ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1383 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1383 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 7 Dec 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about , which you want to use as a late 7th or early 8th century Scottish feminine name. Here is what we have found. In order to comment on your name, we need to know what you intend it to mean. Since you didn't tell us, we're going to have to guess. We're assuming that you want an authentic Gaelic name and guessing that you want it to mean "Aine Morgwen, daughter of Diarmid", with as some kind of descriptive epithet. If you intended to be a middle name (i.e. a second given name), you should be aware that middle names were not used in Scotland in our period. was used in early medieval Irish as a given name for both men and women. It dropped out of use as a man's name, but continued as a woman's name through the end of our period. Irish settlers colonized western Scotland before your period, and it is entirely likely that the name was used there, too, so we think this is a good choice for your persona. The slash in the name represents an accent on the . The name was pronounced \AHN~-eh\ [1]. The symbol \N~\ represents the sound in or the Spanish n-tilde, as in . is not a Gaelic word and could not be Gaelic because it is inconsistent with Gaelic spelling conventions. In fact, is a modern form of a Welsh or Cornish given name [2, 3]. As we noted above, a second given name would not be appropriate in a period Scottish Gaelic name. Gaelic women in period were generally known as their father's daughters. Their names did occasionally include descriptive epithets -- you can find a few examples in reference [4] -- but since we don't know what you want your epithet to mean, we can't suggest an appropriate word to replace . is a partially anglicized spelling of a very common Gaelic man's name that was spelled in your period. We found examples recorded in 565 and 665 AD. If you want to call yourself "A/ine, daughter of Diarmait", the appropriate name is , pronounced \AH-nyeh EEN-yen DAR-m@-d@\ [1, 5]. \@\ represents a schwa, the last sound in the word . The change in spelling of to is analogous to the difference between and in modern English. If you want to add a descriptive epithet, it would go after your given name, e.g. "A/ine the Fair, daughter of Diarmait". You included the word in your name. That's a form of the modern Gaelic word for "the", and unless we've completely mis-understood what you want your name to mean, it would not be appropriate as part of your name. You may have been thinking of , which is a modern Irish word used in women's names. That word did not exist in period Gaelic, and is not appropriate in a period name. We 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 verch Morgant Glasvryn. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 7 Dec 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.nn. A/ine, Diarmait. [2] Bice, Christopher, _Names for the Cornish_ (Padstow, Cornwall: Lodenek Press, 1975), p.4. [3] Dunkling, Leslie, _Scottish Christian Names_ (Stirling, Scotland: Johnston & Bacon Books, 1988), s.n. . [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.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/irish-obrien.html [5] 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 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 18 Oct 2001, Arval: After a word ending in 'n', like , the letters 'D' and 'T' do not lenite.