Gofannon

Template:For Template:Infobox deity Gofannon ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}) is a Middle Welsh reflex of Gobannus, one of the deities worshipped by the ancient Celts.<ref name="Routledge">Template:Cite book</ref> He features in Middle Welsh literature as a great metal worker and as the son of Dôn.<ref name="Routledge"/> His name can be compared with the Old Irish gobae (gen. gobann) ‘smith’, Middle Welsh / Cornish / Breton gof (pl. gofein) ‘smith’, Gaulish gobedbi ‘with the smiths’, all of which are cognate with Lithuanian gabija ‘sacred home fire’, gabus ‘gifted, clever’.<ref>Václav Blažek, “Celtic ‘smith’ and his colleagues”, in Evidence and Counter-Evidence: Festschrift for F. Kortlandt 1, eds. Alexander Lubotsky, Jos Schaeken & Jeroen Wiedenhof. Amsterdam; New York: Rodopi, 2008, pp. 35-53.</ref> His apparent counterpart in Irish mythology, Goibniu, in addition to his duties as a smith, also takes on the role of a divine hero who brewed an ale of immortality, in addition to being an architect and builder.<ref name="Routledge"/>

In Welsh mythology, Gofannon killed his nephew, Dylan Ail Don, not knowing who he was.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> One of the tasks given to Culhwch if he were to win the hand of Olwen was to get Gofannon to sharpen his brother Amaethon's plough.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Rankine and d'Este (2007), examining Talieisin's First Address from the Red Book of Hergest, also allude to Gofannon being a magician,<ref name="IoMGGofannon" /> with the First Address stating:

Bibliography

• d'Este, Sorita; Rankine, David (2007). The Isles of the Many Gods: An A-Z of the Pagan Gods & Goddesses of Ancient Britain worshipped during the First Millennium through to the Middle Ages. Avalonia.