ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1512 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1512 ************************************ 14 Feb 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether would be an appropriate name for a Scot who joined up with a Norse band in the 9th to 14th centuries. This letter is a brief answer to your question. Before I start, I'd like to clarify the service that the Academy offers. We try to help Societyfolk in choosing and using names that fit the historical cultures they are trying to re-create. Our research can sometimes be used to support submissions to the College of Arms, but that it not our goal and our results are often incompatible with the College's needs. If your main goal is to register a particular name, then we may not be able to help you. In 12th and 13th centuries, several languages were spoken in the area that is Scotland today. The major ones were: * Norse, spoken in the far north and the western isles. * English, spoken mainly in the southeast. * Gaelic, spoken through much of the country. * Norman French, spoken by Norman settlers and their Scoto-Norman descendents, mostly in the south. >From the 14th century on, the major languages were Gaelic and Scots. Scots was a descendent of English, spoken in the Lowlands, including the towns and the royal court. Gaelic was spoken in the Highlands in this period. All these languages were very different and had different naming customs. There was some mixing of names from the different cultures, but most names were not adopted into all of the cultures. Thus, the culture you choose to re-create will determine what sort of name is appropriate. Since is the Gaelic word for "wolf", we're assuming that you want a Gaelic name. However, since you want to live among Norsemen, we're assuming that you're interested in how your name would have been recorded in that culture. We cannot find evidence that was used as a first name in period Gaelic [1]. There are a couple similar names, though, that you may want to consider. One is , which is identical to another word for "wolf". The slash represents an accent on the preceding letter. This is the way it would have been spelled before 1200 or so; later in period, it would have been . Either way, it is pronounced \FEL-khoo\, where \kh\ represents the sound in the Scottish word or German . The second possibility is (early period) or (late period), pronounced \FAY-lahn\. It is a diminutive of the word "wolf", so it would have been recognized as related to its root word in the same way as the modern name [2, 3]. would be a particularly good choice for the persona you want because we know how it could have been adapted into Old Norse. A character in the Laxdaela saga is named "Olaf Feilan, son of Thorstein the Red". In this name, is a borrowing of the Irish [4]. In Gaelic culture, a man was usually known as his father's son. Fa/ela/n whose father was called would have been known as . However, if he lived in Norse society, he might well have been identified by his nationality. We found examples in Norse records of men who were apparently Irish or Scottish Gaels living in Norse society and who were known by surnames meaning "the Scot". The name took two forms. The first used the noun "Scot, Gael". Heinrekr skotr 1263 Ion skotr 1341 The word is pronounced \SKOHTr\. The final 'r' is unvoiced, almost silent. The second form of the byname used the adjective , pronounced \SKOHTS-kee\. Gillimer inn skozki 13th century Thomas skozki 1338 The last example appears to contain a Norse transcription of the Gaelic name with a byname meaning "the Scottish, the Gaelic". Putting it all together, we're pretty confident that a Scottish Gael named Fa/ela/n who was living in Norse society could have been known as or , both meaning "Feilan the Scot". 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 Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Talan Gwynek, and Lindorm Eriksson. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 14 Feb 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] We found one questionable example of as a given name [2]. is the early medieval spelling of the word that was later spelled . However, because this is the only example we found and because it is unreliable, we do not recommend that you use this name. [2] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983). [3] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). [4] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Personbinamn fra*n Medeltiden_ (Uppsala: 1920-21).