tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16505569.post2999110640123520729..comments2024-01-05T05:02:20.353+00:00Comments on CRYPTOZOOLOGY ONLINE: Still on the Track: OLL LEWIS: Afancs for the MemoriesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16505569.post-86441424015033770872010-06-18T23:25:07.896+01:002010-06-18T23:25:07.896+01:00As there are at least 8 different ways to spell Af...As there are at least 8 different ways to spell Afanc and different traditions, legends, folklore and descriptions associated with the word across the Celtic world it is best to think of Afanc, not as a single type of animal but rather a generic catch-all term for something unusual of a largish size that lives in the water. For example a spear throwing Afanc may not be the same sort of creature as a crocodile-like or pike-like creature. For a modern day example of how this works one only has to look at how Chubacabra has come to mean several different animals across the Americas within the space of a few years. Although this process has no doubt been sped up by today's international communications it really wouldn't take many years longer for similar things to happen in the dark age Celtic world. Also places like Llangorse were not the comparative backwaters they are now, it was the capital of a quite wealthy small kingdom with a major religious centre so there would have been plenty of monks, bards and other travellers passing through sharing tales of the places they had been. In it's early history the Afanc of Llangorse may have had an entirely different name and not been known as an Afanc at all but it only takes one person to start calling it that because they thought it sounded a bit like another creature they'd heard referred to as an afanc and the name could have stuck. Again though, like I tried to point out in the article a lot of this is just speculation, because Welsh history, particularly obscure stuff like this, is poorly studied. What is interesting is that things like the textile present tantalising possibilities to us, weather they are true or if true could ever be proven is another matter.Oll Lewishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11828682665977938510noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16505569.post-47446801240100453042010-06-18T17:48:20.546+01:002010-06-18T17:48:20.546+01:00The word afanc is an adaptation of afac and seems ...The word afanc is an adaptation of afac and seems to have been originally a humanoid monster. One threw a spear at Peredur, so I think we can eliminate the pike. The correspondening word in Irish is abhac (dwarf) from which we can infer that behind both stands a humanoid creature.Ego Ronanushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13473992719456848761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16505569.post-78575173501468083742010-06-18T12:23:18.981+01:002010-06-18T12:23:18.981+01:00"Afnac" suffers from the same basic prob..."Afnac" suffers from the same basic problem as most other local "Water Monster" names up to and including "Nessie": it is a generic name for anything unusual which mifht be seen in the water. Giant pikes are noted in many areas-some of them are lumped in with Lindorms in Scandinavia-but the basic Afnac is a four-legged, amphibiuos animal. I have seen referencesd in Ivan Sanderson's archives which led him to believe it was a slimy giant amphibian, which he later called The Great Orm: in that case it would have been legless, like a giant eel. But some of te descriptions specify that it has four legs and a better candidate might well be the Master-Otter.<br /><br />As to being one of the oldest documented cryptids, that very concept is fraught with any number of problems, particularly since the category seems to be composite in the first place. Technically, there were no cryptids before Linneaus made up the binomial system because before then there was no scientific classification of species. EVERYTHING was a cryptid then, in a very real sense.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com