Etymology
Caerdydd (the Welsh name of the city) derives from the earlier Welsh form Caerdyf. The change from -dyf to -dydd shows the colloquial alteration of Welsh f and dd, and was perhaps also driven by folk etymology (dydd is Welsh for 'day' whereas dyf has no obvious meaning). This sound change had probably first occurred in the Middle Ages; both forms were current in the Tudor period. Caerdyf has its origins in post-Roman Brythonic words meaning "the fort of the Taff". The fort probably refers to that established by the Romans. Caer means fort and -dyf is in effect a form of Taf (Taff), the river on which Cardiff Castle stands, with the
The anglicised form Cardiff is derived from Caerdyf, with the Welsh f borrowed as ff /f/, as also happens in Taff (from Welsh Taf) and Llandaff (from Welsh Llandaf).
The antiquarian William Camden (1551–1623) suggested that the name Cardiff may derive from "Caer-Didi" ("the Fort of Didius"), a name supposedly given in honour of Aulus Didius Gallus, governor of a nearby province at the time when the Roman fort was established. Although some websites repeat this theory as fact, it has no known basis and has been described by Professor Gwynedd Pierce, formerly of Cardiff University, as "rubbish".
Read more about this topic: Cardiff
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