ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1272 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1272 ************************************ 4 Oct 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether was used in period Scotland. Here is what we have found. , with the accent on the , is a modern Scottish Gaelic woman's name, a short form of [1]. We're pretty certain that it didn't exist in period. We've never seen it in period Gaelic, and though our sources for period Scottish Gaelic women's names are sparse, we have a pretty good picture of how this name developed. or , pronounced \SHO-nitch\, was a Gaelic adaptation of the English or Scots name [2, 3]. (Scots was the language of the Lowlands late in period. It is closely related to English.) The Gaelic form seems to have originated in the 15th century. Sometime after our period, it was borrowed back into English as . The modern is probably a re-Gaelicization of . , with the accent on the , is a very unlikely spelling. It would be pronounced \SHANE-a\, and we do not think it is a plausible variation of . is a variant spelling of the Irish name , the usual form of in modern Irish [4]. Modern Irish names are sometimes feminized by adding <-a>, but that is not a native Gaelic practice and it was not done in period. We believe that was used in late-period Scottish Gaelic, and we recommend you consider this alternative. For more information on Scottish Gaelic women's names, we recommend these articles, available on the web: A Simple Guide to Constructing 12th Century Scottish Gaelic Names http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/simplescotgaelicnames12.html Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/ Some Scottish Gaelic Feminine Names http://www.panix.com/~mittle/arval/scotgaelfem/ 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 Talan Gwynek and Effrick neyn Kenneoch. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 5 Oct 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Morgan, Peadar, _Ainmean Chloinne: Scottish Gaelic Names for Children_ (Scotland: Taigh na Teud Music Publishers, 1989). [2] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Early 16th Century Scottish Town Women's Names" (WWW: Privately pubished, 26 Oct 1996). http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/scottownwomen16.html [3] Talan Gwynek, "A List of Feminine Personal Names found in Scottish Records" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/scottishfem/ [4] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -