ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1507 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1507 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 2 Feb 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about the modern surname or , and you asked how a Scottish woman of that clan would have been named in the first half of the millennium. This letter is a brief answer to your question. is one of many English spellings of the modern Scottish Gaelic . The medieval Gaelic form was , which means "son of Parthala/n". The slash in the names represents an accent on the preceding letter. Names like this were used literally in period Gaelic, i.e. the only person called was a man whose father was named . was a Gaelic adaptation of ; in modern Gaelic, it has become [1, 2]. In our period, clan names were not used as part of personal names. There were clans in Scottish Gaelic culture (though not in the other cultures in the area of modern Scotland), but one's clan membership was not indicated in one's name. Both men and women were usually known as their fathers' children. For example, a 14th century woman whose father was called would herself be called . The changes in the spelling of the father's name are required by Gaelic grammar. This name was pronounced \EHL-@-s@tch IN-yen FAR-@-lahn~\. The symbol \@\ represents a schwa, the first sound in the word . \n~\ is the sound of the Spanish in or of the French in . You can find the details of constructing period Gaelic surnames on the web: Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/ We hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 2 Feb 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.n. Macfarlan. [2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Parthala/n. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 26 Mar 2002, Arval: Removed , a modern spelling we've not yet found in period sources. See Scottish Gaelic Given Names, http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/gaelicgiven.