Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 197

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 197

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/197

This is one of the Academy's earliest reports. We are not confident that these early reports are accurate. Please use it with caution.

Greetings,

Here's the information we have on your name "Saille na Beansidhe" and arms for early Ireland.

It's possible for us to document Irish names as far back as the 1st century. However, it would be very difficult to develop a persona from that time period since name information is essentially all we know about the 1st-century Irish. If you're interested in a preChristian persona from the legendary era of Irish history, we can certainly help you.

Unfortunately, the name you've chosen is not similar to the early Irish names we're seen. We're guessing (based on your arms) that "Saille" is based on "sail," the Irish word for "willow." We weren't able to find "Saille" or any other names based on "sail" in any of our sources, and we don't think that this is a name that would have been used in early period Ireland. Unlike modern Americans, who take names from almost any source, the Irish (and most other cultures) had a limited name stock which changed slowly. In order to feel confident that a name was used in early Ireland, we would need to have an example of the name from early Ireland or a number of name which fit a specific pattern.

We also haven't seen any examples of "bean sidhe" or any name like it. As far as we know, the Irish, like almost every other ancient and medieval culture, did not use names which implied a supernatural identity. Human Irish people weren't given nicknames which identified them as one of the Fair Folk.

You may want to consider whether or not you want to have arms at all. Heraldry wasn't invented until the 12th century, so no early Irish person would have had arms as we think of them today. However, many SCA people use arms designed in the style used through most of Europe during the Middle Ages, which is considered to be the "default" heraldic style. A fuller discussion of the possibilities is on our Web page at

http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/faq/nonheraldic.html

Once you've decided what you're interested in doing, we can work with you further on your arms.

Zenobia Naphtali and Tangwystl verch Morgant Glasvryn contributed to this letter.

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to work with you.

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel