ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1278 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1278 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 14 Oct 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about the names and , which you are considering as Irish women's name. Here is what we have found. The elements you've chosen are mostly correct, but they aren't combined correctly. In order to explain the details, we need to start with a bit of background. Gaelic spelling changed pretty significantly around the year 1200. In general, the spelling became more detailed, recording variations in pronunciation that had previously been understood but not recorded in the written forms of words. We'll give two spellings of most names we discuss here, an early form (roughly pre-1200) and a late form (roughly post-1200). is a late spelling of a genitive (possessive) form of the masculine name [1]. In other words, it means "Donnchadh's". The earlier spelling of the name was , and its possessive form was [4]. is not a feminine form of . In modern Irish, some masculine names have been feminized by the English method of adding <-a> (though we've never seen this example), but this is not a practice native to Gaelic and it was not done in period. looks like a minor spelling error for , the possessive form of . is a masculine name or nickname that was the basis for the clan name and of the anglicized surname . The slash represents an accent on the preceding letter. The early spelling of the given name is or . This name dropped out of use in the early Middle Ages, so you should avoid it unless you want a fairly early persona [1, 2]. is an early spellings of a descriptive epithet meaning "beautiful hair". The later spelling is . We have an example of this epithet used by a woman in 12th century Irish in the form [3]. The added represents a softening of the , called "lenition", which is required by Gaelic grammar in some circumstances. In particular, it is required in women's epithets and other bynames. The is essentially silent. The word , pronounced \IN-yen\, means "daughter", and it is used in Gaelic women's names in the same way that is used in men's names. The early spelling was . A late medieval woman named who was the daughter of could have been called "Mo/r daughter of Donnchadh". Notice that the name uses the possessive form of her father's name. As you can see, the elements you've chosen aren't quite right. You have a woman's nickname, , and two men's names, and . You need a given name. If you'd like, we can suggest some women's given names similar to the names you've already picked, or you can find a list of appropriate names in this article on the web: Feminine Names from the Index to O'Brien's 'Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae' http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/irish-obrien.html Once you pick a given name, you could use it with the names you've already chosen. If you'd like to contact us again to verify the grammar and pronunciation of the name you pick, we'll be happy to help. For example, either (early spelling) or (late spelling) would be a fine Irish woman's name. These names would have been pronounced \MOR OHLT-kheev EEN-yen DOHN-kh@-dh@\ and \MOR ULT-kheev IN-yen DOHN-khow@\, respectively. \MOR\ represents roughly the same sound as the English word . \ULT\ has the same vowel sound as . \kh\ is the rasping sound in the Scottish word or the German . \@\ is a schwa, the first vowel sound in . 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 Tangwystyl vz Morgant Glasvryn. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 15 Oct 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3), s.nn. MacDonagh, Sullivan. [2] O'Brien, M. A., "Old Irish Personal Names" in _Celtica_ vol.10 (1973).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), "Feminine Names from the Index to O'Brien's 'Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae'" (WWW, Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996). http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/irish-obrien.html [4] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 18 Oct 2001, Arval: After a word ending in 'n', like , the letters 'D' and 'T' do not lenite.