Editing Pendragon

{{Short description|Name in Arthurian literature}}
{{Other uses}}

'''Pendragon''', or '''{{lang|cy|Pen Draig}}''' ({{langx|wlm|pen[n] dreic}}, ''pen[n] dragon''; composed of [[Welsh language|Welsh]] {{lang|cy|pen}}, 'head, chief, top' and {{lang|cy|[[Welsh Dragon|draig]]}} / ''[[European dragon|dragon]]'', 'dragon; warrior'; borrowed from the [[Ancient Greek|Greco]]-[[Latin]] word {{lang|la|dracō}}, plural {{lang|la|dracōnēs}}, 'dragon[s]', {{langx|kw|Pen Draig}}; {{langx|br|Penn Aerouant}}) literally means 'chief dragon' or 'head dragon', but in a figurative sense: 'chief leader', 'chief of warriors', 'commander-in-chief', {{lang|es|generalissimo}}, or 'chief governor'),<ref>''Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru'', Vol. III, University of Wales Press, 1994, pp. 2726-2739, "pen", "pendragon"; Vol. I, 1963, p. 1081, "dragon".</ref><ref>Bromwich, Rachel, ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein'', University of Wales Press, 4th ed., 2014, pp. 512–513</ref> is the epithet of [[Uther Pendragon|Uther]], father of [[King Arthur]] in the [[Matter of Britain]] in medieval and modern era and occasionally applied to historical Welsh heroes in [[medieval Welsh literature]] such as [[Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd]].<ref>Bromwich, Rachel, ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein'', University of Wales Press, 4th ed., 2014, p. 513</ref>

In the {{lang|la|[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]}}, one of the earliest texts of the Matter of Britain, only Uther is given the surname ''Pendragon'', which is explained by the author [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] as literally meaning ''dragon's head''.

In the prose version of [[Robert de Boron]]'s ''Merlin'', the name of Uther's elder brother [[Ambrosius Aurelianus]] is given as ''Pendragon'', while Uter (Uther) changes his name after his brother's death to ''Uterpendragon''.

The use of "Pendragon" to refer to Arthur, rather than to Uther or his brother, is of much more recent vintage.  In literature, one of its earliest uses to refer to Arthur is in [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]]'s poem "[[Idylls of the King#Lancelot and Elaine|Lancelot and Elaine]]", where, however, it appears as Arthur's title rather than his surname, following contemporary speculation that "pendragon" had been a term for an ancient Welsh war-chief.{{Citation needed|date=November 2015}} In [[C. S. Lewis]]'s 1945 novel ''[[That Hideous Strength]]'', the Pendragon leads a national moral struggle through the centuries; bearers of the title include [[Cassivellaunus|Cassibelaun]], Uther, Arthur, and [[Elwin Ransom]].

[[Mark Twain]] in ''[[A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court]]'' makes various satirical and scathing remarks about "The Pendragon Dynasty" which are in fact aimed at ridiculing much later British dynasties. The story of ''[[The Pendragon Legend]]'' by [[Antal Szerb]] revolves around a Welsh noble family called Pendragon.

==On television==
A movie was released in 2008 entitled ''Pendragon: Sword of His Father'' by Burns Family Studios about a young Artos (Arthur) Pendragon.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Wiktionary inline}}

[[Category:Arthurian characters]]
[[Category:King Arthur]]
[[Category:Legendary British kings]]