Mabinogi

[theswordmaiden]

Irish and Welsh names are IMPOSSIBLE, so I am forced to take notes when I read mythology. I'm too used to Greek and Roman myths. I have just finished the four branches of the Mabinogi as translated by Patrick K. Ford. Let me know if I got confused somewhere

Comments

[raze__the_rose]

Holy crap. I thought reading the eddas was rough. I go all cross eyed when I read welsh names...

[theswordmaiden]

I have attempted the Eddas before, too, but was forced to give up! I will go back to them at some point, though. This isn't my first attempt with the Mabinogion, either.

[fpb]

It may interest you that, according to my theory, the Mabinogi are only the prelude to a largely lost double epic featuring Llew among the gods and Caesar (Ulkessar) and Casswallawn among mortals. I have studied it for a while, and yes, Welsh spelling can be scary.

If you could see your way to forgiving the pain I caused you, I would like to remain your friend.

[madfedor]

[reading... reading... starting to get light headed... reading... reading...] Ouch! Need score card! Holy Cliff Notes!

[reading...] Arberth: a lot of magic happens here.

Ahhhhhh. Great conclusion. ;-D

I don't think I saw her on your book list: Have you read anything by Morgan Llewellyn? I've only read Lion of Ireland (and liked it).

[theswordmaiden]

Hahah! I don't know if it gets simpler than this.

Also I was going to make a longer entry for Arberth, e.g. Pwyll sat on the mound of Arberth when he saw Rhiannon on her magic horse; Pryderi was born in Arberth and then magically disappeared; the enchanted mist settled on Arberth causing people to disappear ... etc. Know what, the place is made of magic, the end.

Ahhh, I forgot about Morgan Llywelyn! (see, another name I keep spelling wrong.) I have one book of hers on my shelf, The Wind from Hastings. One of the many books I have to read. I have heard good things about her.

[madfedor]

As a tangential side note and non sequitur, the Philadelphia Main Line's first two towns are Bala Cynwyd and Narberth. There was a lot of Welsh-ful thinking by the first residents, it would seem.

Seriously, I've been promising myself reading the Mabinogion (sp?) for years. It's high time I did so. Care to recommend a good translation? Having a scholarly bent, the more footnotes and commentary the better.

[theswordmaiden]

It's cool to notice how many other things I begin to notice or understand, like place names, by reading old stuff.

I get most of my advice on picking translations from here: http://www.digitalmedievalist.com/bibs/welshlit.html
She knows her stuff.

Patrick K. Ford's translation The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales is the one I'm reading now. It's loaded with introductions and footnotes, so I recommend that one the most. The only drawback is that it doesn't have the Welsh romances, which are normally included in the Mabinogion as a whole. But it does have the tale of Taliesin, which I wasn't able to find in the other books.

There's also Jeffrey Gantz's The Mabinogion, which I haven't read yet, but I've heard it's also a good modern English translation. Also it does contain the romances. However I also heard that he unnecessarily uses "non-standard spellings like Mallowch for Matholwch." I personally wouldn't like that; I prefer it to be more