The Mystery of England’s Oldest Name

Throughout history, both modern and medieval, Welsh history has been unfortunately malleable, often falling victim to hoaxes and mistakes.

Today, I seek to trace the origins of a myth I have seen going around the internet for years, that the Welsh name for England (Lloegr), somehow translates as "the lost lands".

There are claims that this "fact" has its origins hundreds of years ago, far back into the history of Wales... but just how true are these rumours?

Chapters:
0:00 - The Lost Lands
1:08 - It Begins
3:23 - The Year-Long Debate
6:32 - Intermission
8:06 - Digital Fossil Record
11:38 - Armes Prydain Fawr
16:12 - Antiquarian
22:16 - The Warlord Chronicles
25:41 - Lloeg(y)r
28:34 - It Ends
31:10 - It Just Makes Sense
34:49 - When Historical Fiction Rewrote History

Sources (turn on captions):
Secondary:
Bromwich, R. (2014). Trioedd Ynys Prydein. 4th ed. University of Wales Press
[1] p.xii.
[2] 18, 73,
[3] 52,
[4] 192.

Davies, J. (2007). A History of Wales. London: Penguin
[5] p.48,
[6] 62,
[7] 92-93,
[8] 334-335.

Dumville, D.N. (1982). Annales Cambriae, A.D. 682-954: Texts A-C in Parallel. Basic Texts for Brittonic History, 1. University of Cambridge
[9] p.2-17,
[10] 14-15.

Hamp, E.P. (1982). Lloegr: the Welsh Name for England. Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies, (4).
[11] p.83-84.

Koch, J.T. (1997). The Gododdin of Aneirin. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
[12] p.IX.

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru. The Myvyrian archaiology of Wales: collected out of ancient manuscripts..
[13] https://www.library.wales/discover-le...

Morris, M. (2021). The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England. Penguin Books.
[14] p.249, 315.

Matasović, R. (2017). Etymological Dictionary Of Proto Celtic. Brill.
[15] p.234-235.

Thorpe, L. (1966). Geoffrey of Monmouth: The History of the Kings of Britain. Penguin.
[16] p.9,
[17] 304, 334,
[18] 304, 342-343.

Primary:
Jones, O., Williams, E. and Pughe, W.O. (1870). The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales. Denbigh: Thomas Gee.
[19] p.403.

Lhuyd, E. (1707). Archaeologia Britannica. Oxford.
[20] p.237


Llwyd, H. (1573). The Breuiarie of Britayne.
[21] F.14.

[22] Moffat, A (2017). Britain: A Genetic Journey. Edinburgh: Birlinn Ltd.

Parry, J. (1882). The Name ‘Liguria’. Notes and Queries, 6(6).
[23] p.86.

Pughe, W.O. (1803). A Dictionary Of The Welsh Language. London: E. Williams.
[24] Lloegyr

Williams, T. and Williams, E. (1888). Iolo Manuscripts: a Selection of Ancient Welsh Manuscripts. Liverpool: I. Foulkes.
[25] p.72, 461.

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Rising Sun - DivKid
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Images of, and from:
Penbryn Church - Llywelyn2000, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Lightning - Hansueli Krapf, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Desert - © Vyacheslav Argenberg / http://www.vascoplanet.com/, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Cadbury Castle - Joe D, CC BY-SA 1.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Albion Orbit - WilyD, CC BY-SA 3.0
via Wikimedia Commons

all other images are public domain, via the Yale Center for British Art, the National Library of Wales, and the British Library.