ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1833 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1833 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 1 Nov 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a 13th or early 14th century Scottish Gaelic woman, and how it would have been anglicized. This letter is a brief answer to your question. or , pronounced \SHO-nitch\, was a Scottish Gaelic adaptation of the English name [1, 2]. As best we can tell, the Gaelic form originated in the 15th century. is an earlier-period spelling of the Gaelic word for "daughter". After 1200 or so, it was spelled and pronounced \IN-yen\. is also a pre-1200 spelling. By your period, the name was spelled [3]. In your name, the proper construction is . The extra puts the name into its genitive (possessive) form. The phrase means "Domhnall's daughter" and was pronounced \IN-yen DOH-nahl\. is a fine Scottish Gaelic name, but we believe it could not have existed until the 15th century. At the point, it might have been rendered into English or Scots as [4]. Scots was the language spoken in the Lowlands from the late 14th century onward; it was distinct from Gaelic and closely related to English. If you prefer a name that fits your period better, we'll be happy to help you choose one. Let us know what sort of given name you'd like (e.g. what first letter) and we may be able to make some suggestions. 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, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, and Mari ni Bryan. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 1 Nov 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Early 16th Century Scottish Town Women's Names" (WWW: Privately pubished, 26 Oct 1996). http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/scottownwomen16.html [2] Talan Gwynek, "A List of Feminine Personal Names found in Scottish Records" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/scottishfem/ [3] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Domnall. [4] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.n. Macdonald. Our suggestion is based on 1326. The first is doubtless a scribal error for , which represents a \v\ sound. The Scots , representing , appears in the name 1470, p.10. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 26 Oct 2001, Arval: After a word ending in 'n', like , the letters 'D' and 'T' do not lenite.