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From: reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.nlang.celts
Subject: Re: King Arthur
Message-ID: <6322@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 14-Jul-85 15:36:50 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.6322
Posted: Sun Jul 14 15:36:50 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 18-Jul-85 06:34:04 EDT
References: <123@rpics.UUCP> <204@persci.UUCP> <484@calmasd.UUCP>
Reply-To: reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (Peter Reiher)
Distribution: net
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department
Lines: 30
Summary: 

In article <484@calmasd.UUCP> cjn@calmasd.UUCP (Cheryl Nemeth) writes:
>I'm sort of fuzzy on this myself, but I think a lot of the things in
>Morte d'Arthur (or whatever) were borrowed from the Welsh and Irish
>legends.  Merlin is definately Welsh.  I believe that Morgan Le Fay
>came from Morrigu.

Morgan Le Fay almost certainly came from the Celtic goddess Morrigan,
a sinister shapechanger who, on Samhain (Halloween, today) mates with
Dagda, the leading male figure of the British Celtic pantheon.  Morrigan
is a very, very old figure, dating back to when the Celts were in Gaul
and Germany.  Dagda is much more recent (relatively speaking).

There are definitely lots of Celtic borrowings in Arthurian legend, but
Arthur himself is probably not a generic Celtic figure.  There are no
Arthurian legends in Ireland, for instance.  There are lots of theories
on the origins of Arthur.  One interesting recent theory is that he was
originally a Roman cavalry captain who operated in the vicinity of
Scotland, keeping the folks north of the wall from ravaging the south.
Another theory is that he is actually a legendary figure from the 
Caucasus area in Eastern Europe, whose legend was brought to England
by Roman troops recruited from that area.  (The evidence here is some
amazing similarities between Arthurian legend and Caucasus legend.)

Arthurian legends exist all over Britain, but there is an unusually
high concentration around Somerset and Glastonbury, in SW England.
Some people think that this region was the home of the historic Arthur.
-- 
        			Peter Reiher
				reiher@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU
        			{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher