View source for Cnicht

{{Short description|Mountain in Snowdonia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox mountain
| name = Cnicht
| photo = Cnicht from west.jpg
| photo_caption = Cnicht from the south-west
| elevation_m = 689
| elevation_ref = 
| prominence_m = 104
| listing = [[HuMP]], [[Hewitt (hill)|Hewitt]], [[Nuttall (hill)|Nuttall]]
| translation = knight
| language = [[Welsh language|Welsh]]
| pronunciation = {{IPA|cy|ˈknɪχt}}
| location = [[Gwynedd]], Wales
| range = [[Moelwynion]]
| grid_ref_UK = SH645466
| topo = [[Ordnance Survey|OS]] ''Landranger'' 115
}}

{{GB summits start}}
{{GB summits entry
|Name=Cnicht
|Height=689&nbsp;m (2,260&nbsp;ft)
|Status=[[Nuttall (hill)|Nuttall]]}}
{{end}}
'''Cnicht''' is a [[mountain]] in [[Snowdonia]] which forms part of the [[Moelwynion]] mountain range.<ref>Marsh, Terry. ''The Summits of Snowdonia'' (London: Robert Hale, 1984)</ref><ref>Marsh, Terry. ''The Mountains of Wales'' (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1985)</ref><ref>Nuttall, John & Anne (1999). The Mountains of England & Wales - Volume 1: Wales (2nd edition ed.). Milnthorpe, Cumbria: Cicerone. {{ISBN|1-85284-304-7}}.</ref>

== Features ==
Its appearance when viewed from the south-west, i.e., from the direction of [[Porthmadog]], has earned it the [[sobriquet]] the "[[Matterhorn]] of [[Wales]]", albeit being 3,789 metres lower. In reality, Cnicht is a long ridge and, at 689&nbsp;m, is the fifth-highest peak in the [[Moelwynion]] mountain range. It can be easily ascended from [[Croesor]], the village at its foot, or, with more difficulty, from [[Nant Gwynant]] to the northwest.

Although regarded by some as a mountain in its own right, Cnicht does not have the required 150m of topographic prominence to be classed as a [[Marilyn (hill)|Marilyn]].

== Toponymy ==
The mountain's name is thought to derive from the English surname [[Knight (surname)|Knight]], the name of a family who were formerly merchants in [[Caernarfon]]. When borrowed into [[Welsh language|Welsh]], the consonants represented by {{angbr|K}} and {{angbr|gh}} were still{{When|reason=Was this Old or Middle English, maybe?|date=December 2023}} pronounced in [[English language|English]], and these are retained in the Welsh name ''Cnicht'' as {{angbr|C}} (/k/) and {{angbr|ch}} (/χ/).<ref>Owen, Hywel Wyn and Richard Morgan, ''Dictionary of the Place-Names of Wales'' (Llandysul: Gomer, 2007), p. 91.</ref>

== In fiction ==
It appears as the "Saeth" in [[Patrick O'Brian]]'s 1952 novel ''Three Bear Witness'' (published as ''Testimonies'' in the USA), which is set in a fictionalised version of Cwm Croesor.<ref>{{cite book |title=Patrick O'Brian: The making of the novelist |last=Tolstoy |first=Nikolai |author-link=Nikolai Tolstoy |year=2005 |publisher=Arrow |location=London |isbn=0-09-941584-4 |pages=337–339 }}</ref>  O'Brian and his wife lived in the valley between 1946 and 1949.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Cnicht}}
{{Portal|Wales|mountains}}
*[https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=2797932 www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Cnicht and surrounding area]

{{coord|53|0|1.26|N|4|1|7.66|W|display=title}}

[[Category:Mountains and hills of Snowdonia]]
[[Category:Hewitts of Wales]]
[[Category:Nuttalls]]
[[Category:Mountains and hills of Gwynedd]]
[[Category:Beddgelert]]
[[Category:Llanfrothen]]


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