ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2137 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2137 ************************************ 25 Oct 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether and or are appropriate Gaelic names for a man and woman from the same period and the same country. Here is what we have found. In general, we have much better data on Gaelic names used in Ireland than in Scotland. The Gaelic culture of Ireland had a rich tradition of writing in Gaelic; that wasn't true in Scotland, where records were kept in Latin or other languages. In some cases, therefore, we can only guess whether a name was used in Scotland by extrapolating evidence from Ireland. was a common name in Ireland throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It was pronounced \BRAHN\ [1, 2, 3, 4]. is a typo for , which is a genitive (possessive) form of . was a common name in early medieval Ireland and we've found examples of it in use as late as the 16th century. We recommend the spelling or (genitive or ) before 1200 or so, and (genitive ) later [2, 5, 6]. The name was pronounced \DOOV-th@kh\, and the genitive \DOOV-th@ch\. \@\ represents a schwa, the sound of the 'a' in . \kh\ represents the sound of the in the Scottish word or the German word , and \ch\ here represents the sound of the in the German word . We don't have clear evidence that either of these names was used by Gaels in Scotland; but since they were common in Ireland, we think it's likely that they were used at least occasionally in Scotland as well. (early period) or (later period) is certainly a fine Gaelic name for Ireland and probably for Scotland as well. It should be pronounced \BRAHN mahk DOOV-th@ch\. We aren't sure whether was ever used by a real person. We have found one example of a woman identified by that name, but it's in a collection of early genealogies that is known to contain a large number of legendary or even mythological figures [7]. If the name was used, it was certainly only used in very early medieval Ireland -- perhaps the 6th or 7th century -- and is a later spelling of the name that may not correspond well to its form in that early period. We cannot recommend this name as good re-creation. (with an acute accent mark on the 'a') appears in our Irish sources from the 7th century to the 15th [8, 9]. The standard genitive form is . was a common name in early medieval Ireland, and we've found examples through the early 15th century. The genitive form can be identical to the nominative, , or it can be or [10, 11]. We haven't found either of these names in Scottish records, either, but they may well have been used there, too. Since was the more common name, it requires less speculation to place it in Scotland. The spelling of the feminine patronymic byname based on either of these names will differ depending on the period you want to re-create. Before 1200 or so, we recommend and . Later in period, we suggest and . The change in spelling of the father's name in the later-period versions reflects a change in pronunciation that's required by Gaelic grammar. The same change occurred in early medieval Gaelic, but it wasn't reflected in the spelling. These names should be pronounced \EEN-y@n VECK-ahn\ and \EEN-y@n VEL-doo-@n~\. The symbol \n~\ represents the sound of the in French words like or Italian , or of the Spanish n-tilde in words like . If you want a name suited to the very end of our period, then we would recommend different pronunciations; write us if you're interested in them. 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 Mari neyn Brian, Talan Gwynek, and Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 25 Oct 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Bran. [2] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "100 Most Popular Men's Names in Early Medieval Ireland" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1998). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/irish100 [3] Cournane, Mavis, Vibeke Dijkman, and Ivonne Tummers, "Annals of Connacht" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997). entries 1364.10, 1406.2. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100011 [4] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh, ed., "Annals of Tigernach" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1996). entries T671.3, T690.5, T693.3, T712.6, T738.4, T751.8. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100002/ [5] Annals of Tigernach, entries T517.1, T712.3, T1134.3, T1136.4, T1168.7, T1175.17. [6] Annals of Connacht, entries 1297.5, 1415.2, 1511.3, 1517.7 [7] O'Brien, M. A., ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976). A woman is identified as Derg, mother of Conall Clo/en and sister of Cathbath. However, Conall's mother is elsewhere given a different name and described as the daughter of Cathbath. [8] Annals of Tigernach, entries T746.7, T677.5. [9] Annals of Connacht, entries 1376.10, 1411.7. [10] Annals of Tigernach, entries T620.1, T662.3, T662.8, T666.2, T677.2, T681.1, T706.3, T712.6, T728.1, T1055.5. [11] Annals of Connacht, entries 1291.3, 1369.4, 1369.7, 1400.27.