Editing Amaethon

{{Short description|Welsh mythological being}}{{Infobox deity
| type = welsh
| name = Amaethon fab Dôn
| deity_of = Agriculture
| other_names = Amaethon, Amathaon
| battles = [[Cad Goddeu]]
| animals = Dogs, lapwings, a roe deers
| cult_center = Wales
| parents = [[Dôn]] and [[Beli Mawr]]
| siblings = [[Gwydion]], [[Arianrhod]], [[Gilfaethwy]] and others
| gender = Male
}}

In [[Welsh mythology]], '''Amaethon''' ({{Langx|cy|Amaethon fab Dôn}} ({{IPA|cy|aˈmɛɨ̞θɔn ˈvaːb ˈdoːn}}), meaning "Amaethon son of Dôn") was the god of agriculture, and the son of the goddess [[Dôn]]<ref name="Cotterell">Cotterell, Arthur: The Encyclopedia of Mythology, page 97. Hermes House, 2007. {{ISBN|1-84038-894-3}}</ref> and [[Beli Mawr]],<ref name="IoMGAmaethon">{{cite book |last=d'Este |first=Sorita |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Isles_of_the_Many_Gods/4GhrBAAACAAJ?hl=cy |title=The Isles of the Many Gods: An A-Z of the Pagan Gods & Goddesses of Ancient Britain worshipped during the First Millennium through to the Middle Ages |last2=Rankine |first2=David |date=2007 |publisher=Avalonia |page=57 |language=English}}</ref> and brother to [[Arianrhod]], [[Penarddun]], [[Gilfaethwy]], [[Gofannon]], [[Gwydion]], and [[Lludd Llaw Eraint|Nudd]].<ref name="IoMGAmaethon" /> His name means "labourer" or "ploughman",<ref name="Cotterell" /><ref name="CelticWorld"><!--url=http://www.applewarrior.com/celticworld/celticdeities/atoc bloody hell .html |accessdate=2011-09-23 --> Celtic Deities, A to C at ''Celtic World'' </ref><ref name="IoMGAmaethon" /> and he is cited as being responsible for the [[Cad Goddeu]], or "Battle of Trees", between the lord of the otherworld, [[Arawn]], and the Children of Dôn (the Welsh version of the [[Tuatha Dé Danann]]).<ref name="Cotterell" /><ref name="CelticWorld" />

==Sources==
The principal reference to Amaethon appears in the medieval Welsh prose tale ''[[Culhwch and Olwen]]'',<ref name="IoMGAmaethon" /> where he was the only man who could till a certain field, one of the impossible tasks Culhwch had been set before he could win Olwen's hand.

In the obscure early Welsh poem ''Cad Goddeu'', a possible reference is made to Amaethon/Amathaon, but the passage is obscure. One possible interpretation, if the reading is accepted, is that he steals a [[dog]], [[lapwing]] and [[Roe Deer|roebuck]] from [[Arawn]], king of [[Annwn]] (the otherworld), leading to a battle between Arawn and the Children of Dôn. Gwydion used his magic staff to turn trees into warriors who helped the children of Dôn win.<ref>Cad Goddau: The Battle of the Trees. [http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/cadgoddeu.html translation by Lady Charlotte Guest] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608213842/http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/cadgoddeu.html |date=2011-06-08 }}, [http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/cadgoddeu-w.html Welsh original] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229123609/http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/cadgoddeu-w.html |date=2017-12-29 }}. Jones' Celtic Encyclopaedia.</ref>

In one of the triads invented by [[Iolo Morganwg]], he teaches magic to his brother [[Gwydion]] (this is not accepted as a genuine [[Welsh Triads|medieval triad]] by modern scholars).

==Etymology==
This [[wikt:theonym|theonym]] is derived from [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] *''Ambaxtonos'' meaning great follower, servant or ploughman, an augmentative form of ''[[:fr:ambactos|ambactos]]'' (ultimately from ''*ambhi-ag-to-''<ref>[http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/PCl-MoE.pdf Proto-Celtic&mdash;English], [http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/MoE-PCl.pdf English&mdash;Proto-Celtic] lexicon from the University of Wales. Cf. also the Indo-European and [http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/query.cgi?root=leiden&basename=%5Cdata%5Cie%5Cceltic Celtic data] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211181501/http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/query.cgi?root=leiden&basename=%5Cdata%5Cie%5Cceltic |date=February 11, 2006 }} collected at the University of Leiden.</ref>).

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
*Ellis, Peter Berresford, ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology''(Oxford Paperback Reference), Oxford University Press, (1994): {{ISBN|0-19-508961-8}}
*MacKillop, James. ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. {{ISBN|0-19-280120-1}}.
*Wood, Juliette, ''The Celts: Life, Myth, and Art'', Thorsons Publishers (2002): {{ISBN|0-00-764059-5}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20121205053209/http://www.mythome.org/celtic.html Celtic Gods and their Associates]}}
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20010305231612/http://www.paralumun.com/celticgod.htm Celtic Gods]}}
*[http://www.daire.org/names/deities.html Some Major Celtic Gods and Goddesses]
*[http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/pcl-moe.pdf Proto-Celtic &mdash; English lexicon]

{{Celtic mythology (Welsh)}}

[[Category:Agricultural gods]]
[[Category:Welsh gods]]
[[Category:Welsh mythology]]
[[Category:Mabinogion]]