ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2057 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2057 ************************************ 31 May 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) [Typos corrected, 23 June 2000] Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked our help choosing a medieval Irish name using or as your given name, and some form of the clan name . You wondered whether or is correct. Here is what we have found. or is not a period Irish name. It is a modern latinized or anglicized form of one of at least three early medieval names, which we've listed below with their pronunciations [1, 2]: Ciar \KEE@R\ Ciarnat \KEE@R-n@tch\ Cera \KEHR-@\ The symbol \@\ represents a schwa, the last sound in . These names were all in use in early medieval Ireland, but we haven't found evidence of their use later in period; so we recommend them only through 1200 or so. The names and both derived from a word that meant "dark, black", and probably derived from a word meaning "red"; but it's a mistake to think of these root words as being the meanings of the names. In its use as a name, the word was simply a name. The fact that a modern man is named doesn't suggest that he's either truthful or a hotdog; it's simply his name. Medieval people used names the same way, though they may have recognized the root word in much the way we recognize that the name is identical to a common word. is a modern Gaelic surname or clan name, often anglicized . The slash represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter. This name derives from the early medieval masculine given name or [1, 5]. Thus, a form of this surname would be a good match for the given names you've chosen. The early medieval spelling of the clan name is , but that's the masculine form. A woman of this clan would have been known as , a phrase that literally means "daughter of O/ Fothaid" and was understood to mean "female member of clan O/ Fothaid". The period in the middle of the name represents a dot over the 'F', which Irish scribes of this period used to indicate a softening of pronunciation called "lenition" that was required by Gaelic grammar. This name was pronounced roughly \EEN-y@n (w)ee OH-theydh\, where \ey\ is the vowel of , \th\ represents the sound of the in and \dh\ represents the sound of the in . By the late 12th century, the \dh\ may have been almost silent. Clan names, masculine and feminine, came into use in Ireland in the 10th century [3]. Therefore, we recommend you focus on the 10th to 12th centuries and consider a name like [6]. is a modern Gaelic word that didn't exist in period Gaelic. It is synonymous to the earlier phrase , and in fact it arose as a sort of contraction of that phrase [4]. 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 Zenobia Naphtali, Eafric neyn Kenze, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Lindorm Eriksson, Teceangl Bach, Talan Gwynek, Mari neyn Bryan, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 31 May 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.nn. Cera, Ciar, Ciarnat, Fothud. [2] Woulfe, Patrick, _Irish Names for Children_ (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1974), s.n. Ciara. [3] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983), s.v. u/a. [4] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation), pp.27-8. [5] O'Brien, M. A., ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976). [6] The word was also spelled , , , , and . Examples can be found in: Donnchadh O/ Corra/in, ed., "Annals of Tigernach" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1996). http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100002/ Cournane, Mavis, Vibeke Dijkman, Ivonne Tummers, ed., "Anna/la Connacht" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997). http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100011/