ABSTRACT
Gwalch ‘hawk’ is employed in a number of instances by the Gogynfeirdd (bards) as an epithet for their patrons . . . . It is therefore not surprising to find this word employed as an element in a personal name: the occurrence of Brân ‘raven’ as a personal name is analogous . . . . It is unlikely, however, that Gwalchmei means ‘Hawk of May.’ Professor Jackson has suggested (Language and History in Early Britain [Edinburgh, 1953], p. 449, n.) that Medieval Welsh Gwalchmei’ British *Ualcos Magesos, meaning ‘The Hawk of the Plain,’ in which -mei represents an oblique case (genitive singular or plural) of -ma ‘field, plain’ < *magos.1
