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Nefyn
A Cmyric Heroine, also known as Nevyn, Nyuein, Nyven: Heavenly One
Nefyn (Nevyn, Nyuein, Nyven) is a Cymric (Welsh) heroine known from the ancient Welsh genealogies and the Welsh Triads. She is the wife of Cynfarch and the mother of Urien Rheged. |
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Gaul: Heavenly One
Nefyn is known both from the Cymric genealogies and Triad 70 of the Trioedd Ynys Prydein. In this triad the 'Three Fair Womb-burdens of the Island of Britain' where the first of these is given as: Urien son of Cynfarch and Lleu son of Cynfarch by Nefyn daughter of Brychan Brycheiniog. The Urien named here is Urien Rheged and this is one of the few places where his mother is explicitly named as Nefyn.
Her name is given as Nyven in De Situ Brecheniauc whereas Jesus College Genealogy 3 gives the name as Drynwin. The name is also mentioned by Llywarch Hen in his poetry.
The name Nefyn is fairly obviously derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic lexical unit *nemos- (heaven, which yields the Cymric word nef) along with the termination -un (one) thus her name can be interpreted as 'heavenly one'. Interestingly this is also the name of the town, Nefyn on the Llŷn Peninsula. The etymologies seem to be the same, but the names are unlinked.
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