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'''Afallach''' ([[Old Welsh]] '''Aballac''') is a man's name found in several medieval Welsh genealogies, where he is made the son of [[Beli Mawr]]. According to a medieval Welsh [[Trioedd Ynys Prydein|triad]], '''Afallach''' was the father of the goddess [[Modron]].<ref>Koch, J. T. (ed.), Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, 2006, p. 146.</ref>  The Welsh redactions of [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]'s ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'', [[Brut y Brenhinedd]], associate him with '''Ynys Afallach''', which is substituted as the Welsh name for Geoffrey's '''''Insula Avalonsis''''' (Island of [[Avalon]]), but this is fanciful medieval etymology and it is more likely his name derives from the [[Welsh (language)|Welsh]] word ''afall'' "apple tree" (modern Welsh ''afal'' "apple", afallen "apple tree"<ref>[[Bernhard Maier (religious studies professor)|Bernhard Maier]], ''Dictionary of Celtic Religion and Culture'' (trans. Cyril Edwards, The Boydell Press, 1997).</ref> cf. [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] *''aballo-'' "apple"<ref name="CAWCS">[http://www.wales.ac.uk/en/CentreforAdvancedWelshCelticStudies/ResearchProjects/CompletedProjects/TheCelticLanguagesandCulturalIdentity/CelticLexicon.aspx]. [[University of Wales]] Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. (See also [http://www.wales.ac.uk/newpages/EXTERNAL/E4504.asp this page] for background and disclaimers.) Cf. also the [http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/query.cgi?root=leiden&basename=%5Cdata%5Cie%5Cceltic University of Leiden database] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211181501/http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/query.cgi?root=leiden&basename=%5Cdata%5Cie%5Cceltic |date=2006-02-11 }}.</ref>); from which, granted, the name of Avalon is also often thought to derive, so that the meaning of "Afallach" is associated but not necessarily directly. In the tale of Urien and Modron he is referred to by his daughter as the King of Annwn, therefore he may originally been cognate with Arawn or Gwyn or perhaps all three were once regional variants of the same Deity.
==References==
{{Reflist}}Pen. 147. trans. Rachel Bromwich. ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein''. Cardiff: UWP, 1963. p.459.{{Celtic mythology (Welsh)}}
[[Category:Welsh mythology]]
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