ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2251
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2251
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18 Apr 2001
From: (Josh Mittleman)
Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You wanted to know if the Gaelic feminine name , meaning "Ann the dreadful, daughter of Rowan", would have been
used by an Irish woman between 1250 and 1450. Here is the information we
have found.
is a fine choice. (The slash represents an acute accent mark on
the preceding letter.) The name was a common early medieval Irish name
[4], and became reasonably common again from the early 14th century onward.
We have found examples dated from 1319 to 1468 and one possible example,
spelled , in 1171 [1, 2, 3]. It was pronounced roughly \AHN-y@\,
where \@\ represents the sound of the 'a' in or . More
precisely, it was \AH-n~@\, where the \n~\ represents the sound of n-tilde
in Spanish or the in French . From the 19th
century, this name has often been equated with or . However,
that association did not arise until after our period. In fact, is
etymologically unrelated to [4].
The only example that we found of the word "dreadful" being used
as a nickname is dated 490 [5, 9]. Names dated that early are often
mythological or legendary. Even if the person mentioned was real, the
language of 5th century Ireland was profoundly different from the language
of late medieval Ireland, so this early citation cannot be taken as a guide
to Irish naming in your period. Because this evidence is so weak and
because is not typical of nicknames used in your period, we
recommend that you avoid it. Most period Gaelic descriptive bynames are
simple adjectives which describe concrete rather than abstract
characteristics, such as 'young', 'big', or 'black'.
was the name of an early Irish male saint [4]. Our only examples
of it used as a given name are dated no later than the 10th century [6].
The name seems to have fallen out of use at that point and wasn't revived
until modern times, so it wouldn't be appropriate as the name of a late
medieval man (your father). If you want to shift your period to the 10th
century, then the name "A/ine daughter of Ruada/n"
would be a fine choice. It would have been pronounced roughly \AH-n~@
EEN-y@n ROO-@-dhahn~\, where the \dh\ represents the sound of in
.
If you prefer a name better suited to the 13th-15th centuries, then you may
want to consider using the feminine form of the clan name
[7]. That name originally derived from the given name ; it
literally means "descendent of Ruadha/n", but by your period was understood
to mean "member of Clann Ua Ruadha/in". A woman named A/ine who was a
member of that clan could have been called
"A/ine daughter of O/ Ruadha/in". In the 13th-15th centuries, this name
would have been pronounced \AH-n~@ EEN-y@n ee ROO-@-dhahn~\.
You'll have noticed that we've spelled this name with a or with a
, and ending <-a/n> or <-a/in>. The first variation represents a
change in spelling conventions that took place around 1200. Gaelic
spelling changed to reflect pronunciation more closely. In this case, the
changed to . The difference between and has the
same explanation.
The second spelling change, adding an 'i' in the last syllable, is a
grammatical change: is the possessive (genitive) form of
, analogous to the relationship between and in
English.
The Gaelic name was revived in the 19th century and by the
mid-20th century was anglicized as . We have not found
itself used as a given name until the 20th century [8].
We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate
to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions.
Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Talan Gwynek,
Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Adelaide de Beaumont, Mari neyn Brian,
Dietmar von Straubing, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael.
For the Academy,
Aryanhwy merch Catmael and Arval Benicoeur
18 Apr 2001
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References:
[1] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "The Annals of Ulster" (WWW:
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork,
Ireland, 1997), entry U1171.6 mentions .
http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001/
[2] 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, 1997-98), volume 3, entries M1319.3, M1329.7.
http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005C (v.3, M1172-M1372)
[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 1319.4, 1329.8, 1386.2, 1405.20,
1468.29.
http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100011
[4] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The
Lilliput Press, 1990). s.n. A/ine, Ru/ada/n.
[5] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "Early
Irish Feminine Names from the Index to O'Brien's 'Corpus Genealogiarum
Hiberniae'" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999; WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996).
http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/obrien/
[6] Annals of the Four Masters, entry M904.2 .
[7] Annals of Connacht, entries 1237.10, 1263.14, 1416.10 all include
this clan name.
[8] Sara L. Friedemann and Josh Mittleman, "Concerning the Names Rowena,
Rowan, and Rhonwen" in The Problem Names Project (WWW: Sharon L. Krossa,
1999).
http://www.medievalscotland.org/problem/names/rowan.shtml
[9] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh, ed., "Annals of Tigernach" (WWW: CELT: Corpus
of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1996),
entry T490.2 .
http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100002/
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