Note 14 — Chapter III · Fairy Ways and Words (continued 2)

In medieval Welsh poetry this name was still a dissyllable; but now it is pronounced Ỻŷn, in conformity with the habit of the Gwyndodeg, which makes into porfŷđ what is written porfeyđ, ‘pastures,’ and pronounced porféiđ in North Cardiganshire. So in the Ỻeyn name Sarn Fyỻteyrn the second vocable represents Maelteyrn, in the Record of Carnarvon (p. 38) Mayltern̄: it is now sounded Myỻtyrn with the second y short and accented. Ỻeyn is a plural of the people (genitive Ỻaën in Porth Dinỻaën), used as a singular of their country, like Cymru = Cymry, and Prydyn. The singular is ỻain, ‘a spear,’ in the Book of Aneurin: see Skene, ii. 64, 88, 92. ↑