The cyhyraeth (IPA: [kahiːrɪθ]), also spelled as cyheuraeth (probably from the noun cyhyr "muscle, tendon; flesh" + the termination -aeth; meaning "skeleton, a thing of mere flesh and bone"; "spectre", "death-portent", "wraith"),^[1] is a ghostly spirit in Welsh mythology, a disembodied moaning voice that sounds before a person's death. IPA may refer to: The International Phonetic Alphabet or India Pale Ale ... Welsh mythology, the remnants of the mythology of the pre-Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts such as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin. ...

Legends associate the cyhyraeth with the area around the river Tywi in eastern Dyfed, as well as the coast of Glamorganshire. The noise is said to be "doleful and disagreeable", like the groans and sighs of someone deathly ill, and to sound three times (growing weaker and fainter each time) as a threefold warning before the person expires. Along the Glamorganshire coast, the cyhyraeth is said to be heard before a shipwreck, accompanied by a corpse-light.¹ The River Towy (Welsh: Afon Tywi) is the longest river which entirely runs through Wales. ... Dyfed was one of the ancient kingdoms (or principalities) of Wales prior to the Norman Conquest. ... Glamorgan or Morgannwg is a maritime traditional county of Wales, UK, and was previously a medieval kingdom or principality. ... Will-o-the-wisp (reenacted) The will-o-the-wisp or ignis fatuus, or in plural form as ignes fatui (fools fire(s)) refers to the ghostly lights sometimes seen at night or twilight that hover over damp ground in still air — often over bogs. ...

Like the Irish banshee and the Scottish Cailleach, to which the cyhyraeth and the Gwrach y Rhibyn (see below) are closely related, the cyhyraeth also sounds for Welsh natives living--and dying--far from home.² Look up banshee in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In Irish and Scottish mythology, Cailleach was the Mother of All. The word Cailleac means old woman. She was a sorceress. ...

Gwrach y Rhibyn

The legend of the cyhyraeth is sometimes conflated with tales of the Gwrach y Rhibyn (IPA: [gurɑ'x ə rhɪbun]), a monstrous Welsh spirit in the shape of a hideously ugly woman--a Welsh saying, to describe a woman without good looks, goes, "Y mae mor salw â Gwrach y Rhibyn" (she is as ugly as the Gwrach y Rhibyn) (Sikes, pg. 216)--with a harpy-like appearance: unkempt hair and wizened, withered arms with leathery wings, long black teeth and pale corpse-like features. She approaches the window of the person about to die by night and calls their name (Sikes, pg. 216), or travels invisibly beside them and utters her cry when they approach a stream or crossroads⁵, and is sometimes depicted as washing her hands there.⁶ Most often the Gwrach y Rhibyn will wail and shriek "Fy ngŵr, fy ngŵr!" (My husband! My husband!) or "Fy mhlentyn, fy mhlentyn bach!" (My child! My little child!), though sometimes she will assume a male's voice and cry "Fy ngwraig! Fy ngwraig!" (My wife! My wife!). IPA may refer to: The International Phonetic Alphabet or India Pale Ale ... Harpy (from Latin: Harpyia, Greek: Άρπυια, Harpuia, pl. ...

Some speculation has been asserted that this apparition may have once been a water deity, or an aspect of the Welsh goddess Dôn.⁶ She is also the wife of Afagddu, the despised son of Ceridwen and Tegid Foel, in some retellings of the Taliesin myth. (Sikes, pg. 219). Dôn was a Welsh mother goddess, equivalent of the Irish Danu. ... In the myth of Taliesin, Avagddu (also called Morfran) was the extremely ugly son of Ceridwen and Tegid Veol. ... In Welsh mythology, Ceridwen was a magician, mother of Taliesin, Morfran, and a beautiful daughter. ... Taliesin or Taliessin (c. ...

References

1. ^ Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru: A Dictionary of the Welsh Language, p. 746.

• Sikes, Wirt. British Goblins: Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions. (2nd edition) London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1880.