ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2048 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2048 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 19 May 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for an Irish woman in our period. Here is what we have found. You've chosen a fine 16th century name, though you've got the grammar slightly wrong: It would have been [1]. The slash in the names represents a sharp accent mark on the preceding letter. This name would probably have been pronounced \ROE-sheen nee AHRT\ in the 16th century. \ROE\ rhymes with . \nee\ is a contraction of the earlier pronunciation of , which was \EEN-y@n ee\. The symbol \@\ represents a schwa, the sound of the in . is a late-period Gaelic feminine name; we recommend it only in the 16th century and perhaps a bit earlier [2]. *** But see report 2704 for a revised opinion *** Your surname was also used in this period [3]. The phrase was the feminine equivalent of , and a name like would have been understood in your period to mean "female member of clan O/ hAirt". 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, Mari neyn Brian, Maridonna Benvenuti, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 19 May 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] The is added after the nominative singular (e.g. ) but not after the genitive singular . Thus, the feminine form of the clan name is . Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation), p.24. [2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Ro/is. [3] Cournane, Mavis, Vibeke Dijkman, Ivonne Tummers, ed., "Anna/la Connacht" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland., 1997), ss. 1264.3, 1300.8, 1419.9, 1525.5. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100011/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, Arval, 17 Mar 2003: Further research on suggests that it is probably modern. See report 2704.