ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1944 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1944 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 2 Feb 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether or is an appropriate given name for a 13th century Scottish Gaelic woman, and whether or is an appropriate surname. Here is what we have found. is an English name, "...apparently invented by Sir Philip Sidney as the name of a character in his Arcadia (1590)". It was popularized by its use in Samuel Richardson's 1740 novel "Pamela" [1]. We have found no evidence that it was adopted into Gaelic in our period. is a 12th and 13th century spelling of the Irish Gaelic adaptation of the Norman name [3]. The slash represents an accent on the preceding letter. We haven't found evidence of this name in Scottish Gaelic until the 15th century, when it appears as [2]. We don't know if the name was in use among Scottish Gaels as early as the 13th century; it's not impossible, but we can't recommend it as the best re-creation. The 13th century Irish form of the name was pronounced \KAHTCH-@-REE-n@\, where \@\ represents a schwa, the sound of the in . The pronunciation \kah-tree-OH-na\ is incorrect, the result of applying English pronunciation rules to Gaelic spelling. The surname is English, of course, and something very much like it would be a fine choice for a 13th century English name. If you're interested in that possibility, let us know and we'll send you the details. However, it is not an appropriate Gaelic name, even if translated into Gaelic. With very few exceptions, the Gaels didn't use surnames based on place names [4]. was originally an English surname, derived from the Middle English given name , a pet form of . As best we can determine, was first used as a given name in 19th century America [1, 5]. We found no evidence of a Gaelic form of this name. In our period, Gaels were identified most often as their father's children. Caiteri/ona daughter of Conall mac Fergusa would usually have been known as . The word for "daughter" was spelled after 1200 or so, and pronounced \IN-yen\. The changes in spelling of the father's name from to are required in a woman's name by Gaelic grammar, and reflect changes in the pronunciation. If you'd like to choose a masculine given name to use to build a name of this sort, you can find lists of appropriate names on the web: A Simple Guide to Constructing 12th Century Scottish Gaelic Names http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/simplescotgaelicnames12.html 100 Most Popular Men's Names in Early Medieval Ireland http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/irish100/ The second article is based on Irish records, but many of these names were also used by Scottish Gaels. If you'd like to check the correct grammatical form and pronunciation of any particular name, please don't hesitate to write us. 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, Margaret Makafee, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 2 Feb 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.nn. Pamela, Dwight. [2] 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. [3] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Caiteri/na. [4] Locative bynames were sometimes used by chieftains and abbots, but they were almost unknown among the general population. [5] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Dwight. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 26 Oct 2001, Arval: After a word ending in 'n', like , the letters 'D' and 'T' do not lenite; so I've changed the father's name in the example to illustrate lenition.