Dinogad's Smock

Dinogad's Smock
Peis Dinogat
Page from the Book of Aneirin
Author(s)anonymous
LanguageOld Welsh
Datedisputed, probably first written down in the 7th century
Manuscript(s)Book of Aneirin (second half of the 13th century)
Genrelullaby or nursery rhyme
SettingOne of the rivers known as Derwent in Northern England

"Dinogad's Smock" or "Dinogad's Cloak" (Old Welsh: Peis Dinogat; Welsh: Pais Dinogad) is an Old Welsh lullaby recounting the hunting prowess of the dead father of an infant named Dinogad, who is wrapped in a smock made of marten skins. This garment gives the poem its modern title.

The poem is known from the 13th-century Book of Aneirin, which was created at a monastery in Wales. It survived as an interpolation in the manuscript of the early medieval epic poem Y Gododdin, attributed to the semi-legendary bard Aneirin.

Dating the poem's composition exactly is difficult, but the consensus among modern scholars is that it derives from a text which was written down during the second half of the seventh century in the Kingdom of Strathclyde.

The poem provides insight into the Celtic-speaking culture of early medieval northern England and southern Scotland, as well as possible linguistic evidence for features of the extinct Cumbric language. It has also been used to provide evidence of the fauna of central Britain during this period and the late survival of the Eurasian Lynx in Britain.