Greek curses and the Celtic underworld

The opening scenes of the first branch of the medieval Welsh Mabinogion describe the adventures of Pwyll, lord of Dyved, in Annwfn, a Welsh otherworld, in a manner in some respects parallel to the early stages of the Irish Wasting Sickness of Cú Chulainn. But paninsular as they may be, such stories of otherworldly exploits so characteristic of medieval Celtic heroes have their best- known reflections in the Arthurian tradition. From Old French, German and Anglo- Norman audiences to their more modern counterparts, the otherworld, its marvels and its fairy lovers are a markedly Celtic contribution to Western literature. Yet, there appear to be three geographically separate traditions of Celtic otherworlds - one in caves and hills, another in lakes and seas, and a third of faraway islands. Moreover, Welsh and Irish tales do not share a single description for such places: among the various designations - Mag Mell ('Delightful Plain'), Tír fo Thuinn ('Land under the Waves'), Inis Witrin ('Isle of Glass'), etc. - only the Welsh name Annwfn (cf. Middle Welsh dwvyn 'deep, world' < *dubnos) suggests any etymological notion of an 'other- world'. But then Annwfn seems to have been interpreted as 'very- deep' in the Mabinogion (in reflection of a polysemous semantic development of an- < *ande/o- 'down' > 'very'). Consequently, the etymological meaning of Welsh Annwfn is not completely clear.