Mabon ap Modron

<h2 id="etymology-and-origin">Etymology and origin</h2>
His name is related to the <a href="/facts/Romano-British_culture/UaymRQWR">Romano-British</a> god <a href="/facts/Maponos/569KmBbA">Maponos</a> (a Celtic equivalent of <a href="/facts/Apollo/eBJV1wsJ">Apollo</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2">2</a>), whose name means "Great Son". His mother, <a href="/facts/Modron/jgNwyacX">Modron</a>, in turn, is likely related to the <a href="/facts/Gauls/r8nFrHmV">Gaulish</a> goddess <a href="/facts/Dea_Matrona/m8KIyNhN">Dea Matrona</a>. The name Mabon is derived from the <a href="/facts/Common_Brittonic/YnFau4up">Common Brittonic</a> and <a href="/facts/Gaulish_language/CAQo48pc">Gaulish</a> deity name Maponos "Great Son", from the <a href="/facts/Proto-Celtic_language/RLla8fIB">Proto-Celtic</a> root *makwo- "son".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a> Similarly, Modron is derived from the name of the Brittonic and Gaulish deity Mātronā, meaning "Great Mother", from Proto-Celtic *mātīr "mother".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a> According <a href="/facts/Roger_Sherman_Loomis/WEprLh55">Roger Sherman Loomis</a>, Mabon, the "Great Youth", also appears under the names Gwair and <a href="/facts/Pryderi/5YINVqsG">Pryderi</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a> His counterpart in the <a href="/facts/Irish_mythology/uXqwtMP9">Irish mythology</a> is the god of youth and love, <a href="/facts/Aengus/2shRbMmy">Aengus</a> <a href="/facts/Aengus/2shRbMmy">(Õengus) Mac ing Õg</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a>

<h2 id="welsh-tradition">Welsh tradition</h2>
<h3>Culhwch ac Olwen</h3>
Further information: <a href="/facts/Culhwch_ac_Olwen/xjNarqtP">Culhwch ac Olwen</a>
After <a href="/facts/Culhwch/hD0aDkWm">Culhwch</a> and his companions manage to defeat the antagonist, the giant <a href="/facts/Ysbaddaden/IXT97m7y">Ysbaddaden</a>, the latter relents and agrees to give Culhwch his daughter <a href="/facts/Olwen/y21EoqJ2">Olwen</a> on the condition that he completes a number of impossible tasks (anoethau), including hunting the giant boar <a href="/facts/Twrch_Trwyth/Sw1VKX3t">Twrch Trwyth</a> and recovering the exalted prisoner, Mabon son of Modron, the only man able to hunt the dog Drudwyn, in turn the only dog who can track Twrch Trwyth. <a href="/facts/King_Arthur/JDyRQ8gx">King Arthur</a> and his men learn that Mabon was stolen from his mother's arms when he was three nights old, and question the world's oldest and wisest animals about his whereabouts, until they are led to the <a href="/facts/Salmon/7kUsoqVN">salmon</a> of Llyn Llyw, the oldest animal of them all. The enormous salmon carries Arthur's men <a href="/facts/Sir_Kay/K5s4I3oW">Cei</a> and <a href="/facts/Bedivere/9TKuPV4t">Bedwyr</a> downstream to Mabon's prison in <a href="/facts/Gloucester/mck7T4Ev">Gloucester</a>; they hear him through the walls, singing a lamentation for his fate. The rest of Arthur's men launch an assault on the front of the prison, while Cei and Bedwyr sneak in the back and rescue Mabon. He subsequently plays a key role in the hunt for Twrch Trwyth.

<h3>Other appearances</h3>
One of the earliest direct reference to Mabon can be found in the tenth century poem <a href="/facts/Pa_gur/4SMAxyjl">Pa Gur</a>, in which Arthur recounts the feats and achievements of his knights so as to gain entrance to a fortress guarded by <a href="/facts/Glewlwyd_Gafaelfawr/MYr4N1MI">Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr</a>, the eponymous porter. The poem relates that Mabon fab Mydron (Modron) is one of Arthur's followers, and is described as a "servant to <a href="/facts/Uther_Pendragon/F1hl8YPQ">Uther Pendragon</a>". A second figure, Mabon fab Mellt, is described as having "stained the grass with blood". He further appears in the medieval tale <a href="/facts/The_Dream_of_Rhonabwy/0btUfj3x">The Dream of Rhonabwy</a>, in which he fights alongside Arthur at the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Badon/AlhsmLXR">Battle of Badon</a> and is described as one of the king's chief advisors.

