Its hunt involvedKing Arthur and his hosts and his houndCafall, and was also deemed to require other recruited men of talent, other hounds, and additional equipment such as leash, according to the tasks (anoetheu) prescribed by the giantYsbaddaden, though events did not always unfold as the giant foretold. The boar was brought out of Ireland, driven to Britain, and finally shoved off a cliff into the sea at Cornwall.
The legend, in simpler form, dates much earlier, since Arthur's use of his hound Cavall (Latin:Cavall(base text, MS. MS.H),Latin:caball(MS.K),Latin:caballusMS.D1),Latin:caballus(MSS.D2 G) to hunt the boar (Latin:Troynt(base text, MSS.H K),Troit (MSS.C1 D G Q); orTerit (MSS.C2 L))[1] is glimpsed in a piece of geographicalonomasticon composed in Latin in theninth century, theHistoria Brittonum.
A passing reference in the elegyGwarchan Cynfelyn[2] (7th century), preserved in theBook of Aneirin, reckoned to be its earliest mention in literature.[3][7] Trwyth/Trwyd is also mentioned in several other pieces of poetry from theMiddle Welsh period.[8]
The name in Welsh can be construed to mean "the boar Trwyth", and past scholars argued it may be analogous to the boarTriath ofIrish mythology (see#Etymology and Irish cognate below).
The earliest reference to Trwyth in the Arthurian context[9] occurs in the tractDe Mirabilibus Britanniae (orMirabilia in shorthand), variously titled in English as "Wonders of Britain". TheMirabilia though probably a separate work,[10] believed to be near-contemporaneous to pseudo-Nennius's early ninth-centuryHistoria Brittonum.[11]
It claims that Arthur was chasing the great boar Troynt [recteTroit[12]] assisted by his dog Cabal, and the dog left its pawprint in rock, somewhere in the region of "Buelt"[≈Buellt, thecantref of medieval Wales[13]], while pursuing the boar.[14] The boar Troynt /Troit is identifiable with Trwyth Trwyth of the Welsh romance ofCulhwch,[15][16] while the dog is also recognizable as the dog Cavall of Welsh literature.[4]
Lady Charlotte Guest has conjectured that the route in pursuit of Twrch Trwyth (according to the Welsh romance source) must have passed through this cairn: "..across Carn Cavall and the Brecon Mountains [Brecon Beacons?] to Abergwy [the mouth of the Wye], where theWye falls into theSevern belowChepstow".[17]
Twrch is named as the son of Prince Taredd (Taredd Wledig[18]),[19] transformed by God for his sins into the form of a swine (hwch);[20][21] he has venom-dripping bristles,[22] and carries a comb, a pair of scissors, and a razor on his head between his ears.[23]
Culhwch is assigned the task (anoeth; pl.anoetheu[24]) byYsbaddaden, the giant whose daughterOlwen Culhwch seeks, of obtaining the comb and scissors from Twrch's head.[25] Later in the story it transpires there is also a razor secreted there.[26][27][28] These implements are then to be used to cut and treat Ysbaddaden's hair (most of the tasks on the giant's long list are ultimately to do with thisceremony of hair-cutting). Further, Ysbaddaden states that the only hound who can hunt Twrch is Drudwyn, the whelp of Greid, and then goes on to list the requirements of the leash, collar, and chain needed to hold the dog, andMabon ap Modron who must be recruited as the sole person capable of handling this dog Drudwyn for the hunt.[29] Additional dogs (the two whelps of the bitch Rhymhi, which will need leashes;[30][a] also Aned and Aethlem[31]) will be needed to hunt the boar, as well as additional manpower and accoutrements.[32] Although the sword (cledyf) of Wrnach the giant is prescribed as the sole weapon capable of killing the boar,[33][34][b] it is used by Arthur's men to commit murder of the giant, but does not get used upon the boar[c][35] Ultimately Ysbaddaden calls on Culhwch to seek outArthur, Culhwch's cousin, to help him hunt Twrch.
The hunt for Twrch takes up the greater portion of the latter half ofCulhwch and Olwen, and it is described in great detail, including the geographical route of the pursuit, and those who take active part in it. Although it is Culhwch who is given the task, it is Arthur and his men who take the most prominent role in the chase, Culhwch having successfully enlisted his aid.
Twrch Trwyth and its seven offspring were found by Arthur's host travelling to Ireland, but thence driven toWales, and finally toCornwall:[36]Menw son of Teirgwaedd is sent as a flying scout over Ireland to verify that the comb and scissors are between Twrch's ears. He takes the form of a bird and flies to Twrch's lair, encountering the boar with seven piglets. Menw then tries to swoop down and snatch one of the implements from Twrch's scalp, but only manages to take one silver bristle; Twrch is agitated and shakes himself, scattering venom onto Menw, wounding him.[37]
The boar encroached into "Tawy and Ewyas" (some place in southeastern Wales[38]) already having caused numerous casualties, so that Arthur mustered the troops at themouth of the Severn (Welsh:Aber Hafren), and ordered the Cornish and Devon men to halt the boar there.[d] The men ultimately failed this, though they did manage to wrest the razor, scissors, and later the comb from the boar while it waded in theSevern's water. However, when it touched its feet on the riverbed, the beast bolted away and could not be stopped till it reached Cornwall, where the boar was finally driven offshore, and it is not known where it went, still being chased by the dogs Aned and Aethlem:[39] thus the tale leaves the possibility of the boar's survival and eventual return.[40]
Yet another boar,Ysgithyrwyn or "White-Tusk, Chief of Boars", had to be captured for its tusk to complete the grooming of Ysbadadden.
