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Merlin in Welsh Arthurian Lore
| Article
# : |
14995 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
9 / 1988 |
6,064 Words |
| Author
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Jan Knappert
Jan Knappert is a folklorist and specialist in African and
Oriental languages who is based in Belgium. |
Before the Romans, the Celts were the most powerful people in western and central Europe. Unlike the Romans, however, they left us very few inscriptions or other written records, so we are very incompletely informed about Celtic religion and mythology. We do know that their mythology was very complex and extensive, since many Roman writers, beginning with Caesar, have given us insight into it. The second source of data on Celtic religion is archaeology. Numerous monuments, statues, and other remains have been found and studied in Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Bohemia.
We know that in pre-Roman times there was close contact between the Celtic peoples on both sides of the Channel. Indeed, it was this contact that motivated Caesar to cross to Britain in order to punish the Belgae living there for their help to the Belgae in Belgium, whom he was fighting. The ancient Welsh traditions repeatedly mention Ireland and Scotland, where sister nations were ruled by kings whose names appear to have been well known in Wales.
Today, Celtic languages are spoken only in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Brittany. These peoples have preserved a rich heritage of ancient mythology, which supplements our data from archaeology and classical literature. Although several Celtic languages were spoken on the island of Britain in Roman days (Scottish, Pictish, Welsh, British, and perhaps others), the speakers' religions seem to have had many features in common.
One of the most mysterious characters in Welsh and British myths is Merlin, the magician and prophet who was born of a spirit. He sleeps, but he will wake up one day to save Britain from disaster. He is no doubt, an ancient god, but which one? His name does not give us a clue. In modern English, merlin refers to a small falcon, so one might be tempted to seek comparison with the Egyptian sun-god, Horus, or the ancient Slavic sun-god Sokol; both gods are represented as falcons. However, the word merlin is of Frankish origin. The Welsh derivation of the word leads to the town of Carmarthen in Wales, which in Roman times was spelled Maridunum. It does not seem likely, however, that Merlin's name comes from the name of a town. This writer believes that Merlin is one of the names of the god Mercury, or Hermes, the European god of magic and prophecy, identified with the Germanic god Woden or Odin. Woden was associated with the forest, like Merlin, and also with the sea, which may partly explain the element mer or mari (a word for the sea) in Merlin's name. We know that Merlin, like Woden, could fly across the sea or walk on
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