Cigfa

Cigfa is presented in the medieval Welsh narrative tradition as the daughter of Gwyn Glohoyw (lineaged as "Cigfa, daughter of Gwyn Glohoyw, son of Gloyw Walltlydan, son of Casnar Wledig") and as the wife of Pryderi of Dyfed. The sources portray her as a mortal member of Pryderi's household rather than a supernatural being. She appears in the sequence of events in which Pryderi departs for Ireland and later when Dyfed is struck by enchantment; during the afflicted years she remains with Manawydan, who promises to protect her while Pryderi and Rhiannon are absent. Scholarly commentary records her as a later-added or minor domestic figure in the tale in some interpretations, but the primary manuscripts consistently present her as Pryderi's wife and a participant in the Third Branch narrative.

Medieval and modern summaries of the Mabinogi provide no physical description of Cigfa: the extant passages and translations consulted do not specify height, hair, dress, or other distinguishing bodily features. Rather than being depicted by bodily detail, Cigfa is represented through her social position and manners within the royal household (a wife of Pryderi and companion to Manawydan) and through narrative references to her lineage. The sources therefore frame her appearance primarily in terms of status and relational role rather than described physical traits.

The sources assign no supernatural powers, magic, or extraordinary abilities to Cigfa. She is portrayed as a mortal wife and companion whose narrative function is social and relational: remaining with Manawydan during the blighting of Dyfed, sharing the household hardship, and thus serving to illustrate Manawydan's virtues—particularly chastity, perseverance, and protective duty—by the way he conducts himself toward and in care of her. Cigfa does not perform enchantments nor is she described as the recipient of exclusive ritual attention in the surviving summaries and translations.