ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2251 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2251 ************************************ 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 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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/