ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1881 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1881 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* From: "Sara L Friedemann" 17 Dec 1999 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an appropriate name for a Scottish man living between 1150 and 1550. Here is the information we have found. In 12th and 13th centuries, several languages were spoken in the area that is Scotland today. The major ones were: * Norse, spoken in the far north and the western isles. * English, spoken mainly in the southeast. * Gaelic, spoken through much of the country. * Norman French, spoken by Norman settlers and their Scoto-Norman descendents, mostly in the south. By the late 14th century, these four languages had developed into two main languages: Gaelic, spoken in the Highlands, and Scots, spoken in the Lowlands, including the royal court and towns. Gaelic was the same language spoken in Ireland at this time; Scots was closely related to contemporary English. Names were formed quite differently in the two languages, and the two styles of naming did not mix. Therefore, the culture you choose for your persona will determine how your name should be constructed. Because the elements of your name are appropriate for a Scottish Gaelic culture, we will discuss them in that light. We have been unable to find as a Gaelic name. If you can tell us where you found it, we may be able to tell you more about it. The most similar Gaelic name to that we found is , which was popular throughout the Middle Ages in both Ireland and Scotland. [2] In the first century of your period or so, it was pronounced \KAH-th@l\; by about the 13th century, it was pronounced \KAH-h@l\. The \@\ represents the initial vowel sound in the word . If you are interested in choosing a name other than , we suggest you read the following article available on the web: "A Simple Guide to Constructing 12th Century Scottish Gaelic Names" http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/simplescotgaelic names12.html is an excellent choice for your father's name; we find it in the 12th century, /b/u/t/ /b/e/l/i/e/v/e/ /i/t/ /w/a/s/ /a/l/s/o/ /u/s/e/d/ /l/a/t/e/r/ /i/n/ /p/e/r/i/o/d/. It was pronounced \GEER-ick\. [1] In summary, , meaning "Cathal, son of Giric," is an excellent Scottish Gaelic name. We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Maridonna Benvenuti, Africa filia Kennoci, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, and Amant le Marinier. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael December 17, 1999 --------------------------------------- References: [1] 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/simplescotgaelic names12.html [2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). s.n. Cathal - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, Arval, 30 Oct 2001: More information about is available in report 2376. The name may well not have been used after the 12th century, and even then it was rare.