# Breton: Catwalon



## 5jellys

[...] how is this old name Catwalon pronounced and does anyone know the meaning?

Thanks


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## spindlemoss

Is this anything to do with _Cassivellaunus_? In Welsh this would be _Caswallawn _or _Caswallon_ and it appears the form in Modern Breton would then be _Kawalon _or _Kawalen_.


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## Stoggler

Related to Welsh Cadwallon was my first thought

(sorry, that doesn't help with the pronunciation)


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## spindlemoss

Stoggler said:


> Related to Welsh Cadwallon was my first thought



That would be more likely. I was confusing the Cornish sound change /t/ > /s/ with Welsh and Breton /t/ > /d/, cf. Welsh & Breton _tad_, Cornish _tas_ (so Cornish has _Kaswallon_ for both _Cadwallon _and _Caswallon_ of Welsh).

Still can't help with the pronunciation though, sorry. There doesn't seem to be any info on a Breton version on the Breton Wikipedia.


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## 5jellys

Sorry, for the late reply! I'm new to this site and thought I'd get alerted by email if there's any new replies.

If this helps, Catwalon was the name of a Breton abbot. Here's the link about him to Wikipedia but it's in French.


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## SheilaS

Greetings! Kadwallen (also caduuallon, and Catwollen) is the Breton name for 7th C Welsh king (and saint) Cadwallon.  The name means something along the lines of "Valorous in Battle." Cadwallon ap Cadfan (full name) was king of Gwynedd, Wales until his death in battle in 634 AD. As you might imagine, with a name like "Valorous in Battle," more than one person had it, and spindlemoss pointed out the similarity as well to "Caswallon". This list of British monarchs shows the popularity of both (and other) variations: http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/britishmonarchs.htm

With all the variation of this name, it's possible that a translation other than "Valorous in Battle" may apply at some point, too.


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## 5jellys

Thanks for the reply! I'm guessing it's related to Cadwallon too after some researching.


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