ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1970
http://www.s-gabriel.org/1970
************************************

20 Mar 2000
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Danial Tyrwynne> is an appropriate name for your friend,
who wants a 13th-14th century Welsh masculine name.  Here is what we have
found.

In Welsh records of this period, we find <Daniel> recorded for native
Welshmen in several spellings: <Daniel> 1315, 1334; <Danyell> 1315;
<Danyel> 1334 [1, 2].  We did not find the spelling <Danial> in any of our
sources, so we recommend your friend choose one of the documented forms. 

You told us that your friend believes <Tyrwynne> to be the name of a
village in Wales.  We didn't find any village with that name, but it's a
reasonable possibility.  <Tir> "land" was sometimes compounded with given
names to create place names, like <tyr Eign' voil> "Einion Foel's land"
(14th century) or <Tere Thomas> "Thomas' land" (1575) [3, 4].  Following
this pattern, one can construct <Tir Gwyn> "Gwyn's land", which could have
been anglicized as <Tir Wyn> or <Tyrwynne>.  The underlying Welsh phrase
could also be understood as "White land".

In the 13th or 14th centuries, it was unusual for a native Welshman to be
identified by the place where he lived.  Most often he was known as his
father's son, e.g. <Danyell ap Owain> "Danyell son of Owain".  However,
English scribes did sometimes record Welshmen's names using English naming
conventions, so it's possible that <Danyell ap Owain> who lived at Tir Wyn
would have been identified in an English or Latin document as <Danyell de
Tyrwynne>. 


We hope this letter has been useful.  Please write us again if any part of
it has been unclear or if your friend has other questions.  I was assisted
in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Teceangl Bach,
Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Mari nic
Bryan, and Amant le Marinier.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  20 Mar 2000


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References

[1] Ellis, T.P., _The First Extent of Bromfield and Yale A.D. 1315_,
Cymmrodorion Record Series No. 11 (London: The Honourable Society of
Cymmrodorion, 1924). 

[2] Vinogradoff, Paul and Frank Morgan, eds., _Survey of the Honour of
Denbigh, 1334_ (London: The British Academy, 1914).

[3] Ellis, H., ed., _Registrum vulgariter nuncupatum 'The Record of
Caernarvon'_ (London: Record Commission, 1838), p.53.

[4] Charles, B. G., _The Place-Names of Pembrokeshire_ (National Library of
Wales, 1992), p.231.