ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1259 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1259 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 03 Nov 1998 From: Braddon Giles Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for help choosing a 10th or 11th century Irish feminine name with your given name beginning with A or C. Here are our suggestions, and their pronunciations. Please be aware that these pronunciations are quite speculative on account of the early date. A/edhnat \EHDH-n@tch\ Ai/binn, Oe/bfinn or Ae/bfhinn \AY-vinn\ Ailbe \AHL-veh\ A/ine \AH-nyeh\ A/lmaith \AHL-m@th\ Ca/elf.ind \KAYL-inn\ Cai/ntigern \KIN-CHEE-yehrn\ Cai/rech \KEER-y@kh\ Ciar \KEE-@r\ Ciarnat \KEE-@r-n@tch\ Comnat \KOHM-n@tch\ Cre/d \KRAYDH\ A slash in the names represents an accent over the previous letter. In the name , the period represents a dot over the . In the pronunciations \DH\ is the "th" sound in "this", \@\ is the first vowel sound in "about" [1,2,4]. In your period a woman was almost always known as her father's daughter. The word for 'daughter' is ; it's analogous to the word 'son'. For example, if you were to select the name , and your father's name was pronounced \COH-nahl\, then you would be known as . This name is pronounced \EHDH-n@tch IN-yen KHOH-nahl~\, where \l~\ represents the sound of in the French word . \KH\ represents the sound of the in the Scottish word . Gaelic grammar demands the spelling change from to , which puts the name into the possessive form (like in English), so that the second half of the name means 'Connal's daughter'. You'll also notice that the pronunciation of this element has changed. The initial has become , pronounced \KH\. This softening of the initial letter is another grammatical requirement in Gaelic called lenition. In your period Latin was the dominant written language in Ireland. We may be able to show how your name would have been written in Latin, if you are interested. Our previous example, , could have been written in Latin as or . You can find a list of possible names for your father in reference [3] http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/irish100/ When you have made a selection for your father's name, please contact us again so that we can assist you with the Irish grammar and pronunciation. I hope this letter has been useful. Please write to us again if any part of the letter has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Arval Benicoeur and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Giles Leabrook 2 Nov 98 ------------------------------------------------------------------- References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press,1990). [2] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation). [3] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "100 Most Popular Men's Names in Early Medieval Ireland" (WWW: J.Mittleman, 1998). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/irish100 [4] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "Feminine Names from the Index to O'Brien's 'Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae'" (WWW, Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/irish100/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 18 Oct 2001, Arval: After a word ending in 'n', like , the letters 'D' and 'T' do not lenite; I change the example of the patronymic to one beginning 'C'. Correction, 16 Oct 2002, Arval: In the example of a patronymic, we switched names halfway through. I've fixed that. Correction, Arval, 20 Mar 2003: This report originally included in the list of recommended names. It may not have been used by real people in our period. See the correction to 2028 for details.