ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1619 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1619 ************************************ 8 Apr 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a Scottish Gaelic man living between 1250 and 1450. This letter is a brief answer to your question. Several different languages were spoken in Scotland in your period. In the 13th century, the major languages were Norse, English, Gaelic, and Norman French. Starting in the late 14th century, two major languages were spoken in Scotland: Gaelic, spoken in the Highlands, and Scots, spoken in the Lowlands, including the royal court and towns. Gaelic is the same language spoken in Ireland at this time; Scots is closely related to contemporary English. Names were formed quite differently in these various languages, and the styles of naming did not always mix. Therefore, the culture you choose for your persona will determine how your name should be constructed. You wrote that you want a Gaelic name, so we'll focus primarily on that language. is the standard Scots and English spelling of the Gaelic name , which was pronounced \DONN-kha\ in your period, where \kh\ represents the rasping sound in Scottish or German [1]. We've found several examples of in non-Gaelic records from your period, probably all representing Gaels named : 1296, 1342, 1427 [2]. is apparently an anglicization of the Gaelic "son of Se/umas". The slash represents an accent on the preceding letter. The added in represents a softening of the initial sound called "lenition" that is required by Gaelic grammar in some circumstances. is pronounced \h\ in Gaelic, so this name was pronounced \mahk HAY-mish\. That's basically the origin of , another English form of [3]. itself is pronounced \SHAY-m@s\, where \@\ represents a schwa, the first vowel sound in . The name didn't always undergo lenition after ; it also appeared as \mahk SHAY-mish\. Unfortunately, we don't think was used in Scottish Gaelic until the 16th century. The earliest evidence we found is the name , recorded in a Scots document in 1529, probably identifying a Gael named . was used in Scots somewhat earlier; we found c.1317, 1582 [4]. The Gaelic name or would be a good choice if you move your persona into the 16th century, but we don't recommend it for 1250-1450. If you want the earlier persona, you might consider a Scots (Lowland) persona named , which we think is appropriate from the 14th century onward; or you might choose a different name for your father. You can find a list of men's names recorded in medieval Scottish Gaelic in this article: A Simple Guide to Constructing 12th Century Scottish Gaelic Names http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/simplescotgaelicnames12.html Some of the spelling will need to be adjusted to fit your period. If you find one or two that interest you, write us and we'll fill in the details. 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, Blaise de Cormeilles, and Margaret Makafee. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 8 Apr 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Donncad. [2] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.nn. Andrew, Maciver, Finlay. [3] Black, op. cit., s.n. Seumas. [4] Black, op. cit., s.nn. Macjames, Cuningham, Fergus.