ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1030 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1030 ************************************ 22 Jun 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about the name and about arms with a gold Japanese wave on a blue field, which you want to use for your Scottish persona. Here is what we have found. In our period, the modern area of Scotland was inhabited people of various cultures, speaking various languages. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, these languages included Gaelic, the same language spoken in Ireland; and Scots, a language closely related to contemporary English. is a Scots or English rendering of the Gaelic name [2]. The name was in use in Scotland at least from the 10th century [3]; forms found in a Gaelic document from that period include [1]: Malcolm mac Culeo/n Malcoloum mac Cinatha/ Malcolum mac Moilbrigte Dubni mac Ma/lcolaim Malcoluim mac Moli/ni/ The slash in the names represents an accent on the preceding letter. and are Scots spellings of the Gaelic , which meant "son of Labhrunn". or were Gaelic adaptations of . (with the added ) is the possessive form, analogous to in English. The earliest example we found of this name being used by a Gaelic speaker was recorded in 1238 [1]. We did not find any period form of this name with a final <-s>. If you want a name suitable for a Gaelic-speaking Scotsman from the late 12th century onward, who was named and whose father was named , then you could call yourself . Any of spellings of listed in the table above would be equally appropriate. This name is pronounced roughly \MULL-cohl-um mahk LOW-rahn\, where \MULL\ is pronounced to rhyme with . Very few records were written in Gaelic in Scotland in our period, so if your name were written down, it would have been in Latin (early in period) or in Scots (later in period). appears in Latin as , and probably would have been translated by the original Latin form . is one Scots spelling of your name, and and are recorded in Scots in various forms [1]: Lorin Mak Gilserf 1258 M'Lern 1466 Maklaurene 1586 Laurent 1586 Putting it together, your name might have appeared in Latin as , in 13th century Scots as , and in 16th century Scots as . To the best of our knowledge, there was absolutely no cultural contact between Scotland and Japan before the early modern era. This makes the use of a Japanese design element in a Scotsman's arms historically implausible, although the design is pleasing to the modern eye. If you would like assistance designing arms that would be likely to have been used by a medieval Scotsman, we have experts who would be pleased to help. However, you should be aware that heraldry was not very common among Scottish Gaels. Its use was restricted to the clan chieftains and their immediate families. I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Alison MacDermot. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 16 Jun 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.nn. Malcolm, MacLauren. [2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). [3] "Malcolm I" Britannica Online. [Accessed 18 June 1998]. http://www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g?DocF=micro/370/2.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -