[Welsh, eagle top]
Welsh name for a mountainous region in north-west Wales known in English as Snowdonia. The name Eryri is sometimes misconstrued to refer specifically to Mount Snowdon, the tallest peak in Wales (3,560 feet), which should be Yr Wyddfa in Welsh. Eryri was in the heart of the medieval kingdom of Gwynedd and today lies in the reconstituted (1974) county of Gwynedd; from the 17th century until 1974 it was in Caernarvonshire. The white eagles once common in the region were thought to be emblems of national fortune. If they circled high, victory was imminent; if they flew low, crying incessantly, they warned of catastrophe for the Welsh. Such an eagle has been a logotype for clandestine Welsh nationalist groups in the late 20th century.
