Note 41 — Chapter III · Fairy Ways and Words (continued 2)

Cadarn and cadr postulate respectively some such early forms as catṛno-s and cadro-s, which according to analogy should become cadarn and cađr. Welsh, however, is not fond of đr; so here begins a bifurcation: (1) retaining the d unchanged cadro-s yields cadr, or (2) dr is made into đr, and other changes set in resulting in the ceir of ceiri, as in Welsh aneirif, ‘numberless,’ from eirif, ‘number,’ of the same origin as Irish áram from *ađ-rim = *ad-rīmā, and Welsh eiliw, ‘species, colour,’ for ađ-liw, in both of which i follows đ combinations; but that is not essential, as shown by cader, cadair, for Old Welsh cateir, ‘a chair,’ from Latin cat[h]edra. The word that serves as our singular, namely cawr, is far harder to explain; but on the whole I am inclined to regard it as of a different origin, to wit, the Goidelic word caur, ‘a giant or hero,’ borrowed. The plural cewri or cawri is formed from the singular cawr, which means a giant, though, associated in the plural with ceiri, it has sometimes to follow suit with that vocable in connoting dress. ↑