...

Sources

The principal reference to Amaethon appears in the medieval Welsh prose tale ''

Culhwch and Olwen ''Culhwch and Olwen'' ( cy, Culhwch ac Olwen) is a Welsh tale that survives in only two manuscripts about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, c. 1400, and a fragmented version in the W ...

'', where he was the only man who could till a certain field, one of the impossible tasks Culhwch had been set before he could win Olwen's hand. In the obscure early Welsh poem ''Cad Goddeu'', a possible reference is made to Amaethon/Amathaon, but the passage is obscure. One possible interpretation, if the reading is accepted, is that he steals a

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relativ ...

lapwing Lapwings ( subfamily Vanellinae) are any of various ground-nesting birds (family Charadriidae) akin to plovers and dotterels. They range from in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. A ...

and roebuck from

, king of

Annwn Annwn, Annwfn, or Annwfyn (in Middle Welsh, ''Annwvn'', ''Annwyn'', ''Annwyfn'', ''Annwvyn'', or ''Annwfyn'') is the Otherworld in Welsh mythology. Ruled by Arawn (or, in Arthurian literature, by Gwyn ap Nudd), it was essentially a world ...

(the otherworld), leading to a battle between Arawn and the Children of Dôn. Gwydion used his magic staff to turn trees into warriors who helped the children of Dôn win. In one of the triads invented by

Iolo Morganwg Edward Williams, better known by his bardic name Iolo Morganwg (; 10 March 1747 – 18 December 1826), was a Welsh people, Welsh antiquarian, poet and collector.Jones, Mary (2004)"Edward Williams/Iolo Morganwg/Iolo Morgannwg" From ''Jones' Celt ...

, he teaches magic to his brother

Gwydion Gwydion fab Dôn () is a magician, hero and trickster of Welsh mythology, appearing most prominently in the Fourth Branch of the ''Mabinogi'', which focuses largely on his relationship with his young nephew, Lleu Llaw Gyffes. He also appears ...

(this is not accepted as a genuine medieval triad by modern scholars).

Etymology

This

theonym A theonym (from Greek ''theos'' (Θεός), "god"'','' attached to ''onoma'' (ὄνομα), "name") is the proper name of a deity. Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics (the study of the etymology, history, and u ...

is derived from

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method. Proto-Celt ...

*''Ambaxtonos'' meaning great follower, servant or ploughman, an augmentative form of '' ambactos'' (ultimately from ''*ambhi-ag-to-''Proto-Celtic—EnglishEnglish—Proto-Celtic
lexicon from the University of Wales. Cf. also the Indo-European an
Celtic data
collected at the University of Leiden.).

Notes

Bibliography

*Ellis, Peter Berresford, ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology''(Oxford Paperback Reference), Oxford University Press, (1994): *MacKillop, James. ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. . *Wood, Juliette, ''The Celts: Life, Myth, and Art'', Thorsons Publishers (2002):

External links

Proto-Celtic — English lexicon
{{Celtic mythology (Welsh) Agricultural gods Welsh gods Welsh mythology Mabinogion