ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2150 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2150 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 22 Nov 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a Celt from northeastern Ireland around the time of Brian Boru and the Viking invasion, and more broadly in the period 950-1200. You explained that you chose the name because your persona is the son of a Welsh mother and Irish father. There was no language or culture called "Celtic" in our period. In fact, the word "Celtic" didn't exist in English until modern times. It is used by modern historians and linguists to describe a family of languages and the cultures which spoke them, including Welsh, Gaelic (spoken in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man), Cornish, and Breton. These languages were distinct in our period, and they had very different naming practices which did not mix any more than any other two neighboring languages. The cultures which spoke them were separate, and had no sense of pan-Celtic identity. Since you wrote that you want a name suitable for a man living in Ireland, we'll focus on Gaelic names in this letter. If you also want a Welsh name, please write us again. The general form of your name is correct for Gaelic throughout your period. We will recommend some changes in the details. It is a common misconception that people whose parents came from different countries would have names partly in one language and partly in another. Unfortunately, that's not how medieval naming worked. In the rare cases when two people from different countries married, their children were named according to the naming practices of the country where they lived. If they moved from one country to another, they would either retain their original names or use local equivalents. That is to say, if a Frenchman named settled in an Italian city, he might have been known to the Italians as "Giovanni the Frenchman". If he married and had a son, the boy might be known by two forms of his name: one French, one Italian. But there is no context in which someone would call him something half French and half Italian. This problem has an extra dimension when the two languages are Welsh and Gaelic. Those two languages used different and incompatible spelling systems: The same sound was written in very different ways in Welsh vs. Gaelic. A scribe writing a document would be writing in one language or the other, and would use the appropriate spelling system. Brian Boru was High King of Ireland from 1002 to 1014. His reign ended at the battle of Clontarf, at which the Irish armies defeated the Viking invaders [1]. We will therefore focus on the early 11th century, but also comment on your broader period. is a modern Welsh spelling of a name that was originally borrowed from Gaelic [2]. The Gaelic name was spelled in early medieval records [3]. Each slash represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter; these length marks were sometimes omitted. However, we have not found an example of this name used after the early 9th century [4]. We can't rule out the possibility that the name remained in use for another 200 years, but we can't recommend it as the best re-creation. If the name did remain in use in your period, it would likely have been pronounced \EHDH-ahn\, when \DH\ represents the sound in . Back in the 9th century when we know the name was in use, it was pronounced \AIDH-ahn\, where \AI\ represents the sound of . If your period is more important to you than the exact form of your name, you might consider the very common name , pronounced \EHDH\ [3]. The word means "young, junior". We've found two early examples of it used as a personal epithet [9]. Although we can't place it in your period, we found it used both before and after, and we believe it was in continuous use. The more common spelling in your period was [10]. Either way, it was pronounced to rhyme with . The name was a relatively popular name in early medieval Ireland, and remained in use throughout your period [3, 4, 5, 8]. This is a fine choice for your father's name. A patronymic byname that identifies your father was written as two words in medieval Gaelic: . The added 'i' in the father's name, required by Gaelic grammar, is equivalent to <'s> in English: means "Ronan's", so that the phrase means "Ronan's son". The phrase was pronounced \mahk ROH-nahn~\. The symbol \n~\ represents the sound of in the word or the French word . isn't quite right, also for grammatical reasons. If you combined just your given name and the clan byname, then the most typical spelling for your period would be [6, 7]. This phrase was pronounced \wee FAL-ahn~\ in your period, with \FAL\ using the same \A\ as in . By the end of your period, the pronunciation shifted to \FELL-ahn~\. Clan names like this one came into use in Ireland in the 10th century; earlier, the same sort of name would have been understood to identify your grandfather. If you include your father's name in your name as well as the clan name, then Irish grammar requires a change in the pronunciation of the clan byname and a corresponding change in spelling: becomes and the pronunciation becomes wee AL-ahn~\. Putting it all together, we can recommend as a fine name for your entire period. The same name with as the given name would be a fine choice up to about 800 AD, but is increasingly unlikely thereafter. 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, Maridonna Benvenuti, Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja, Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont, Mari neyn Brian, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Dietmar von Straubing, Effrich neyn Kenneoch, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 22 Nov 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. [Accessed November 2 2000]. "Ireland" http://www.eb.com:180/bol/topic?eu=109322&sctn=13 "Brian" http://www.eb.com:180/bol/topic?eu=16642&sctn=1 [2] Morgan, T.J. and Prys Morgan, _Welsh Surnames_ (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1985), s.n. Aeddan. [3] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.nn. A/ed, A/eda/n, Rona/n. [4] Mac Airt, Sea/n, ed., _The Annals of Inisfallen_ (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1988). We found an abbot who died in 814 and an whose reign is associated with the year 794. [5] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.n. Ronan. He mentions a monk and abbot of the Culdees of Lochleven sometime before 985. [6] 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 [7] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh, ed., "Annals of Tigernach" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1996). Examples of this clan name appear in entries T1038.6, T1039.2, and T1044.6. The first four digits are the year of the events recorded. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100002/ [8] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "Annals of the Four Masters", six volumes (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997). Examples of as a given name or as a patronymic appear in entries M938.3, M966.6, M988.10, M1013.1, M1014.2, M1086.4, M1098.5, M1117.12, and M1161.4. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005A (v.1) http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005B (v.2) http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005C (v.3) http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005D (v.4) http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005E (v.5) http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005F (v.6) [9] O'Brien, M. A., ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976). [10] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983), s.v. o/c. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 27 Oct 2003, Arval & Mari: A clan affiliation byname that is included in a patronymic always undergoes lenition.