The Boys' Brigade Mountaineering Club

Crib y Ddysgl is the 2nd highest peak in Wales. It is the second peak on the classic Yr Wyddfa / Snowdon Horseshoe ridge walk (undoubtedly the best ridge walk in England and Wales). Although there are two names for this peak, from Ordnance Survey maps, it would appear that Garnedd Ugain applies to the summit cairn and Crib y Ddysgl to the whole ridge. It usually appears as Crib y Ddysgl in mountain tables.

See its entries on Walkhighlands or Wikipedia or view it from above on Google Earth.

Crib (Welsh) means Comb, but it is also used to describe a geographical feature such as a Crest, Top, Summit or Ridge and y is the definite article. Ridge would perhaps be the preferred translation. Ddysgl. (Welsh with the D soft-mutated to Dd after the definite article) can mean Dish, Basin or Plate. The best translation for Crib y Ddysgl is perhaps Ridge of the Basin. The genitive case is implied by juxtaposition in Welsh. The basin is presumably the bowl-shaped Cwm Glaslyn below.

Garnedd (Welsh with the C soft-mutated to a G after a now lost definite article) can mean Cairn, Tumulus, Mound, Heap, Pile or Ruin. Ugain means Twenty. So, Garnedd Ugain could mean Cairn Twenty or The Cairn of Twenty and one popular, but probably fanciful, tradition is that it was named after the Roman XX Legion which was based at nearby Segontium (Caernarfon). Ugain could also be a corruption of a medieval personal name (possibly Igin, Higin or Higgin). It could also be a corruption of Wgon (a Welsh personal name with the G dropped because of a soft mutation). Gwgon was a 9th century Welsh prince. So, Garnedd Ugain could have once been Higgin's or Gwgon's Cairn.