|
:''This article is about a Welsh forename, not the Sindarin (Tolkien-invented) name Arwen. For the mythological otherworld, see Annwn.'' Anwen is a Welsh feminine name. Notable bearers of the name are: *Anwen Williams, fictional character in the BBC series ''Torchwood'' (daughter of Gwen Cooper and Rhys Williams) *Anwen Keeling (born 1976), Australian painter It is not a very common first name, though neither is it rare. However, Anwen is popularly confused with "Arwen", a name created by the author and linguist J. R. R. Tolkien for use in his novel ''The Lord of the Rings'', and modelled on the etymology and sound patterns of Welsh. The origins of Anwen are somewhat unclear, though the -''wen'' ending is known to represent the mutated form of the adjective ''gwen'' (note: the ''G'' in ''gwen'' is dropped in a mutation of the word as the word follows a consonant), which is the feminine form of ''gwyn'', used to mean "white" as well as "blessed". There are many other dithematic -''wen'' names in use in Wales today, some examples being: *Arianwen, which is a compound of the Welsh word ''arian'' meaning "silver" (possibly also found in ''Arianrhod'') + -''wen'' *Branwen, formed from Welsh ''brân'' "crow" + -''wen'' *Rhianwen = ''rhian'', a form of ''rhiain'' "maiden" (also found in ''Rhiannon'') + -''wen'' *Tanwen = ''tân'' "fire" + -''wen'' The -''wen'' suffix used in the coining of many modern Welsh girls' names was originally appended to the names of female saints in the sense of "holy" or "blessed", roughly equivalent to English "Saint". Ceinwen ("Saint Cain") is an alternative name for the Welsh saint Cain, for example; cf. also ''Dwynwen'' "Saint Dwyn" and ''Meirwen'' "Saint Mary (mother of Jesus)".〔 The initial syllable (''An''-) is sometimes identified as an intensive prefix, hence "very" or "much" (also found at the beginning of ''Angharad''), and the name in full is commonly interpreted to mean "very beautiful" (a sort of prefixed form of ''Gwen'', in its sense of "pretty, fair"). It could also be inspired by the Welsh term of endearment ''annwyl'', which is used to mean "dear, beloved" (compare the surname Anwyl and the word ''anwylyd'' ("darling, loved one"), which is simply ''annwyl'' with the addition of the suffix -''yd''), or the common name Ann. ==References== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Anwen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|