ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1260 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1260 ************************************ From: "S Friedemann" 4 Oct 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for help creating a name for an Irish Gaelic or Scottish Gaelic gypsy/wanderer. You wanted your given name to be , or something meaning "flame" or "flame-maker." Here is the information we have found. Two Irish spellings of that we found are and . [1] (The / represents an accent over the previous letter.) While we have not found these specific forms in period, they are similar to the corresponding forms used in English at the same time. Therefore, we feel that either name would be a fine choice. They are both pronounced \KAHT-leen\. Please note that the common modern pronunciation is incorrect. We also found two given names that derive from roots meaning "fire" or "flame": and . The first was the name of a couple of early period Irish saints, and the second was a relatively common name in early Ireland. [1] Either of these would also be fine names for an earlier period persona. They are pronounced \EDH-n@tch\ and \LOSS-er\. The \dh\ is pronounced as in , and \@\ as the initial vowel sound in the word . There is also an Irish nickname, , that means "fiery, bright, splendid, brilliant." [2] A name such as "Caitili/n the fiery" is about as close to your desired meaning as we could get. This is pronounced \KAHT-leen AHN\. However, while you might have been known informally by a nickname such as , in formal situations, you would have been known primarily as your father's daughter. If your name was and your father's name [3], you would be , "Caitili/n daughter of Flann." (The change from to is required by Gaelic grammar.) is pronounced \KAHT-leen IN-yen LOIN\. We assume that you're using the word "gyspy" is a generic sense, meaning a wandering peddler, and that you don't intend your persona to be a member of the Gypsy (Romany) ethnic group. In period societies, especially in the tribal or clan-based cultures of medieval Ireland and Gaelic Scotland, the wanderer or outsider was not viewed as the romantic, mysterious crusader that appears so often in modern literature. A wanderer in Gaelic culture was a feared figure, an outcast and probably a criminal. Family connections were the basis of Gaelic culture: a person without family was a legal non-entity, with every man's hand turned against her. 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, Walraven van Nijmegen, Zenobia Naphtali, Talan Gwynek, and Arval Benicoeur. For the Academy, --Aryanhwy merch Catmael Caermyrdin October 4, 1998 --------------------------------------- References: [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). [2] O'Brien, M. A., ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976). [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