View source for Lludd Llaw Eraint

{{Short description|Legendary hero from Welsh mythology}}
{{Infobox deity
| type         = Welsh
| name         = Lludd Llaw Eraint
| deity_of     = <!-- or god_of / Alusi_of -->
| other_names  = Nudd Llaw Ereint
| cult_center  = Wales
| abode        = Possibly [[London]]<ref name="IoMGLlud">{{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=179 |language=English}}</ref>
| weapon       = <!-- or | weapons = -->
| battles      = 
| artifacts    = <!-- or | artefacts = -->
| animals      = 
| symbol       = <!-- or | symbols = -->
| consort      = <!-- or | consorts = -->
| parents      = [[Beli Mawr]]<ref name="IoMGLlud" /> (father) and presumably [[Dôn]] (mother)
| siblings     = [[Caswallon]], [[Nennius of Britain|Nynniaw]], and [[Llefelys]]
| offspring    = [[Mandubracius]] (son), [[Creiddylad]] (daughter),<ref name="IoMGLlud" /> and [[Gwyn ap Nudd]]
| gender       = Male
| equivalent1_type = Irish
| equivalent1  = [[Nuada]]
| festivals    = Possible connections to [[Calan Mai]]<ref name="IoMGLlud" />
}}
'''Lludd Llaw Ereint''' ("Lludd of the Silver Hand") son of [[Beli Mawr]], is a legendary hero from [[Welsh mythology]]. As '''Nudd Llaw Ereint''' (the earlier form of his name, [[cognate]] of  the [[Irish mythology|Irish]] [[Nuada Airgetlám]], derived from the pre-Roman Celtic god [[Nodens]]) he is the father of [[Gwyn ap Nudd]].<ref name=mackillop/> He is probably the source of king [[Lud son of Heli|Lud]] from [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]'s ''[[History of the Kings of Britain]]''.{{sfnp|Rhys|1888|p=129}}

In the ''[[Mabinogion]]'' tale of ''[[Lludd and Llefelys]]'', which influenced Geoffrey of Monmouth's work, he is the ruler of [[Prehistoric Britain|Britain]] while his brother [[Llefelys]] ruled [[Gaul]]. Lludd calls on Llefelys to rid Britain of three plagues then afflicting the kingdom. Philological connection suggests that there was once a memorial to Lludd at the site of [[St Paul's Cathedral]], [[London]], near [[Ludgate]], which is named after him.{{sfnp|Rhys|1888|p=129}}

==The plagues of Lludd’s reign==
*The first plague was that of the [[Coranian]]s a race of dwarfs 'from Asia' who may represent the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]]. 
*The second was that of the [[White Dragon|white]] and [[Y Ddraig Goch|red dragons]]. One of the dragons represented the [[Brython]]s, while the other represented the [[Anglo-Saxon]] invaders of Britain. On the eve of [[Beltaine|May Day]], the two dragons would begin to fight. The [[White Dragon]] would strive to overcome the [[Y Ddraig Goch|Red Dragon]], making the Red cry out a fearful shriek which was heard over every Brythonic hearth. This shriek went through people's hearts, scaring them so much that the men lost their hue and their strength, women lost their children, young men and the maidens lost their senses, and all the animals and trees and the earth and the waters, were left barren. The plague was finally eradicated by catching the dragons and burying both of them in a rock pit at [[Dinas Emrys]] in [[Snowdonia]], north [[Wales]], the securest place in Britain at that time. The dragons were caught by digging out a pit under the exact point where the dragons would fall down exhausted after fighting. This place was at [[Oxford]], which [[Lludd]] found to be the exact centre of the island when he measured the island of [[Prydain|Britain]]. The pit had a satin covering over it and a cauldron of mead in it at the bottom. First, the dragons fought by the pit in the form of terrific animals. Then they began to fight in the air over the pit in the form of dragons. Then exhausted with the fighting, they fell down on the pit in the form of pigs and sank into the pit drawing the satin covering under them into the cauldron at the bottom of the pit whereupon they drank the mead and fell asleep. The dragons were then wrapped up in the satin covering and placed in the pit to be buried at Dinas Emrys. 
*The third plague was the plunder committed by a giant who wore strong, heavy armour and carried a hamper. His nocturnal entrance was heralded by soporific illusions and musical sounds which lulled the members of Lludd's Court to sleep. Once the court was asleep, he would put all the food and provisions of meat and drink of Lludd's Court into his commodious hamper and take it away with him. This recurring theft constituted the third plague of Lludd's reign. Lludd was only able to stop the recurring theft by confronting the intruder. He was able to avoid falling asleep to the soporific illusions and musical sounds by frequently dipping his head in a vessel of cold water by his side. Upon confronting the magician, a fierce encounter ensued in which glittering fire flew out from their arms until Lludd overcame the magician. Thereupon, Lludd granted him mercy and made him his loyal vassal.

