Etymology
According to John Koch and several other historians, the Latin name "Venedotia" whence the Welsh name "Gwynedd" comes is derived from the Irish word "Feni", referring at one time to a specific group on the island and later broadening to become a general reference to the Irish people as a whole, the free, nonslave people in particular. The Irish, especially the Laighin, are known to have colonized and/or conquered much of northern Wales in the mid-4th to early 5th centuries.
Alternatively, the name Gwynedd may derive from Brythonic Ueneda, which may be akin to Goidelic (ancestor of Irish) Fenia (which gives fiana, "war-band" in Old Irish - e.g. Finn and his warriors). Thus the possible meaning may be "Land of the Hosts" or "Land of the Warrior Bands".
Whatever the exact etymology of the name, a gravestone from the late 5th century now in Penmachno church seems to be the earliest record of the name. It is in memory of a man named Cantiorix and the Latin inscription is: "Cantiorix hic iacit/Venedotis cives fuit/consobrinos Magli magistrati", ("Cantiorix lies here. He was a citizen of Gwynedd and a cousin of Maglos the magistrate"). The references to "citizen" and "magistrate" suggest that Roman institutions may have survived in Gwynedd for a while after the legions departed.
Read more about this topic: Kingdom Of Gwynedd
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