<h2 id="derived-characters">Derived characters</h2>
Mabon the son of Modron is almost certainly related to several continental (French and German) Arthurian romance figures: often magical, sometimes villainous, sometimes a giant, sometimes known as the <a href="/facts/Black_Knight_(Arthurian_legend)/pB0fbfsw">Black Knight</a>. Such characters may include those known as Mabon/Maboun (an enchanter in <a href="/facts/Le_Bel_Inconnu/KrS22nMK">Le Bel Inconnu</a>; as Maboun[nys] in the English <a href="/facts/Libeaus_Desconus/cg3IejaX">Libeaus Desconus</a>), Mabon/Nabon le Noir[e] (different characters of a a giant in the <a href="/facts/Prose_Tristan/IjvHDe62">Prose Tristan</a> and an enchanter in the <a href="/facts/Post-Vulgate_Cycle/23aN7EYx">Post-Vulgate Merlin Continuation</a>; the name in turn also inspired that of the knight Nabon le Noyre/Noire in the English <a href="/facts/Le_Morte_d%2527Arthur/VawGAIJ1">Le Morte d'Arthur</a>), Mabonagrain/Mabonagrein (a giant in <a href="/facts/Erec_and_Enide/MXl6D16r">Erec and Enide</a>), Mabuz (a fairy prince in <a href="/facts/Lanzelot/Q5ejBVB6">Lanzelot</a>), Madoc/Maduc le Noir/li Noirs (a knight in the <a href="/facts/Lancelot-Grail/WoH5C1rS">Livre d'Artus</a> and <a href="/facts/La_Vengeance_Raguidel/xGLhsws1">La Vengeance Raguidel</a>).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a>

<h2 id="bibliography">Bibliography</h2>
<ul><li>d'Este, Sorita; Rankine, David (2007). 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. Avalonia.</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Davies, Sioned. The Mabinogion. 2005. Oxford University Press. <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Loomis, Roger Sherman (2005-08-30). Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-61373-209-0. <a href="978-1-61373-209-0" target="_blank">978-1-61373-209-0</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Matasović, Ranko (2009). Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic. Brill. p. 253. ISBN 978-90-04-17336-1. <a href="978-90-04-17336-1" target="_blank">978-90-04-17336-1</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">Matasović, Ranko (2009). Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic. Brill. p. 260. ISBN 978-90-04-17336-1. <a href="978-90-04-17336-1" target="_blank">978-90-04-17336-1</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">Loomis, Roger Sherman (2005-08-30). Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-61373-209-0. <a href="978-1-61373-209-0" target="_blank">978-1-61373-209-0</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Mallory, J. P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-884964-98-5. <a href="978-1-884964-98-5" target="_blank">978-1-884964-98-5</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">Bromwich, Rachel (2014-11-15). Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-1-78316-146-1. <a href="978-1-78316-146-1" target="_blank">978-1-78316-146-1</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">Darrah, John (1997). Paganism in Arthurian Romance. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 978-0-85991-426-0. <a href="978-0-85991-426-0" target="_blank">978-0-85991-426-0</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">Romania (in French). Librairie Franck. 1896. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=QTCe0sUW9ukC&pg=PA285" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=QTCe0sUW9ukC&pg=PA285</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature. Published under the direction of the Modern Language Depts. of Harvard University by Ginn & Company. 1895. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=d88_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA126" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=d88_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA126</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">Thompson, Albert Wilder (1982). The Elucidation: A Prologue to the Conte Del Graal. Slatkine. ISBN 978-2-05-100413-8. <a href="978-2-05-100413-8" target="_blank">978-2-05-100413-8</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">Bruce, Christopher W. (1999). The Arthurian Name Dictionary. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-8153-2865-0. <a href="978-0-8153-2865-0" target="_blank">978-0-8153-2865-0</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Mabon ap Modron open-in-new

Mabon ap Modron