==Etymology==
The name Nudd, [[cognate]] with the Irish [[Nuada]] and related to the [[Romano-British]] [[Nodens]] or Nodons worshiped at [[Lydney Park]] in [[Gloucestershire]],<ref name=mackillop/> probably derives from a [[Proto-Celtic|Celtic]] [[word stem|stem]] *''noudont-''  or ''*noudent-'', which [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] suggested was related to a [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] root meaning "acquire, have the use of", earlier "to catch, entrap (as a hunter)", and together with the "silver hand" [[epithet]] detects "an echo of the ancient fame of the magic hand of Nodens the Catcher".<ref name=tolkien>{{citation|last=Tolkien |first=J. R. R. |author-link=J. R. R. Tolkien |title=Appendix I: The Name Nodens |editor-last1=Wheeler |editor-first1=R. E. M. |editor-link1=R. E. M. Wheeler |editor-last2=Wheeler |editor-first2=T. V. |editor-link2=<!--T. V. Wheeler--> |work=Report on the excavation of the prehistoric, Roman and post-Roman site in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire |series=Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London |place=London |publisher=Society of Antiquaries |year=1932 |page=132–137}}, reprinted ''Tolkien Studies'' '''4''' (2007) pp. 177–183.</ref> Similarly, [[Julius Pokorny]] derives the name from a [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] root ''*neu-d-'' meaning "acquire, utilise, go fishing".<ref>[[Julius Pokorny|Pokorny, Julius]], ''[[Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch]]'',  p. 768</ref>

The name Nudd Llaw Ereint probably assimilated and shifted to Llud Llaw Ereint through [[alliteration]], as suggested by [[John Rhys]] and later by [[Joseph Vendryes]].{{sfnp|Rhys|1888|p=125}}<ref>{{citation |last=Vendryes |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Vendryes |title=La religion des Celtes |place=Paris |publisher=Presses Universitaires de France |year=1948 |page=255}} {{linktext|apud}} {{citation|last=Olmsted |first=Garrett S. |author-link=<!--Garrett S. Olmsted-->|title=The Gods of the Celts and the Indo-Europeans |publisher=Verlag des Instituts für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck |year=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZRhmAAAAMAAJ&q=llawereint |page=401|isbn=9783851241730 }}</ref>

The byname "Llaw Ereint" or "llawereint" is glossed as "of the Silver Hand" or "Silver-handed".{{sfnp|Rhys|1888|p=125}} Welsh ''eraint'' is listed as meaning "a round body; a ball; a bowl, a cup; a pear", probably related to the adjective ''erain'' "abounding with impulse", but ''ereint'' has been defined as "silver cup", no doubt owing to Welsh ''arian'' "silver".<ref>{{citation|last=Pughe |first=William Owen |author-link=William Owen Pughe |title=A Dictionary of the Welsh language |volume=2 |place=Denbigh |publisher=Thomas Gee |year=1873 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U2gCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA32 |pages=31–32}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Pott |first=A. F. |author-link=August Friedrich Pott |title=Zur kulturgeschichte (Schluss) |journal=Beiträge zur vergleichenden Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der arischen, celtischen und slawischen Sprachen |volume=2 |year=1861|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lHoEAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA420 |page=420}}</ref>

==See also ==
* [[Nuada|Nuada Airgetlam]]
* [[Nodens]]
* [[Stone Lud]]

==References==
;Citations
{{reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name=mackillop>{{citation|last=MacKillop |first=James |author-link=James MacKillop |title=Nudd, Ludd |work=Dictionary of Celtic Mythology |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198609674.001.0001/acref-9780198609674-e-3308 |page=349 |isbn=0-19-280120-1}}</ref>
}}
;Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
*{{citation |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=179 |language=English}}

* {{citation|last=Ellis |first=Peter Berresford |author-link=Peter Berresford Ellis |title=Dictionary of Celtic Mythology |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1994 |isbn=0-19-508961-8}}

* {{citation|last=Rhys|first=John |author-link=John Rhys |title=The Hibbert Lectures 1886: Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by Celtic Heathendom |publisher=Williams and Norgate |year=1888 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWRIAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA125 }}

* {{citation|last=Wood |first=Juliette |author-link=<!--Juliette Wood--> |title=The Celts: Life, Myth, and Art |publisher=Thorsons Publishers |year=2002 |isbn=0-00-764059-5}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20010305231612/http://www.paralumun.com/celticgod.htm Celtic Gods]}}
*[http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/pcl-moe.pdf Proto-Celtic—English]
*[http://www.joellessacredgrove.com/Celtic/deitiesl-m.html#llud Celtic Gods and Goddesses (L–M) — Llud]

{{Celtic mythology (Welsh)}}
[[Category:Sea and river gods]]
[[Category:Welsh gods]]
[[Category:Heroes in mythology and legend]]