ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1245 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1245 ************************************ From: "S Friedemann" 17 Oct 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for help creating a 5th century Irish feminine name, with your given name starting with either or . Here is the information we have found. The earliest surviving written form of Irish dates from around the 4th century and is written on stone in the alphabet called "Ogham." When this writing tradition developed, the Irish language was very different from the medieval form -- about as different as Latin is from French. This stage of the language is variously called "Primitive Irish," "Ogham Irish," or "Oghamic Irish." This writing system continued in active use into the 7th century, and while it was in active use, its users tended to write a conservative form of the language corresponding to what was spoken when the system was developed. The spoken language, however, was undergoing considerable change. When a new writing system using Roman letters was developed in the 6th century, its users broke with tradition and wrote a language much closer to what was actually being spoken. This stage of the language, as recorded from the late 7th century to the mid-10th century the language, is called Old Irish. The problem with reconstructing names used before the Old Irish period is that the only forms that we know were written down are the Oghamic forms in the Primitive Irish language, and yet we also know that by the 6th century this written Primitive Irish must have been quite different from the way the language was actually spoken. It takes a good deal of specialized knowledge to put the pieces together and come up with a likely reconstruction of both the written name and its pronunciation. We have very few records from this time; and even fewer are the references in them to feminine names. At this time, we're not sure if was even a sound used in Old Irish or the language that preceded it. Therefore, our suggestions listed below are names beginning with the hard \k\ sound of . [1,2] We have listed the 8th century form of each name as it appears in manuscripts. In the accompanying discussion, we suggest earlier forms as they might have appeared in Ogham inscriptions. Old Irish In Old Irish, this name was used by both men and women. We found the name in Ogham inscriptions which may be an explicitly feminine form of the name. Old Irish The most likely 5th century form of this name would be or possibly . Old Irish Our reconstruction of the 5th century form is . The most common way to form an Irish name is to be known as your father's daughter. The Ogham form that we found in inscrptions of the word for daughter is , and the Old Irish form is . [2] would mean "Cingeta, daughter of Mailagnas." [3] This is pronounced roughly \KING-ged-@ IN-ih-ghen-@ MY-lagh-nee\. The \@\ represents the initial vowel sound in the word , and \gh\ is the voiced version of the hard, rasping sound of \ch\ in Scottish . There are a number of names available that would be fine choices for your father's name. If you let us know what sounds you're interested in, we'd be happy to provide a list of corresponding names for you to choose from. We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Eafric neyn Kenneoch, and Caelin of Andred. For the Academy, --Aryanhwy merch Catmael October 17, 1998 --------------------------------------- References: [1] O'Brien, M.A. "Old Irish Personal Names" in _Celtica_ vol.10 (1973). [2] McManus, Damian, "A Guide to Ogam" (Maynooth: An Sagart, 1991). [3] Thurneysen, Rudolf. A Grammar of Old Irish. Trans. by D.A. Binchy & Osborn Bergin. Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1975., pp. 173 & 203