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Lludd Llaw Eraint


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 Nuada Airgetlám, derived from the pre-Roman Celtic god Nodens) he is the father of Gwyn ap Nudd. He is probably the source of king Lud from Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain.

In the Mabinogion tale of Lludd and Llefelys, which seems heavily influenced by Geoffrey of Monmouth's work, he is the ruler of Britain while his brother Llefelys ruled Gaul. Lludd calls on Llefelys to rid Britain of three plagues then afflicting the kingdom. According to legend, there was once a memorial to Lludd at the site of St Paul's Cathedral, London, near Ludgate, which is named after him.

The name Nudd, cognate with the Irish Nuada and related to the Romano-British Nodens, probably derives from a Celtic stem *noudont- or *noudent-, which J. R. R. Tolkien suggested was related to a Germanic root meaning "acquire, have the use of", earlier "to catch, entrap (as a hunter)". Making the connection with Nuada and Lludd's hand, he detected "an echo of the ancient fame of the magic hand of Nodens the Catcher". Similarly, Julius Pokorny derives the name from a Proto-Indo-European root *neu-d- meaning "acquire, utilise, go fishing".


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