'Cythraul' is simply an archaic Welsh word for the Devil, probably deriving from Latin 'Contrarius', 'the Opposer, Enemy'. Contr- would go to Welsh cythr- straightforwardly according to historical phonology, and the form 'cythraul' not *cythraur is the result of dissimilation. It is likely to be an early Christian borrowing from Ecclesiastical Latin, like numerous other words in the Welsh and Irish languages.

Unfortunately, 'Cythraul' has been mislabelled as a 'spirit of Chaos' by certain neo-Druids, an error which dates back as far as Iolo Morgannwg's Barddas. It has found its way into various sourcebooks for neo-Druidry, usually by authors who do not speak Welsh and quite unaware of its history or origin. According to this error, 'Cythraul' is supposed to be a synonym for Chaos, in some way known to the ancient Druids, which is historically impossible and linguistically extremely unlikely.

Further reading

• Piggott, Stuart (1975) The Druids. London, Thames and Hudson
• Aldhouse-Green, Miranda J. (1997) Exploring the World of the Druids. London, Thames and Hudson
• Fitzpatrick, A.P. (1997) Who were the Druids? London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson

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