Gelert

Name The name "Gelert" is a cymricized variant of Celert or Cilert although this probably represents a misunderstanding of Celtic alveolar plosives and dental fricatives, who lived in a cave near what is now known as the Holy Well of St Celer was found, which the dog Gelert had killed to save the baby's life.

One modern writer offers this concise explanation of Beddgelert's connection to the "obscure, early-medieval, local saint": The Welsh dog-hero/saint Gelert, associated with Prince Llywelyn the Great (1173–1240), is, however, a romantic fiction of the late 18th century derived from a 5th century Indian Buddhist work, the Pancha Tantra. The story gained wide currency in Europe the Middle East. The heraldic Rous Roll of the 15th century, for example, depicted the arms of Wales as a helmet on which stand a dog and a cradle. But it was finally applied specifically by a hotelier to the village of Beddgelert, named after an obscure, early-mediæval, local saint. To reinforce the story further, he erected a megalith, Gelert's Bed. The 'new' story became the subject of a poem by W.R. Spencer which Joseph Haydn set to music. Such is the stuff of nationalist legend — and this is one of the more benign examples.

The innkeeper who popularized the dog's story was David Pritchard, who came to the area either around 1793 or 1801, depending on the source. Haydn set the poem to the tune of the Welsh air , which means 'white mountains', a reference to Snowdon. In the Panchatantra, which dates back to oral traditions prior to 300 B.C.E., the villain is a snake, and the role of the dog is filled by a mongoose.