ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2101 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2101 ************************************ 27 May 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about the use of in Scotland. Here is what we have found. is an anglicized form of name of a character in ancient Greek mythology. (or ) was the son of Hermes and Carmentis [1]. There was a fashion in the late 17th and 18th centuries for using classical Greek and Roman names as English equivalents for Gaelic names. For example, the Gaelic name was often rendered into English as [2]. Similarly, was used as an English equivalent of , a Gaelic borrowing of Old Norse , both of which were pronounced roughly \EE-var\. (The slash in and represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter.) The earliest examples we find of this usage are 1685 and 1745 [1]. We strongly doubt that the practice dates from the 16th century. If you want a Scottish Gaelic name, would be a fine choice. It was used in Gaelic in both Ireland and Scotland from the 10th century onward [1, 3]. You can find more information on how to construct period Scottish Gaelic names in a couple articles on the web: Scottish Names 101 http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/scotnames101.shtml Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/ 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 Maridonna Benvenuti, Talan Gwynek, Margaret Makafee, Mari neyn Brian, Effrick neyn Kennyeoch, and Giles Leabrook. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 27 May 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.nn. Evander, Mciver, Ivar. [2] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Aeneas. [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), sections 996, 1045, 1245, 1269, 1308, 1326, 1367, 1434, 1472, 1482. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100011/