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The Demetae were a Celtic people of Iron Age Britain who inhabited modern Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire in south-west Wales, and gave their name to the county of Dyfed.
Etymology and relationship to Dyfed
The Latinized element Demet has a clear and well attested relationship with the Welsh Dyfed and even after the imposition of the English Shire system the use of the name Dyfed for the former tribal lands continued unabated. Unsuccessful attempts were made in he 19th-century to link the etymon with the later kingdom of Deheubarth. A more plausible relationship with the word defaid (English: sheep) was suggested by 1832 as Dyfed remained "a country fit for the pasture of sheep" and local people were noted for their cultivation of large numbers of sheep and goats from ancient times. Another possible root is dwfn (English: deep or low), indicating the geographical area the tribe occupied in the lowest part of Wales. The English area of Devon (Welsh: Dyfnaint) may share this origin.