Editing Merlin (section)

== Name ==
[[File:Nuremberg chronicles f 138r 5.jpg|thumb|upright|left|{{lang|la|italic=no|Merlinus}} (Merlin) in the ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'' (1493)]]

The name Merlin is derived from the [[Welsh language|Welsh]] name of the legendary bard {{lang|owl|[[Myrddin]]}} that [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] Latinised to {{lang|la|Merlinus}} in his works. Medievalist [[Gaston Paris]] suggests that Geoffrey chose the form {{lang|cy|Merlinus}} rather than the expected ''*Merdinus'' to avoid a resemblance to the [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]] word {{lang|xno|merde}} (from Latin {{lang|la|merda}}) for feces.<ref name="OED">{{cite journal |year=2008 |title=Merlin |journal=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] |url=http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00306349?query_type=word&queryword=merlin&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=2&search_id=0h1m-im2NWy-2375&hilite=00306349 |access-date=7 June 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110629011419/http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00306349?query_type=word&queryword=merlin&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=2&search_id=0h1m-im2NWy-2375&hilite=00306349 |archive-date=29 June 2011}}</ref> 'Merlin' may also be an adjective, in which case he should be called "The Merlin", from the French {{lang|fr|merle}} meaning blackbird.<ref name="MPN"/>{{rp|79}} According to Martin Aurell, the Latin form ''Merlinus'' is a euphony of the Welsh form ''Myrddin'' to bring him closer to the blackbird (Latin ''merula'') into which he could metamorphose through his shamanic powers, as was notably the case for [[Buile Shuibhne|Merlin's Irish counterpart]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.europe1.fr/emissions/Au-coeur-de-l-histoire/Excalibur-et-les-mysteres-de-la-table-ronde-62064|title=Excalibur et les mystères de la table ronde|date=6 April 2011|website=Europe 1|access-date=2 June 2023|archive-date=2 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602082740/https://www.europe1.fr/emissions/Au-coeur-de-l-histoire/Excalibur-et-les-mysteres-de-la-table-ronde-62064|url-status=live}}</ref>

''Myrddin'' may be a combination of *''mer'' (mad) and the Welsh {{lang|cy|dyn}} (man), to mean 'madman'.<ref>Brian Frykenberg (2006). "Myrddin". In John T. Koch (ed.). ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia''. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio. p. 1326.</ref> It may also mean '[of] many names' if it was derived from the Welsh {{lang|cy|myrdd}}, myriad.<ref name=dames>Dames, Michael. ''Merlin and Wales: A Magician's Landscape'', 2004. Thames & Hudson. {{ISBN|0-500-28496-2}}</ref><ref name="LGW">{{cite book |series=Collins Gem |title=Welsh Dictionary |date=2009 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-00-728959-2}}</ref> In his {{lang|fr|Myrdhinn, ou l'Enchanteur Merlin}} (1862), [[Théodore Claude Henri, vicomte Hersart de la Villemarqué|La Villemarqué]] derived ''Marz[h]in'', which he considered the original form of Merlin's name, from the Breton word {{lang|br|marz}} (wonder) to mean 'wonder man'.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mrJaAAAAYAAJ|title=Merlin in German Literature: A Study of the Merlin Legend in German Literature from Medieval Beginnings to the End of Romanticism|first=Adelaide Marie|last=Weiss|date=16 March 1970|publisher=AMS Press|isbn=9780404502232|via=Google Books|access-date=16 March 2023|archive-date=16 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316052409/https://books.google.com/books?id=mrJaAAAAYAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> {{lang|cy|italic=no|[[Clas Myrddin]]}} or ''Merlin's Enclosure'' is an early name for Great Britain as stated in the third series of [[Welsh Triads]].<ref>[[John Rhys|Rhys, John]]. ''[[Hibbert Lectures]]''. p. 168.</ref>

Celticist Alfred Owen Hughes Jarman suggested that the Welsh name {{lang|cy|Myrddin}} ({{IPA|cy|ˈmərðɪn}}) was derived from the toponym {{lang|cy|Caerfyrddin}}, the Welsh name for the town known in English as [[Carmarthen]].<ref name="Koch321">Koch, ''Celtic Culture'', p. 321.</ref> This contrasts with the popular folk etymology that the town was named after the bard. The name Carmarthen is derived from the town's previous Roman name [[Moridunum (Carmarthen)|Moridunum]],<ref name=OED/><ref name=Koch321/> in turn, derived from the Celtic Brittonic ''moridunon'', 'sea fort[ress]'.<ref>Delamarre, Xavier (2021), {{lang|cy|Noms de lieux celtiques de l'Europe ancienne}}, Errance, Paris (in French).</ref> [[Eric P. Hamp]] proposed a similar etymology: ''Morij:n'', 'the maritime' or 'born of the sea'. There is no obvious connection between Merlin and the sea in the texts about him, but Claude Sterckx has suggested that Merlin's father in the Welsh texts, Morfryn, might have been a sea spirit.<ref>Claude Sterckx, ''Dieux d'eau : Apollons celtes et gaulois''. Bruxelles, Société belge d'études celtiques, 1996 ({{ISBN|2-87285-050-3}}), p. 44.</ref> Philippe Walter connected it with the figure of the insular Celtic sea god [[Manannán mac Lir|Manannán]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E5HdDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT226|title=Dictionnaire de mythologie arthurienne|first=Philippe|last=Walter|date=1 January 2015|publisher=Editions Imago|isbn=9782849528501|via=Google Books|access-date=8 June 2023|archive-date=5 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231105054602/https://books.google.com/books?id=E5HdDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT226|url-status=live}}</ref>

Folklorist [[Jean Markale]] proposed that the name of Merlin is of French origin and means 'little blackbird', an allusion to the mocking and provocative personality usually attributed to him in medieval stories.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6oLdDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT42|title=Lancelot et la chevalerie arthurienne|first=Jean|last=Markale|date=1 January 1985|publisher=Editions Imago|isbn=9782849522790|via=Google Books|access-date=2 June 2023|archive-date=2 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602085154/https://books.google.com/books?id=6oLdDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT42|url-status=live}}</ref> The Welsh ''Myrddin'' could be also phonetically connected to the name [[Martin (name)|Martin]]<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n36g6eU7KpEC&pg=PA32 | title=Le devin maudit: Merlin, Lailoken, Suibhne : Textes et étude | isbn=978-2-84310-018-5 | last1=Berthet | first1=Jean-Charles | date=1999 | publisher=ELLUG | access-date=2024-04-04 | archive-date=2024-04-04 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240404160043/https://books.google.com/books?id=n36g6eU7KpEC&pg=PA32 | url-status=live }}</ref> and some of the powers and other attributes of the 4th-century French Saint [[Martin of Tours]] (and his disciple Saint Hilaire) in hagiography and folklore are similar to these of Merlin. If a relationship between the two figures does exist, however, it may rather be a reverse one in which the Merlin tradition inspired the later accounts of the saint's miracles and life.<ref>Jean-Charles Berthet, "Merlin et saint Martin ou les chemins qui ne mènent pas à Rome". ''Mémoire de maîtrise de littérature du Moyen Âge sous la direction de Philippe Walter'', Université Stendhal, Bibliothèque de Lettres, 1992.</ref>{{clear left}}