St. Ké

court.' One would hardly describe Eilert Ekwall as a 'frivolous speculator', but perhaps the statement in his Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names is intended to be taken etymologically without addressing the question of the identity of the persons involved: 'Ke is identical with Kei in Mab. and goes back to earlier Cai.'2 The opportunity to supply an Arthurian connection for Breton locations such as Plogoff, on the way to the dramatic and legend-haunted Pointe du Raz, may indeed prove irresistible. Neil Fairbairn, in his recent A Traveller's Guide to the Kingdoms of Arthur, is led to make the surprising announcement that: 'Sir Kay, King Arthur's steward, has been remembered more kindly in France than in his native Britain.3 This most unexpected observation is, however, tempered by the deflating information that: 'Kay, the knight, appears to be only half a saint. The other man who went to make up this composite figure was a sixthcentury hermit and bishop.'4 In this article, I shall examine the background situation which has given rise to the above statements

Art · Literature · Historical Studies of British Isles · History · Medieval Literature and History · Scottish History and National Identity

• The history of the Celtic place-names of Scotland

  William J Watson•The history of the Celtic…•1926

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