Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 108

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 108

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/108

This is one of the Academy's earliest reports. We are not confident that these early reports are accurate. Please use it with caution.

Greetings,

Here's the information we found on the name "Conmara O'Mactire."

The period you list (450-650 AD) was a period of transition during which Irish went through a period of "syncope," the dropping of unstressed internal syllables. What modern people think of as "Old Irish" is the result of this change. We'll discuss the names in their post-syncope forms, and then give the pre-syncope forms of the name.

As you suspected, "Conmara" is the genitive form of another name. In this case, the name is "Cúmara" or ("u/" represents accented u). "Mactíre" (which is a single name, although it begins with "mac") is recorded as a pre-Norman Irish name. When used as a patronymic, it is modified to "Meictíre" or "Meicthi/ri." "ó" in Old Irish is "uá," so the post-syncope form of this name is "Cúmara uá Meict(h)íre."

We would reconstruct the pre-syncope form "Cumoro aue Maq(q)itiresos" for this name. This form would have been used in Ogham inscriptions, and would be more likely found earlier in your persona range.

We hope this has been helpful. If you need any further assistance, please let us know.

Tangwystl verch Morgant Glasvryn researched your name. She used "Irish Names" by O'Corrain & Maguire as a reference for the names; and Pokorny ("Irish Grammar") and Lewis & Pedersen ("Concise Comparative Celtic Grammar") as references for the grammar.

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel