Celtic Gods: The Cymric and Brythonic god(dess), Darona (God[dess] of the Oak Grove)

Darona and/or Daronwy
A Cymric and Brythonic God(ddess): God(dess) of the Oak Grove

Darona or Daronwy is a Brythonic and Cymric god(dess) known from epigraphic evience based on the river Daron in Wales. The feminine form of the name would correspond to a river goddess, but the masculine form is known from the Welsh Triads and the Book of Taliesin. The interpretation of the name suggests a god or goddess of the sacred oak grove.



Synonyms: Darona or Daronwy
Cym, Bryth: God[dess] of the Oak Grove

Another deity derived from the extrapolation of a river name. The Daron that flows to the sea at Aberdaron near the southern tip of the Llŷn Peninsula, Gwynedd. By analogy with the Brythonic word Nemeton (sacred grove) and its associated goddess Nemetona then Daron can be derived from the words Dâr (oak) and the ending -on (sacred) giving us sacred oak then it's possible to speculate the existence of a goddess Darona (goddess of the sacred oak).

The female form was chosen from the assumption that she was the patron deity of the river that still bears her name and most insular river deities are female. However, there is no literary evidence for the existence of the feminine form of Darona. In contrast, a possible masculine derivative of Daron, Daronwy (Divine Oak) is attested in Cymric literature. The name occurs in both the Trioedd Ynys Prydain and an eponymous poem in the Llyfyr Taliessin. In Triad 26 of the Trioedd ynys Prydain Daronwy is described as the second of the three Great Oppressions of Ynys Môn though the legend of Daronwy has been lost. In poem X of the Llyfr Taliessin.

Py pren a vo mwy;
Na get daronwy.

What tree is greater
Than he, Daronwy?

References to Mathonwy's staff and and the harmonising of oak and thorn suggests that Daronwy's tree is the oak, which fits-in well with the etymology of Daronwy's name. The name Daronwy is preserved in the name of the farm, Dronwy, Llanfachreth, Ynys Môn. Like Llŷ, Môn was a region of Gwynedd settled by the Irish Goidels and the name Daronwy may be linked to the Goidelic Dáire (oak grove or fertile) amd may represent the name of an early bull or fertility deity (the Brown Bull of Cooley was owned by Daire mac Fiachna). It may be that the invading Goidels brought the name with them to the regions they settled which might explain the reference in the Trioedd of Daronwy as "the second of the three Great Oppressions of Ynys Môn"; for the invading Goidels were certainly seen as an 'oppression' on the island.

The name of the oak deity may also survive in Aberdâr, Morgannwg, (literally the confluence of the river Dâr) which lies at the extreme reach of the Goidelic influence in South Wales. The river Dâr (Dare) may originally have been dedicated to a god/goddess of Goidelic origin equivalent to those already mentioned in the north of the Country.



Couldn't find what you were looking for? Search the web:



stefan and zogo small One Million People Campaign
If you can spare $1 then help support this site and change someone's life forever? Learn how and why on the One Million People campaign page. Or donate $10 and get my Guide to Spices or The Recipes of Africa eBooks as a gift for your donation!