The cyhyraeth 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"), is a ghostly spirit in Welsh mythology

Welsh mythology

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....

, a disembodied moaning voice that sounds before a person's death.

Legends associate the cyhyraeth with the area around the river Tywi in eastern Dyfed

Dyfed

Dyfed is a preserved county of Wales. It was created on 1 April 1974 under the terms of the Local Government Act 1972, and covered approximately the same geographic extent as the ancient Principality of Deheubarth, although excluding the Gower Peninsula and the area west of the River Tawe...

, 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

Will o' the wisp

A will-o'-the-wisp or ignis fatuus , also called a "will-o'-wisp", "jack-o'-lantern" , "hinkypunk", "corpse candle", "ghost-light", "spook-light", "fairy light", "friar's lantern", "hobby lantern", "ghost orb", or simply "wisp", is a ghostly light or lights sometimes seen at night or twilight over...

.

Like the Irish banshee

Banshee

The banshee , from the Irish bean sí is a feminine spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld....

 and the Scottish Cailleach

Cailleach

In Irish and Scottish mythology, the , also known as the Cailleach Bheur, is a divine hag, a creatrix, and possibly an ancestral deity or deified ancestor...

, 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.

Gwrach y Rhibyn

The legend of the cyhyraeth is sometimes conflated with tales of the Gwrach y Rhibyn (ˈɡurɑːx ə ˈhribɨn), 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) – with a harpy

Harpy

In Greek mythology, a harpy was one of the winged spirits best known for constantly stealing all food from Phineas...

-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, or travels invisibly beside them and utters her cry when they approach a stream or crossroads, and is sometimes depicted as washing her hands there. 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!).

Some speculation has been asserted that this apparition may have once been a water deity, or an aspect of the Welsh goddess Dôn

Dôn

Dôn was a Welsh mother goddess. She does not play a direct part in the action of the Mabinogi, though many characters in that cycle are related to her. She is the mother of Arianrhod, Gwydion, Gilfaethwy, Gofannon, Eufydd, Elestron and Amaethon. Patrick K...

. She is also the wife of Afagddu

Afagddu

Morfran is a figure in Welsh mythology. Usually portrayed as a warrior under King Arthur, he is noted for the darkness of his skin and his hideousness...

, the despised son of Ceridwen

Ceridwen

In Welsh medieval legend, Ceridwen , also spelled Cerridwen, was an enchantress, mother of Morfran and a beautiful daughter Creirwy. Her husband was Tegid Foel, and they lived near Bala Lake in north Wales...

 and Tegid Foel

Tegid Foel

Tegid Foel is the husband of Ceridwen in Welsh mythology. His name rendered into English would be "Tacitus the Bald". In folklore, Tegid Foel is associated with Llyn Tegid in Gwynedd and may have been the tutelary deity of that lake....

, in some retellings of the Taliesin

Taliesin

Taliesin was an early British poet of the post-Roman period whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin...

myth.