mabinogi

Noun

mabinogi (plural mabinogi or mabinogis or mabinogion)

1. (singular) A Welsh mythological tale; sometimes extended to include similar tales of medieval European traditions.
   • I recollect a Mabinogi, or mythological tale, respecting this piece of water, which runs thus: - In ancient times a door in a rock near tins lake was found open upon a certain day every year.1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume II, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 197
   • So greatly do these Mabinogion differ in character, that they may be considered as forming two distinct classes; one of which generally celebrates heroes of the Arthurian cycle, while the other refers to persons and events of an earlier period, and it not difficult to assign each tale to one or...1868, William Forbes Skene, The Four Ancient Books of Wales: Containing the Cymric Poems attributed to the Bards of the Sixth Century, Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, page 27
2. (plural) Such tales considered collectively, especially the main sequence of four tales written in Middle Welsh, more commonly known as the Mabinogion or the Four Branches of the Mabinogi.
   • Here the confusion is between the raid on Annwyn by Pryderi which, as I hope on a later occasion to show, is the basic myth of Branwen, and the deliverance of Gweir from Caer Siddi, but under all the confusion is the definite connexion of Gweir with the ‘tale of Pwyll and Pryderi’ which I take to...1953, William John Gruffydd, Rhiannon: An Inquiry into the Origin of the First and Third Branches of the Mabinogi, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, page 91
   • The mabinogi and other tales are rich sources of Celtic mythological tradition[.]1977, Patrick K. Ford, The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales, University of Wales Press, page ix