ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2151 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2151 ************************************ From: "Brian M. Scott" 18 Jan 2001 Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked us on behalf of your son to evaluate the authenticity of as a name for a Scotsman in the late 13th century. We'll discuss each element of the name individually and the way in which they're combined; this will be a bit long and involved, but we'll summarize the main conclusions at the end. To begin with, however, a little cultural background is necessary. In the 12th and 13th centuries several languages were spoken in the area that is Scotland today. The main ones were: * a Scandinavian dialect, spoken in the far north and the Western Isles; * a Northern dialect of Middle English, spoken mainly in the southeast; * Gaelic, spoken throughout much of the country; and * Old Norman French, spoken by Norman settlers and their Scoto-Norman descendents, mostly in the south. These languages were quite different, and their speakers had different naming customs. Although there was considerable interaction among the different cultures and consequently some mixing of names, most names were not adopted into all of them. To complicate matters further, names were often recorded in Latin or in spoken languages different from that of the name itself. In particular, a Gaelic name might well have been recorded in Latin rather than in Gaelic, or even in Norman French. However, these written versions were internally consistent: we don't find a name recorded partly in Gaelic and partly in Middle English, for instance. appears to be a slightly simplified version of , where the slash stands for an acute accent over the preceding vowel. is the genitive case of the Gaelic given name , roughly equivalent to the English possessive. That is, is related to more or less as is related to in English. Before the 13th century this name was normally spelled ; in this form it is recorded as the name of an early Irish saint and as the nickname (meaning 'little ox') of an early king of Munster who died in 633. [1] It was pronounced roughly \DAH-vahn\. We have no actual examples of the name after the 7th century, and we have no examples at all from Scotland. Nevertheless, it would probably be a reasonable choice for the 5th - 8th centuries or perhaps even a bit later. At that time the naming practices in Ireland and in the Gaelic-speaking community in Scotland seem to have been very similar, and it's reasonable to suppose that a given name found in Ireland might also have been used in Scotland. The Gaelic cultures in Scotland and Ireland gradually diverged, however, and by the 12th century or so they exhibit significant differences in naming practice. Thus, we could not safely assume that was used in 13th century Scotland even if we knew that it had remained in use in Ireland down to that time. Since even that is very doubtful, we definitely cannot recommend as good re-creation for 13th century Scotland. Unfortunately, we've not found any Gaelic given names that sound much like and are likely to have been in use in the 13th century. Perhaps the closest are or , a medieval borrowing of , and , the source of the modern names and . [2, 3, 4, 5] Both are found in Scotland in the 13th century, albeit in Latinized form, e.g., 1273-89 and ca.1230. [6, 7] They were pronounced roughly \DAH-veedh\ and \NEV-een~\, respectively, where \dh\ stands for the sound of in , and \n~\ stands for the sound of in French and Italian . (All of these suggested pronunciations involve some guesswork, but \DAH-veedh\ for is especially tentative. The data suggest that several pronunciations were current, probably also including something like \DAH-veet\.) is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic patronymic byname 'son of Gille Ruadh'. [8] Note that although it is now usually written as two words, is a single given name. is its possessive form, much as is the possessive of . In a Gaelic name the Gaelic form would of course have been used instead of . In Gaelic-speaking Scotland it would have been understood literally during the SCA period: a man named would have been the son of a man whose given name was . Similarly, Naoimhi/n's son Donnchadh would in his turn have been called 'Duncan son of Nevin'. The modern practice of using surnames to indicate clan membership did not develop in Scotland until well after the 16th century. Unfortunately, it is very unlikely that and were ever in use simultaneously as given names. Compound given names like , i.e., whose first element is 'lad, servant', did not appear until the end of the 10th century. This particular name probably did not appear until somewhat after that. In the earliest examples the second element is a person's name in the possessive form, often the name of a saint, e.g., 'devotee of (Saint) Patrick' 982. [9] is an example of a slightly different construction: is the adjective 'red', and the name means 'red(-haired) lad'. This type of name is less common and seems to have appeared a bit later. On the other hand, it does appear that was in use in the 13th century: it is probably the given name of the man who appears in 1223 in a Latin document as , in Gaelic . [10] Thus, and are both possible names for a Gaelic-speaking Scotsman of the 13th century. At that time they were probably pronounced roughly \DAH-veedh mahk EE-l@ ROO-idh\ and \NEV-een~ mahk EE-l@ ROO-idh\, respectively. By the way, there is a name related to that was contemporary with : , pronounced roughly \ROO-@-dhahn\. [11] The patronymic formed from it is , and 'Dama/n son of Ru/ada/n' would be a plausible early Gaelic name. It