ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1533 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1533 ************************************ 16 Feb 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether was used as a given name in period Scotland. This letter is a brief answer to your question. is a modern English spelling of the early medieval Gaelic name . (The slash represents an accent over the preceding letter.) This name was relatively common in early medieval Ireland. We have found only one example in Scotland, a king of Argyll who lived around 600 AD. In the late Middle Ages, it would have been spelled , but we're not sure it was used in either country after the 10th century or so. Its modern popularity dates to a revival in the 19th or 20th century. The name is a fine choice for an early-period persona, and a plausible choice for a late-period Irish persona [1, 2, 3, 4]. The pronunciation of changed over the centuries. Before the 10th century, it was pronounced something like \AIDH-ahn\, where \AI\ represents the vowel in and \DH\ represents the sound in . We don't have examples of this name after this point in history, but we can deduce how it would have been pronounced by looking at similar names and words. Around the year 1000, it would have been \ADH-ahn\, with the initial vowel pronounced as in , and in the 12th century \EHDH-ahn\, with the vowel in . After 1200, when the name was spelled , the \DH\ sound softened to produce the pronunciation \EHGH-ahn\. \GH\ is the voiced version of the rasping sound in the Scottish word or the German . Toward the end of our period, the might have been silent and the initial vowel sound changed yet again, so that the name would be \AY-ahn\ in Ireland and or \#-ahn\ in Scotland. \#\ represents a vowel that doesn't exist in English; you can produce it by trying to say \oo\ (as in ) with your lips positioned as if you were saying \ee\. If you want a Scottish name, it would be better re-creation to use a name that is better documented in use in period Scotland. You might want to consider the similar name (early medieval spelling) or (post-1200 spelling) [2, 3, 5]. The pronunciation of this name followed the same shifts as the first syllables of . Early in the Middle Ages it rhymed with . It changed to \ADH\ around 1000 and \EHDH\ by the 12th century. Around 1200, about when the spelling changed, the pronunciation of shifted to \GH\. From that point, the Irish pronunciation of the name shifted from \EHGH\ to \AYGH\ to \AY\. In Scotland, it was \EHGH\, then \#GH\, and in some dialects became \#\ by the end of our period. For more information about medieval Scottish Gaelic names and for a selection of other given names you might consider, you can read these articles on the web: A Simple Guide to Constructing 12th Century Scottish Gaelic Names http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/simplescotgaelicnames12.html 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 Maridonna Benvenuti, Talan Gwynek, and Effrick nin Kenneoch. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 16 Feb 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). [2] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.nn. Aidan, Aed, Aodh. [3] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). [4] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation). [5] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "A Simple Guide to Constructing 12th Century Scottish Gaelic Names", (WWW: Privately published, 18 June 1997). http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/simplescotgaelicnames12.html