As previously noted, the Welsh wordtwrch means "wild boar, hog, mole", so Twrch Trwyth means "the boar Trwyth". Its Irish cognate may be Triath, King of the Swine (Old Irish:Triath ri torcraide)[41] or theTorc Triath mentioned inLebor Gabála Érenn,[42] also recorded asOld IrishOrc tréith "Triath's boar" inSanas Cormaic;John Rhys was conducive to the idea that these Old Irish words or names had been borrowed by Welsh literature and recorded as Trwyth or Trwyd.[43]
However,Rachel Bromwich took a position contrary to Rhys, and was skeptical that there should be any reason to conclude there had to be any mutual borrowing between the Irish and the Welsh regarding the boar names.[44]
Bromwich regards the formTrwyth as a later scribal corruption and assertstrwyd to be the "original form"; also, the misreading of -d with -t in WelshTrwyd, together with vowel shifts by copyist led to theLatinised formsTroynt orTroit.[45] Further evidence thatTrwyd was the original correct form is found in the aforementioned reference in theGwarchan Cynfelyn and later poetry.[e][46]
It has been suggested that Trwyth the boar has been remolded as a human character or reconfigured into another boar in French romances.
TheKnight of the Round Table named "Tor son of Ares" who appears inChrétien de Troyes's romanceErec et Enide may have been reinvented out of "Twrch son of Tared" inCulhwch ac Olwen, an idea advanced byIdris Llewelyn Foster[47] Some scholars venture that the authentic patronym in the original lore gave the father's name as closer to "Ares".[48]
Another suggestion is that Trwyth was recast as a different in the story ofCaradoc (another Knight of the Round) in the so-called Livre de Caradoc of theFirstPeceval Continuation. Here, Cardoc is angered to discover he was in fact illegitimate, a product ofcuckoldry, and punishes the wizard who was hisbiological father by forcing him to mate with a mare, a greyhound, and a sow, each producing an offspring that became Cardoc's brothers.[49] Cardoc's sibling boar, namedTortain, was perhaps a rehash of the Welsh boar Trwyth, according toGaston Paris.[50]
^Sheehan (2005), p. 7 spells as "Rhymi" but citesBromwich & Evans (1992), p. xlviii to note that these whelps are "ananoeth [whose accomplishment] is missing from the text" and that the whelps (their leash) are "to hunt Twrch Trwyth".
^Bromwich's early examples isGwarchan Cynfelyn : "Gweilgingtorch trychdrwyt / trychinfwrch trychethin" (italics hers) shows a "-t" ending. The next example isCynddelw: "Keffitor ymdwr amdrwyd hevelyt/ Twrch teryt y ar uwyd". The third isGruffudd ap Maredudd: "milwr torch trin malaerdwrch trwyt". Fourth isIolo Goch,Syr Hywel y Fwyal: "A gŵr gwynllwyd, Twrch Trwyd trin,/ Nawswyllt yn rhoi farneiswin".
^Lady Guest (1849) had noticed this occurrence.[4][5] Later, Rhys (1885) creditsDaniel Silvan Evans for noticing it, and naming Evans as translator of the poem in Skene ed.,Four Ancient Books, Vol. 1.[6]
^Bromwich & Evans (1992), pp. lxv, 131. See p. lxv or explanatory notes below for quotations of these verses.
^Tasks #22 Drudwyn, #23 leash of Cors Cant Ewin, #24 collar of Canhastyr Can Llaw to hold leash, #25 chain of Cilydd Canhastyr to hold collar, #26 Mabon son of Modron to handle Drudwyn, among the 39anoetheu listed byEdel (1983), pp. 263–264 andDehghani (2006–2007), pp. 293–204 and 40 listed byBromwich & Evans (1992), pp. xlvii–xlviii.
^#29 Garselyd Wyddel to hunt, #31 Cynedyr Wyllt to handle the bitch's two pups (#30 which require a leash made from Dillus Farfog's beard), #32 Gwyn son of Nudd to hunt (and #33 and horse Du for him to ride), #34 Gwilenhin, king of Frnce, to hunt, #35 Alun Dyfed's son to act as unleasher, #37 Arthur and his huntsman to hunt, #38 Bwlch, Cyfwlch, Syfwlch, and associates to hunt.Edel (1983), pp. 263–264 andDehghani (2006–2007), pp. 293–204
^Guest tr. (1877), p. 239, "Cledyf wrnach gawr. ny/ledir vyth namyn ac ef"; p. 291: "The sword of Gwrnach the Giant; he will never be slain except therewith".
^Wilhelm, James J.; Gross, Laila Zamuelis, eds. (1984). "The Tale of Culhwch and Olwen".The Romance of Arthur. Vol. 1. Translated by Loomis, Richard M. New York: Garland. p. 97.ISBN9780824090982.
R (1830),"The Wonders of the Island of Britain",Cambrian Quarterly Magazine and Celtic Repertory,2: 60– (unable to identity author by his monogaram "R")
(Critical studies)
Dehghani, Fiona (2006–2007). "The Anoetheu Dialogue in Culhwch ac Olwen".Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium. 26/27:291–305.JSTOR40732062.
Fletcher, Robert Huntington, ed. (1906).The Arthurian material in the chronicles. Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature 10. Modern Language Departments of Harvard University/Ginn & Co. pp. 32–4. Archived fromthe original on 2008-03-11.
