ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1689 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1689 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 7 Apr 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether and are appropriate masculine names to use as the name of your father, along with your given name , to create a pre-1300 Irish woman's name. This letter is a brief answer to your question. Both these choices are fine, though both were most common in the early Middle Ages. Since is also found only in early medieval Irish records [1], we suggest you consider setting your persona earlier, perhaps 10th century rather than 13th. The spellings and pronunciations we're going to suggest are appropriate for this earlier period. Bronach daughter of Fa/ela/n would have been called , pronounced \BRONE-@kh EEN-y@n EYE-lahn\. \kh\ represents the raspy sounds in words like Scottish and German . \@\ represents a schwa, the sound of the in or . \EYE\ is pronounced just like the English word. Please notice that when it is incorporated into your name, your father's name changes spelling. The extra indicates a softening of pronunciation called "lenition" that is required by Gaelic grammar in some circumstances. is silent. Bronach daughter of Cenn Fa/elad would have been called , pronounced \BRONE-@kh EEN-y@n HYIN-FAL-@dh\ [2]. In this pronunciation, the vowel in \FAL\ is the one in and \dh\ represents the sound of in the word . 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 and Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 7 Apr 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.nn. Fa/ela/n, Cenn Fa/elad, Bronach. [2] O'Brien, M. A., ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976). This is our source for the spelling of the genitive form of . is also plausible. The dot after the actually represents a dot over the letter. It's another way to indicate lenition in early medieval Gaelic. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, Arval, May 2005: Corrected the pronunciation of . There's more information ot hat name in report 3058.