ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2077 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2077 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 16 Jun 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a pre-1600 Irish man. Here is what we have found. The name isn't quite right, but the same elements can be combined in a few different ways to create excellent names. We'll discuss the individual elements first and then the overall form of your name. or was a very common name in early medieval Ireland. The slash in the name represents an acute accent mark on the previous letter. We've found examples of this name recorded in the 7th and 8th centuries, and evidence that it remained in use as late as the 10th century [1, 2, 3]. Early in this period the name was pronounced \FEYL-vy@\, with the \EY\ as in . By the late 10th century, the pronunciation had probably evolved to \FAL-vy@\, with \FAL\ rhyming with . \@\ represents a schwa, the sound of the in or . is a late-period English spelling of the Gaelic name . The Gaelic name was in use from the late 10th to the end of our period [2, 4]. It originated as a Gaelic adaptation of the Old Norse name , and thus couldn't have come into use in Ireland until the mid-9th century [5]. The name was pronounced \SIT-r@k\. was a common name in Ireland from the early Middle Ages onward, and is exactly the right byname meaning "son of Cormac" [1, 2]. The byname was pronounced \mahk KOR-m@k\. In our period, in Gaelic, a man's name usually consisted of one given name and a byname that identified him as his father's son: Failbe son of Cormac would have been called . Middle names (or second given names) were not used in Gaelic in our period. Using the elements you've chosen, we can recommend as a fine name for the 7th to 10th centuries, and from the mid-9th century onward. If you want to combine all three elements, we can suggest two possibilities: "Failbe son of Sitriuc the descendent of Cormac", appropriate for the late 10th century, or "Failbe son of Sitriuc son of Cormac", appropriate from the mid-9th century through the 10th. The first of these names would have been pronounced \FAL-vy@ mahk SIT-r@k-@ wee KHOR-m@k\, and second \FAL-vy@ mahk SIT-r@k-@ vik KOR-m@k\. The change from to in in one of these names is required by Irish grammar; here is pronounced \KH\, a symbol we use to represent the sound of the rasp sound in the Scottish word or German . 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 Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Raquel Buenaventura, Talan Gwynek, Mari neyn Brian, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Isfael ap Briafael, and Adelaide de Beaumont. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 16 Jun 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Fai/lbe, Cormac. [2] Cournane, Mavis, Vibeke Dijkman, Ivonne Tummers, ed., "Anna/la Connacht" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997). For : T626.5, T629.1, T633.2, T637.3, T679.1, T713.2, T737.2. For and the genitive : T980.6, T998.1, T999.1, T1002.5, T1022.2, T1030.15, Amlaim,, T1031.2, T1034.2, T1036.9, T1037.5, T1087.2, T1091.1, T1102.4, T1158.3, T1148.5, T1153.7, T1165.9, T1173.17. For and the genitive : T549.1, T553.6, T564.2, T664.3, T722.8, T758.1, T1166.5, T1176.10. [3] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation), s.n. O/ Fa/ilbhe. Clan names like this one came into use in the 10th century, so this surname suggests that the given name was still in use that late. [4] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "Names and Naming Practices in the Red Book of Ormond" (SCA, Inc: Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings, Tir Ysgithir, 1998; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangywystl/lateirish/ [5] O/ Cuiv, Brian, "Personal names as an indicator of relations between native Irish and setlers in the Viking period" in _Settlement and Society in Medieval Ireland_, ed. John Bradley (Boethius Press, 1988). "[Irish] Annalistic records of the ninth and tenth centuries contain a sizeable number of Scandinavian names ... some of them [i.e., Norse-origin names] were brought into use in Irish families between the ninth and eleventh centuries .... Particularly early in an Irish context is the occurrence of the name in an entry in A.F.M. for the year 835". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 27 Oct 2003, Arval & Mari: A clan affiliation byname that is included in a patronymic always undergoes lenition.