Editing Ceridwen (section)

==Etymology==
Marged Haycock catalogues various forms of the name in the early texts,<ref>Marged Haycock ‘Cadair Ceridwen’ yn ''Cyfoeth y Testun'' 148-> (Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 2003)</ref> and in less detail in her edition of the Taliesin poems.<ref>''Legendary Poems From The Book of Taliesin'', (CMCS, 2007),</ref> These mainly occur in manuscripts which have been dated to the 13th century, though they may, of course, be using earlier forms or 13th century adaptations of earlier forms. ''The Black Book of Carmarthen'' gives ‘{{lang|wlm|Kyrridven}}’. ''Peniarth 3''  gives ‘{{lang|wlm|Kyrrytuen}}’, ''The Book of Taliesin'' variously gives ‘{{lang|wlm|Cerituen}}’, ‘{{lang|wlm|Kerrituen}}’ and ‘{{lang|wlm|Kerritwen}}’, while ''The Red Book of Hergest'' gives ‘{{lang|wlm|Kerituen}}’. So ‘-fen’ is the most common termination (a mutated form of archaic ‘{{lang|wlm|ben}}’ : ‘woman’). The variant forms ‘fen’, ‘uen’ and ‘ven’ are all due to variant scribal practices in the spelling of the sound in the modern letter ‘v’, as is the letter ‘w’, which was also sometimes used for this sound,<ref>D. Simon Evans ''A Grammar of Middle Welsh'', (Dublin, 1964)</ref> causing the final syllable to be confused with ‘{{lang|wlm|wen}}’ as a mutated form of Gwen (fair, blessed) a common ending to Welsh names. So ‘{{lang|cy|Ceridwen}}’ as a modern Welsh form of the name.  Similarly, the difference between the ‘C’ and the ‘K’ initial consonant is clearly simply a matter of a different spelling convention to represent the hard ‘c’ sound. But the following vowel, ‘y’ or ‘e’ could well represent a shift in actual pronunciation of the vowel sound.<ref>Marged Haycock ‘Cadair Ceridwen’, ''Cyfoeth y Testun'' 148-> (Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 2003)</ref> 
Sir Ifor Williams <ref>Ifor Williams ''Chwedl Taliesin'' (Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 1957)</ref> asserted that ‘{{lang|wlm|Cyrridfen}}’ is the most likely original form from ‘{{lang|wlm|cwrr}}’ (bent, angled), so ‘woman with a crooked back’, fitting the stereotype of a witch. Marged Haycock accepts ‘{{lang|wlm|ben}}’ but questions the first syllable as ‘cyr’, suggesting other possible alternatives which could relate to ‘{{lang|wlm|crynu}}’ (shake or shiver), or ‘{{lang|wlm|craid}}’ (passionate, fierce, powerful), but also notes her daughter Creirwy, with the first syllable a form of ‘{{lang|wlm|credu}}’ (belief) and so, by analogy, her mother’s name as Credidfen would mean ‘woman to be believed in’, making the mother’s and daughter’s name stems a pair.

The earliest poems emphasise her keeping of the cauldron of [[awen]] and so a source of poetic inspiration.  Cuhelyn Fardd (1100-1130) spoke of being inspired by her muse, while Cynddelw Prydydd Mawr (1155-1200) acknowledged her as the source of his art and Prydydd y Moch at the beginning of the 13th century specifically mentions the cauldron of Kyridfen as the source of the gift of [[awen]]. These and other references by identified bards are in addition to the many references by unidentified bards in ''The [[Book of Taliesin]]''.<ref>Marged Haycock, ''Legendary Poems from The Book of Taliesin'' (CMCS, 2007)</ref>