Note 16 — Chapter IV · OF TINTAGEL
Reading edition
The following curious little item from R. Hunt’s volume ought not to be lost sight of:—“I shall offer a conjecture, touching the name of Tintagel, which I will not say is right but only probable. Tin is the same as Din, Dinas, and Dixeth, deceit; so that Tindixel, turned for easier pronunciation to Tintagel, Dundagel, etc., signifies Castle of Deceit, which name might be aptly given to it from the famous deceit practised here by Uther Pendragon by the help of Merlin’s enchantment.” George Borrow says: “Tintagel does not mean the Castle of Guile, but the house in the gill of the hill, a term admirably descriptive” (Wild Wales, cap. cvii.).