Comments (Meaning / History Only)

Guinevere, spelled this particular way, is the phonetic spelling and typically found to be used by the Welsh. Guinevere spelled with a w is the masculine spelling of the name. Guinevere is a derivative of the name Jennifer which means affair or white or things similar to that meaning. I named my daughter Guinevere Mackenzie. I was hoping that this would give her several options for nicknames in case she did not care for her name.
If the gwen first syllable from Winifred and Gwendolyn is the same gwen as this is originating from, meaning "white, fair, blessed", then shouldn't this meaning also have "blessed" as a possible meaning to the first syllable? [noted -ed]
In every Arthurian legend I've ever seen, Guinevere betrayed Arthur with Lancelot, not Mordred. Mordred, Arthur's illegitimate son, set it up so Guinevere would be found with Lancelot and condemned to death. Maybe another version says differently, but Lancelot, the dashing French knight, seems a much more likely candidate for Guinevere's lover than Mordred, who was somewhat disturbed.
Queen Meadhbh [Old Irish Medb (with both the d & b lenis)] of Connacht had a daughter Findabair which would be perhaps a Goidelic cognate of the British Gwenhwyfar. The name would have been pronounced in Old Irish find-avar' [the tick after r indicating that the r is slender (quite like the r with a tick over it in the Czech name Dvor'ak]. It is clear that find- is cognate to British gwyn- gwen- being the Celtic adjective windos winda windon "white". But whether the second part is from the same root in each form is not clear.
GUIN meant girl or queen. I suggest that an alternate meaning is QUEEN of the Fairies, or (Ver meaning) Truth, or Spring. Another meaning would be FAIREST QUEEN (Snow White). I have also seen WHITE WAVE, as in Jennifer.
Mistake in the description of the Arturian legend. Guinevere did not betray Arthur with Mordred, but with Lancelot.
It depends on the story you read. The legend was written & rewritten many times. In some she is raped by Mordred in an attempt to claim the thorn, in others she is a willing participant. Another will blame her affair with Lancelot for the fall of Camelot. In some she even has an identical half sister also named Guinevere born on the same day even, that Arthur has an affair with. One variation has as many as 3 Guineveres.I have a daughter named Gwenevere and I made sure to read as much about it as possible.
From the Gaelic meaning "pale phantom", according to Lady Mary Stewart in her Merlin series.

Comments are left by users of this website. They are not checked for accuracy.

Add a Comment