ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1716 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1716 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 22 Jun 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked help choosing an appropriate name for a 12th century Scottish Gaelic woman. You asked about the given names and , and the bynames , , and . You also asked about a byname based on a father named either or . Here is what we have found. is a later-period spelling of a name that is probably a fine choice for your period. It was apparently a fairly popular name in 13th century Scotland, when it was recorded as , , and . The first of these spellings is part of a Scots inscription, and thus not a form that would have been used in Gaelic [1]. We recommend as the best spelling for your period. At that time, the name was pronounced \BAY-h@k\ or \BAY-th@k\. \@\ represents a schwa, the sound of the in . (not ) is a later-period spelling of the possessive (genitive) form of . Saint Brigid was venerated throughout the Gaelic world. However, her name was not given to Gaelic children in our period. The Gaels felt that the names of important saints were too holy for normal use. Unlike other European Christian cultures, they did not name their children for these saints. Instead, they named them "servant of" or "devotee of" a saint. For example, "devotee of Brigit" was a common early-medieval Irish woman's name [2]. We haven't found evidence of it in Scottish Gaelic, but that's very likely a reflection of the paucity of evidence of Scottish Gaelic women's names from our period. was a war goddess worshipped in Britain at the time of the Roman conquest. or was an Irish war goddess of the same period [4]. (with an accent on the 'e') appears in a list of non-human characters from early Irish mythology [5]. We found no evidence that any of these names was ever used by real people in our period. More generally, we have seen no examples of the names of pre-Christian deities or mythological figures used as a bynames in medieval Gaelic. We recommend you avoid these names. is a fine name for your father. It was a common man's name in 12th century Scotland. This is a later-period spelling, though. Gaelic spelling underwent a change around the year 1200. Before then, this name was spelled [3]. We could not find the name anywhere. Our best guess is that it is a modern form of , which was a Gaelic borrowing of , an Anglo-Norman form of [2]. A woman in medieval Gaelic culture would usually have been identified as her father's daughter. Bethoc daughter of Domnall would have been called . The word means "daughter", and is the possessive form of (i.e. it means "Domnall's"). This name, an excellent choice for your period, would have been pronounced \BAY-h@k IN-yen DOHV-nahl\. Scottish Gaelic was rarely used as a written language in our period. The written language of 12th century Scotland was Latin. If your name had been written down, it might have been rendered as . is one of several Latin forms of recorded in the 12th and 13th centuries [1]. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 22 Jun 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. Beathag, Donald. [2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.nn. Brigit, Piaras. [3] 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 [4] Squire, Charles, _Celtic Myth and Legend_ (Newcastle Publishing Co., 1975), pp.275-6. [5] See http://people.delphi.com/graylensman/cauldron/concord2.html. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 18 Oct 2001, Arval: After a word ending in 'n', like , the letters 'D' and 'T' do not lenite. Correction, 3 Jan 2003, Arval: The inscription that included was Scots, not Latin (as stated originally). Specifically, the inscription is . The last word is Latin, but the name is a late 16th or 17th century Scots phonetic spelling of a Gaelic name .