Gender | Masculine |
---|---|
Origin | |
Word/name | from Welsh Rhun |
Meaning | "Great, Mighty" |
Region of origin | Gwynedd |
Other names | |
Related names | Rhŷn; Rhyn |
Original pronunciation
Anglicised pronunciation |
Rhun is a Welsh Masculine given name meaning "Great, Mighty". Variants of the name are; Rhûn, Rhyn and Rhŷn.
One origin of the name appears to start from the Welsh names for Rome and Roman (as a person), Rhufain and Rhufon, leading to Rhun as "the proper name of a man" and Rhyon as a soldier.[1]
The story of The Dream of Rhonabwy in the 12th century Red Book of Hergest is a prose literary tale where the main character travels to the time of King Arthur in a dream. There he sees famous men from many historical eras. In a passage where 24 knights arrive to seek a truce with the famous Arthur, Arthur considers the request by assembling his counselors where "a tall, auburn, curly-headed man" was standing. Rhonabwy asks who he is, and is told that he is Rhun ap Maelgwn Gwynedd, a man who may join in counsel with anyone, because there was none in Britain better skilled in counsel than he.[2]
Marwnad Rhun (English: Elegy of Rhun), once believed to be the work of Taliesin but no longer accepted as such, laments Rhun's death in battle during that war with the North.[3]
Rhun, son of Maelgwn, appears in two of the medieval Welsh Triads, as one of the 'Fair Princes of the Isle of Britain', and as one of the 'Golden-banded Ones of the Isle of Britain'.[4]
Rhûn also appears as a realm in the East of the map in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings[5]