would have been pronounced roughly \DAH-vahn mahk ROO-@-dhahn~\. This brings us to the last element, . As you've probably already realized, a Gaelic translation of this byname would be needed in order to match the rest of the name. Unfortunately, Gaelic names very rarely include bynames equivalent to the English , and the handful that we've found in Scotland are all applied to royalty or the functional equivalent (e.g., the Lord of the Isles). Clearly such bynames were not a normal feature of Gaelic naming practice, and we recommend against using one in Gaelic. As we mentioned at the beginning of this letter, many documents were written in Latin in the 13th century, and Gaelic names recorded in those documents were Latinized. These Latinized forms are just as authentic as the Gaelic for written use. Thus, in a Latin context and might have become and , respectively. [12] Latinized Gaelic names not infrequently do include bynames analogous to ; the name 'David son of Kenneth of Newtibber' mentioned earlier is an example. However, such bynames seem as a rule to be related to landholding. A Gael identified in a Latin record as or (Latin for 'of Argyll' [13]) would most likely have been the lord of Argyll or a close relative. We definitely cannot rule out the possibility that a Gael from Argyll but unrelated to the lord of Argyll might have also been recorded in Latin as, say, , but we have no clearcut examples of this type. Moreover, we have not found evidence of any modern surname derived from such a byname; this suggests that if it was used more generally, it nevertheless cannot have been common. Thus, while we can't actually recommend *against* using a name like , we do think that the simple is better historical re-creation. SUMMARY: does not appear to be a plausible given name for a 13th century Gael. It would be plausible in the 5th - 8th centuries, but at that time the given name , from which the English surname is derived, did not yet exist. A related given name that did exist is , pronounced roughly \ROO-@-dhahn\. The patronymic formed from it is , and 'Dama/n son of Ru/ada/n' would be a plausible early Gaelic name. It would have been pronounced roughly \DAH-vahn mahk ROO-@-dhahn~\. The given names and sound a bit like and definitely were used by Gaels in 13th century Scotland, as was the given name . Both 'David son of Gille Ruadh' and 'Nevin son of Gille Ruadh' would be suitable names for a 13th century Scottish Gael; they would have been pronounced roughly \DAH-veedh mahk EE-l@ ROO-idh\ and \NEV-een~ mahk EE-l@ ROO-idh\, respectively. In Latin records they might have been written and . The addition of a name element meaning 'of Argyll' is contrary to normal Gaelic naming practice. Written Latin usage was somewhat different, and we do find names analogous to 'David son of Gille Ruadh of Argyll' (or the equivalent with ); however, bynames of this type tend to be associated with landholding, so we recommend the simpler forms and as being better historical re-creation. Africa filia Kenocci, Arval Benicoeur, Dietmar von Straubing, Adelaide de Beaumont, Aryanhwy verch Catmael, Julie Stampnitzky, Juliana de Luna, Blaise de Cormeilles, and Amant le Marinier also contributed to this letter. We hope that it has been useful and that you'll not hesitate to write again if you have any further questions. For the Academy, Barak Raz & Talan Gwynek 18 January 2001 ===== References and Notes [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh & Fidelma Maguire. Irish Names (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990); s.n. . [2] Ibid. s.n. . [3] Royal Irish Academy. Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials (Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1983); s.v. . [4] Black, George F. The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986); s.nn. , . [5] Morgan, Peadar. Ainmean Chloinne: Scottish Gaelic Names for Children (Isle of Skye, Scotland: Taigh na Teud Music Publishers, 1989); s.n. . [6] Black, op. cit., Amendments and Additions s.n. . [7] Ibid. s.n. . [8] Ibid. s.n. . A patronymic byname is one that identifies a person by reference to his or her father. [9] Dictionary of the Irish Language s.v. . [10] Black, op. cit., s.n. . At that time the name was pronounced something like \GEE-l@ ROO-@dh\, where \@\ stands for the sound of in and , and \dh\ stands for the sound of in . The connection between this and the Anglicized probably looks a bit mysterious, but the name later came to be pronounced \GEE-l@ ROO-@\; the patronymic is a bit clearer. [11] O/ Corra/in & Maguire, op. cit., s.n. . [12] After the father's name should be in the genitive (possessive) case. This is formed differently for different names, and in a large class of Latinizations it is identical to the nominative case (the form used for the subject of a sentence). We have not found an example of the Latin genitive of , but it is very probable that the name belongs to that class and that its Latin genitive is therefore simply . Were this not the case, the Latin nominative would almost certainly be , not . [13] The prepositional phrase 'of Argyll' is found both in the mid-12th century and the early 14th century, though not as a person's byname. The more completely Latinized is found as a byname in 1315. [13, 14] [14] Barrow, G.W.S., ed. The Charters of David I: The Written Acts of David I King of Scots, 1124-53, and of His Son Henry, Earl of Northumberland, 1139-52 (Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press, 1999); p.124. [15] Duncan, Archibald A. M., ed. The Acts of Robert I, King of Scots 1306-29. Vol. 5, Regesta Regum Scottorum, 1153-1424 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1988); p.346.