ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1638 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1638 ************************************ 13 Apr 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked what form of is appropriate for a 14th or 15th century Scottish Highlander. This letter is a brief answer to your question. Starting in the late 14th century, there were two main languages 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. Gaelic was rarely used as a written language in period Scotland. Documents were usually written in Latin or Scots. The name is a Gaelic form of , which was introduced into Scoto-Norman culture in 1124 (when the romances of Alexander the Great were popular). The name was adopted into Gaelic by the 15th century, and probably much earlier [1, 2]. Unfortunately, we don't know how the name was spelled in Gaelic in period: All the examples we've found are from Scots or Latin documents. In one Gaelic document, the name is recorded as [3], which some authors have interpreted as [1]. or are pretty reasonable guesses of how the name might have appeared in Gaelic. is pronounced \AH-l@k-SAHN-dair\, or are \AHL-ahs-tare\. The surname is a modern English form of a Gaelic patronymic or "son of Ruimean" or "Rumun", pronounced \mahk RIM-in\. When English speakers heard , they incorrectly transferred the \k\ sound in to the second element. Because patronymics were used literally in period Gaelic, a man of your period would have been known as only if his father's name was . We're not sure this given name was in use in your period. was a Gaelic adaptation of the Norse name [1], so it was used earlier in period, but it is not clear that it was used later. We found a couple examples of men, possibly Gaels, named in Scots documents 1533, and 1595 [1]. Given these examples, may be a plausible name for a Scottish Highlander of your period, but given the weak evidence, we can't recommend it as good re-creation. Assuming this name were used in your period, we want to stress that it would convey nothng about clan membership. The use of names like to identify clan membership is a post-period development. There were clans in period Gaelic Scotland, but clan membership was not indicated in a person's name. The language of writing in late-period Scotland was Scots. If this name were written, it could have appeared as . 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 Walraven van Nijmegen, Elsbeth Anne Roth, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 13 Apr 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.nn. Alexander, MacAlaster, Macrimmon. [2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). [3] --, A photograph of the "1467 MS", a Gaelic genealogical manuscript, which is shelf-marked 72.1.1 in the Scottish National Library. Colm O'Boyle has kindly helped with our transcriptions from this manuscript.O/ Baoill, Colm, "Scotticisms in a Manuscript of 1467," _Scottish Gaelic Studies_ XV, no. Spring 1988 (1988): 122-139.