ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1373 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1373 ************************************ From: "Brian M. Scott" 2 Nov 1998 Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked about as a feminine Irish name in the period 1050-1350. In particular you asked about , which you thought meant 'light' and might have been used as a Gaelic translation of the Biblical name , and about the appropriate form of for your period. Here's a quick response to these questions. was a relatively common name in medieval Ireland and is an excellent choice for your period, when it was pronounced roughly \SOR-kha\. [1] (Here \kh\ represents the slightly rasping sound of in Scottish or German .) We don't know whether it was used as a substitute for in Gaelic translations of the Bible, but we suspect not: other Biblical names seem to have been modified only to the minimum extent required by Gaelic spelling conventions. [2] However, it is true that in the 19th century the name was often Anglicized as . [1] You were right to wonder about . (The word is actually , where the slash representing an acute accent over the preceding letter.) It is a modern Irish word used in names in two different ways. On the one hand it means 'daughter' and apparently derives from a dialect pronunciation of the older word 'daughter'. On the other hand it is a contraction of , as in 'daughter of [a man whose family name is] O/ Cuinn'. is the genitive (possessive) case of the man's name , which was also common in your period. [1, 3] Thus, a name meaning 'Sorcha daughter of Conn' is very authentic. In the first half of your period it would probably have taken the form . [4] Irish spelling practice changed about halfway through your period, however, and by the end of it would be more likely. (The in is simply an older spelling, but the is required by Irish grammar.) Both forms are pronounced roughly \SOR-kha EEN-yen KHWIN~\. (The combination \N~\ stands for the sound of Spanish n-tilde in ; this is also the sound of in French .) (in various earlier forms) was also a family name at least by the 12th century, so a name meaning 'Sorcha daughter of an O/ Cuinn' would also be possible. This would take the form in the earlier part of your period and by the end of it. The or is pronounced roughly \ee\. However, this was still a relatively new possibility at the beginning of your period. The straightforward, everyday usage was the simple patronymic that identifies you as your father's daughter, so we recommend the forms and respectively for the first and second halves of your period. I hope that this brief letter has been useful and that you'll not hesitate to write again if you have any further questions. For the Academy, Talan Gwynek ===== References: [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire. Irish Names (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990); s.nn. Sorcha, Conn. [2] O/ Riain, Pa/draig, ed. Corpus Genealogiarum Sanctorum Hiberniae (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1985); Index of Biblical and Classical Names. [3] Woulfe, Patrick. Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1967 [1923]); s.n. O/ Cuinn. [4] O'Brien, M. A., ed. Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976); 323 f 39.