It has been well over a year now since I last laid eyes on Yr Wyddfa, the mountain that presided over my childhood, and which the English call Snowdon. Yr Wyddfa is a victim of its own popularity, though you could argue that it has kept the surrounding mountains wonderfully empty of tourists. Yr Wyddfa or, to give it its proper name, Yr Wyddfa Fawr, refers to the burial place or “great tomb” housing the giant Rhita Gawr. As the Guardian country diarist Jim Perrin notes in his book Snowdon: the Story of a Welsh Mountain, Snawdune was written down in 1095, while Yr Wyddfa appeared in 1284. Like Perrin, I prefer Yr Wyddfa, and, though there is beauty to be found in a snow dune, the Welsh name is at far greater risk of being lost.

Source: The Guardian April 30, 2021 12:50 UTC