#name fun

From time to time, I've investigated into the etymologies of the various names of the Arthurian legends, because a good chunk of Arthurian Material is poetry. So for a bit of fun, I try to tease out the meanings of the characters' names

Then I remembered that, in a number modern stories, writers use "Pendragon" as a dynastic/family name for Arthur and his relatives, even though Pendragon is actually an epithet that only two characters in the entirety of the Matter of Britain are known to bear that title - neither of which is Arthur - and it's mostly a kenning for "War Leader".

So let's humor ourselves and see what happens when you turn Pendragon into a last name and see what that technically means for certain characters.

The following comes from my personal interpretations from learning through online dictionaries. So forewarning, these are my speculations.

First, the "official" Pendragons from medieval sources:

Uther Pendragon: "The Dreaded War Leader", "The Horrifying War Leader" (From the Brythonic Uthr "Awesome, Terrible")

Gwen Pendragon: "The Beautiful War Leader" "The Holy War Leader" (From the Brythonic feminine Gwenn "White, Blessed")

Next are the presumptive Pendragons:

Arthur Pendragon: "The Bear(like) War Leader" (From the Pan-European Arkhtos, "Bear")

Morgan(a) Pendragon: "The Sea-born War Leader" (From the Bretonnic Morigenos, "from/of the Sea")

Mordred Pendragon: "The Moderating War Leader" "The Restrained War Leader" (From the Latin Moderatus, "Managed, Controlled")

Amhar Pendragon: "The Disgraceful War Leader" "The Harmful War Leader" (From either the Brythonic Amarch "Disrespect" or Amharu, "to impair, to disrupt")

Gwydre Pendragon: "The Glass-like War Leader" "The Glazing War Leader" (From the Brythonic Gwydr "Glass")

Llacheu Pendragon: "The Striking War Leader" "The Brilliant War Leader" (From either the Brythonic Llach "Lash" or Llachar "Bright, Shining")

Duran Pendragon: "The Enduring War Leader" (From the Latin Durans "Hard, Lasting")

Archfedd Pendragon: "The Compelling War Leader" "The Commanding War Leader" (From the Brythonic words Erchi "Request, Ask" + Gwedd "Appearance")

WindClan

-foot (5)

-whisker (4)

This probably wasn’t a surprise. WindClan has a lot of quick cats and a lot of good hunters, otherwise they’d never survive on rabbits.

RiverClan

-flower (5)

-tail/stream (3)

RiverClan has a lot of cats who are good with kits/apprentices, and a lot of good hunters. Remember, -tail is agile, and that would help with fishing too.

ThunderClan

-tail (6)

-heart/pelt/fur (2)

With all the thick undergrowth in ThunderClan territory, they need to be agile to catch prey, so the -tail is expected. -heart ties for second, which is fairly unusual in this Clan, but it might just be because they’re so small after leaf-bare. (Apprentices aren’t included of course)

ShadowClan

-heart (5)

-storm (4)

Knavish

Nebbish

Overlax

Cocky

Kinky (because he can say inappropriate things sometimes lol)

Oblique

Unique

Technical

TAGGED BY: @manipulativeseeker